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A soft brush lifting lint from a dryer's lint screen, seen close.

What is due when, across the whole house

Routines and schedules
guides.

A calendar for the home's appliances: coils twice a year, water cartridges on the maker's schedule, dish-care filters monthly, lint runs yearly, hood filters by how often you fry, and scale by how hard your water is.

(844) 879-5178

Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm

  • Three guides
  • Read before you book
  • Says where to stop

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Routines and schedules,
guide by guide.

This section is for households whose appliances all work and who want them to keep working for years at a lower running cost. The guides deal with the small, repeatable jobs the makers write into their manuals: clearing lint, rinsing filters, brushing condenser coils, swapping cartridges, washing grease filters and running descale programs on schedule.

All 18 guides
A tidy home laundry room beside the kitchen, a technician seen from the shoulders down sliding the lint screen out of a clothes dryer's door opening while a second clean lint screen for the same clothes dryer rests on the folding counter, indoors, seasonless.
6-minute read

A yearly upkeep calendar for the whole home, job by job

Every load, every month, every six months, every year, every five: the makers' intervals laid out as four checkpoints a household can actually keep.

A clean home kitchen counter beside a French door refrigerator with its lower grille panel open, an owner's hands seen from the shoulders down turning a new water filter cartridge into the refrigerator's filter housing while the spent refrigerator water filter lies on a folded towel, indoors, seasonless.
6-minute read

Filters and when each one is due, from the ice line to the hood

Seven filters hide in an ordinary home. Some are washed, some are thrown away, and each one gives its own sign before the date comes round.

A bright home kitchen with a built-in dish care machine open at counter height, a technician's hands seen from the shoulders down lifting the lower spray arm out of the dish care machine, white hard water scale visible around the spray arm's holes, a soft brush and a small bowl on the counter, indoors, seasonless.
5-minute read

Hard water scale and what it wears out, part by part

Calcium carbonate settles wherever water is heated or left to dry. Where it lands in each appliance, how to read your water's hardness, and which descaling jobs belong to the owner.

What is due when, across the whole house.

Nearly every one of those jobs is easy, and nearly every one is forgotten, because none of them announces itself. A coil gathers dust for a year before the kitchen notices a longer hum; a charcoal filter stops working long before it looks spent. So the guides start with timing: what is due every load, every month, every six months, every year and every five, and which signs bring a date forward.

The intervals come from the makers' own care pages and manuals, from Whirlpool, GE, Samsung, Speed Queen, Viking, Wolf, Broan-NuTone and others, and from public agencies where they apply, such as USGS on water hardness. Every figure on these pages carries a link to where it was found. Where two makers disagree, the guide says so and points to the manual for the appliance in the home.

Each guide also says where owner upkeep stops. Cleaning, rinsing and replacing a cartridge are owner work. Pulling a built-in from its opening, opening a panel over live wiring, touching a refrigerant line or a gas fitting, or freeing a part that scale has seized is work for a maintenance visit.

Not sure where to start?

The short answerA yearly upkeep calendar for the whole home, job by job

A home appliance maintenance schedule sorts the work by interval: lint screens every load, dish care filters and front-load drain filters monthly, condenser coils, refrigerator water filters and charcoal hood filters about every six months, the laundry exhaust run at least yearly, and washer fill hoses every five years.

The short answerFilters and when each one is due, from the ice line to the hood

When to change appliance filters depends on the filter: a refrigerator water cartridge about every six months, dish care filters rinsed monthly, a front-load drain pump filter monthly or every 40 washes, the lint screen every load, hood grease filters washed at least twice a year and charcoal filters replaced every six months.

The short answerHard water scale and what it wears out, part by part

Hard water scale in appliances is calcium carbonate left behind when mineral-rich water is heated or evaporates.

When reading
is not enough.

If the checks in these guides did not settle it, the visit picks up from there, stop by stop.

What services cost
  1. 01A walk around the house first
  2. 02Cleaned, checked and adjusted
  3. 03Wear parts before they fail
  4. 04A service record for the house

The problems
these answer.

Each has a page of its own, with the causes in the order worth checking.

All 17 problems
A home kitchen counter in soft daylight with a small plain white plug-in energy meter with a blank dark screen plugged into a wall outlet beside a stainless refrigerator, the refrigerator's kick plate at the bottom visibly furred with dust. Problem

Appliance Energy Use Creeping Up With Nothing Else Changed

6 causes, cheapest first

 A home laundry room with a front-loading vented machine standing open after a finished cycle, a pile of towels in a basket in front of it visibly still damp and heavy, a lint screen held out of its slot and covered with a thick gray layer resting on the machine's top, soft daylight. Problem

Laundry Taking Two Cycles to Dry: The Lint Path Is Usually Why

6 causes, cheapest first

 Close view of a clear glass of water and a small pile of cloudy, slightly clumped ice cubes on a light stone counter beside the door dispenser of a stainless refrigerator, a faint white crust visible around the dispenser outlet, soft daylight. Problem

Water or Ice Tasting Stale: Filter Age, Scale and Idle Lines

6 causes, cheapest first

 Close view of the upper rack of an open dishwasher in a bright home kitchen, clear drinking glasses with a hazy white film and a few sandy specks on the rims, a white plate beside them with dried grit near its edge, soft daylight. Problem

Dishes Coming Out Gritty or Spotted: Filter, Spray Arms and Rinse Aid

6 causes, cheapest first
A family sharing breakfast in a bright, well-kept home kitchen.
For the heart of your home.

Questions about
routines and schedules.

Which upkeep job prevents the most trouble?
Keeping air moving: lint cleared from the laundry exhaust path and dust off the condenser coils of every cold storage unit. Both affect running cost, and the lint path also affects fire risk.
Do maintenance intervals differ between makers?
The broad pattern is shared, with water cartridges near six months and fill hoses at five years, but details differ, such as a drain filter set by the number of washes. The appliance's own manual sets the date for that machine.
What does a maintenance visit add to owner upkeep?
It reaches the parts owners cannot: coils behind a built-in grille, burners and gas connections, the full exhaust run, hinges, door gaskets under load, and water connections behind the machines.
Is it worth maintaining an older appliance?
Upkeep cannot reverse wear that has already happened, but clean coils, clear filters and a free exhaust path reduce the extra running hours that wear motors and heaters out sooner.

The other
sections.

Split by what you are trying to find out rather than by which part of the appliance it concerns.

All guides
A refrigerator's dusty condenser coils seen close behind its kick plate.
What slow wear looks like before it becomes a breakdown

Signs an appliance is due

A finger on the control panel of a washer, the display dark.
Ten-minute tasks with the appliance unplugged

Checks between visits

The closed gas shutoff valve behind a range, seen close.
Lint fires, gas at the burners, hoses and wiring

Fire, gas and water safety

An older and a newer refrigerator side by side in a garage workshop.
A yearly plan, a visit when due, or a new appliance

Plans, visits and replacement

A braided stainless supply hose and its shutoff valve behind a washer.
Clearances, shutoffs and leveling that make service easy

Set up for easy upkeep

Not sure which section?

Start from your question

The four questions most visits start with, each with the guide that answers it.

18 guidesWhere to start Where to start

Back to your everyday

Let’s get your home appliance working again.

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Schedule maintenance Call (844) 879-5178
(844) 879-5178 Schedule maintenance