Appliance repair emergency prevention for furnace, pipes, hot water heater and kitchen

Appliance emergencies happen in winter because we are indoors. Think about preventing repairs of the stove, refrigerator and garbage disposal. Basement pipes, furnace and water heater need a look.

Professional annual furnace maintenance is around $100 according to Consumer Reports and Angie's List. An emergency call for a furnace is $100 an hour, plus travel time; and you know the truck won't have your part.

Be prepared. Appliance failures can be expected due to age and condition. If you have a 30-yr old water heater that leaks, do not put a box of family photos on the floor next to it.

It is the unsuspected appliance emergency you avoid with simple maintenance.

Be educated. Look at your appliance in a few areas to know 75% about their conditions.

Stoves/ovens
- Do not use the self-cleaning setting right before a party. That is when most breaks happen.
- The cleaner the stove, the more efficiently it will burn gas or electricity. But clean the oven manually.
- Moisture on the outside oven door, like sweating, means a faulty door gasket, affecting proper cooking temperature. Replaced promptly.
- Check your oven performance with an inexpensive oven thermometer, $3.

Refrigerator
- Water filters on new models may need to be changed once a year.
- Clean the heat coils each year.
- Always replace supply lines with braided metal lines. Often a leaking plastic water feed causes unnoticed damage to walls, floors and motor.

Disposal
- Throw all big food pieces in the garbage, not disposal.
- Do not grind potato peels, eggshells, cornhusks or bones.
- If the disposal buzzes or hums, try to free-rotate the cutter plate with an Allen wrench from the canister bottom, or jam a broom handle from above.
- Please, please, shut off the power before working on the disposal.
- If it will not run, hit the reset switch - a small button on canister bottom of most units.

Frozen pipes
- Insulate pipes from the cold outside, not from the heat of the house inside.
- Crawl space pipes must not be exposed to drafts or freezing weather.
- If the pipe has frozen in the past, try a heat tape, then cover with foam pipe wrap.

Furnace
- Change filters regularly.
- Professionally service once a year, including deep-cleaned and burners checked.
- If you have a gas furnace, maintenance is important because of possible carbon monoxide leaks.
- It is estimated 80% of 'no heat' calls are the result of improper maintenance of the heating system.

Hot water heater
- Drain your water heater once a year; use a bucket so you can look for sediment that hurts performance. And continue to drain until water runs clear.