How to Get the Best Value for Money Out Of Your Washer and Dryer
Australians love their creature comforts and find it difficult to imagine those days when a typical home did not have a range of appliances to make life easier. This is especially evident when it comes to washing the family's clothing on a weekly (and sometimes even daily) basis and those two machines in the utility room are frequently taken for granted. However, if you want to continue taking the easy route on wash day and make sure that you get full value for money out of your washer and dryer machines, you need to make sure that you apply best practices and keep them in good condition. What should you be thinking about as you prepare your next load?
Careful Inspection
With a growing family comes an ever larger load of washing on a weekly basis and it is often all "lumped" together into a number of laundry baskets. Many people simply tip these baskets into the washer without taking time to go through what's in there and this can be detrimental. Items that are left in pockets can escape during vigourous washing or drying cycles and can cause damage to the internal mechanisms within the machine. This is particularly true of small coins, paperclips and so on.
Helping the Machine
You definitely need to do some preparatory work if some of this clothing is heavily stained. If your youngest son has just returned from a game of rugby on a rainy day, this is a prime example as you may not expect a standard wash to get rid of those stains.
Indeed, some people may notice that part of this load is stained and simply add more soap to the cycle than is necessary. This is unlikely to make any difference in the standard cycle, but is more likely to add soap scum and residue to the interior of the machine that will cause maintenance trouble down the road.
Drying out
Some washing machines these days are loaded from the front instead of the top and this can be a problem if you don't take extra care to make sure that it is dried out. Certainly, it's easier to leave the top door of a machine open after its use than it is a side door, as it typically tends to intrude into the working space. However, if the door is not left open after a cycle, mould and mildew will invariably start to build up around the rubber perimeter.
Being Proactive
Take a moment to look at the owner's manual for each machine and learn about preventative maintenance steps. If you do so, you may be able to avoid a call for repair. However, if you think that the machine is not operating correctly now, don't put this off and expect it to fix itself, as it's best to call in an appliance repairs person before the problem escalates and the cost skyrockets.
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