#1 thing to remember with all appliances

Preventative care is always better than corrective care. This means that upkeeping your appliances, such as keeping them clean, is much less expensive than having to replace a part or all of it.

We are dedicated to help you know your options with both needs. We run this blog to help give you preventative tips, and also run our business to help you get your appliances working like they need to.

Give us a call or stop in today if you're in need of help!

Summer is almost here!

We're starting to use our air conditioners more and more! How ready is your air conditioner for the summer season?

It might be a good idea to get your filter cleaned or replaced. Remember: You should be doing this at least once or twice a month for your air conditioner to run most effectively.

If you're unsure how to change your filter, our friends at Antlerdreamer have made a great video on how to do this here.

The Miracle Cleaner

So many cleaners have very harsh chemicals. Some that even encourage you to wear a mask, have flowing air, or take very frequent breaks from using it. There is one that cleaner that we always recommend that has none of the negative side effects: white vinegar.

The thing that makes vinegar such a good cleaner is the acetic acid. It helps clean away dirt, grime, and germs.

Its safe to clean your washer, dryer, fridge, oven, freezer, microwave, or just about anywhere else. If you're into green and safe chemicals, it the perfect option to switch to.

How to easily and quickly dry your shoes!

 Tie the shoe laces together tightly.

Put the shoes in the dryer, but have the shoe laces to be outside of the dryer. This allows the shoes to dangle against the door in the dryer. Put on low heat and dry your shoes!

Too any Burn Brownies? Your Oven May Need Re-calibrating.

Are your brownies always turning out burnt? Your oven may need to be re-calibrated. Luckily, the re-calibration process is easy.

You first need to make sure your oven really needs to be re-calibrated. The tried and true method is to put a cooking thermometer in the oven and see if it says what you put the oven at.

If you don't have an oven, there's another way. Make 2 small cups out of aluminum foil and put a spoonful of sugar in each of them. Set the oven for 355 and put one of the packets in. After 15 minutes, increase the temperature to 375 and leave both for another 15 minutes. If the first cup's sugar is still white and the second melts and turns brown, your oven is calibrated. If both cups' sugar stay white, your oven is too cool. If both are brown, your oven is too hot.

If your oven needs re-calibrating, give us a call at 208-371-8676

Still Need a New Year's Resolution? Check Out This Checklist!

Cleaning and checking our appliances for problems can be a difficult thing to remember, but it is very important to do. If you're still looking for a New Year's resolution, doing that simple maintenance is a great idea! Here is a chart we made to help you remember to do it. Print it off and put it somewhere you'll be able to see it every could months!

Chore	Spring	Summer	Fall	Winter
Clean and check washer and dryer
Clean and check hose connections on washer and dryer
Clean and check dishwasher for leaks
Clean and check fridge for leaks
Check water heater for leaks
Clean and check seal on oven

5 Stove-Top Hints

1. While you don't want to use it for everything, using ammonia to clean stove burners is very efficient. Soak the stove-top burners in ammonia overnight, and then rinse them off in the morning. Your burners should look as good as new!

2. Spills are always a major bummer, especially on the stove top, but there's a way to make clean up a bit faster. Simply toss a handful of salt on the spill! The salt will absorb a lot of the liquid and will make clean up a breeze.

3. Pouring olive or vegetable oil will help lift caked on messes. After the oil is applied, simply spray it with all-purpose cleaner and the stove-top is now clean!

 4. Do you have an extra stubborn caked on mess? Boiling a kettle of water and carefully pouring the water onto the stove will lift even th most stubborn of caked on messes. Be careful not to flood your stove or burn yourself with hot water though!

5. When your oven is all cleaned, taking steps to minimize future messes is a good idea. One unique idea to consider is waxing your stove! waxing your stove will make future wipe ups a piece of cake, as they slip right off of the wax-covered surface.

An Easy, Energy Saving Tip

According to LG, if your refrigerator is pushed back as far as possible it won't run as efficiently as possible. However, pulling it forward one inch can reduce the energy usage by a significant amount.

12 Tips to Revolutionize How You Use Your Fridge/Freezer (part 2)

Everyone likes making their life a little easier. Luckily, we have 12 tips and tricks to make your food and fridge/freezer work a little harder for you.

7. Stand your condiment bottles upside down to get the condiments easily accessible and in an egg carton or organization



8. Glue magnets on the bottom of containers so they can be put on the side of your fridge



9. Instead of reaching far back, just rotate it to you with a Lazy Susan



10. For chest freezers, put food in reusable fabric shopping bags so you can pull things out easily



11. Paint your fridge with chalkboard paint to stay organized with notes and a written weekly menu



12. Create uniformity and save space by transferring condiments to matching squeeze bottles

12 Tips to Revolutionize How You Use Your Fridge/Freezer (part 1)

Everyone likes making their life a little easier. Luckily, we have 12 tips and tricks to make your food and fridge/freezer work a little harder for you.

1. Stop wasting food by putting food expiring soon in an “Eat Me First” box



2. Make spills easy to clean up by covering refrigerator shelves with plastic wrap



3. Create freezer shelves by stacking magazine holders on their sides



4. Organize your food by putting it in baskets



5. Make a "snack zone" for a quick bite



6. Put frozen bagged foods on binder clips to make more room in your freezer

No More Moldy Washing Machines!

If your washing machine is growing mold it can really affect the smell and cleanliness of the clothes coming out of it. Luckily, cleaning your washing machine and getting rid of mold is relatively simple.

Supplies

• Chlorine bleach
• Distilled white vinegar
• Bucket
• Terry cloth rag
• Dish gloves

Process

• Run your machine with the water level set to full and the temperature at its hottest. The machine should be empty for this.
• Add 4 cups of chlorine bleach as the machine is filling with hot water and run the machine through a long cycle. The bleach will kill any bacteria or mold that could be growing.
• Run the machine again right after its finished and add 4 cups of distilled white vinegar while the washing machine is filling with water. Vinegar dissolves any detergent residue in the washing machine. This eliminates any traces of the mold, because the mold will stick to and feed on the detergent residue.
• Pour 2 cups of vinegar into a bucket and soak a terry cloth towel with the vinegar. Put on your dish gloves to protect your hands and scrub the inside of the lid and its surrounding metal with the rag. This will remove any remaining residue.

Now you will have a clean washing machine to make sure that your clothes that come out of it are nice smelling and clean

How to cut laundry room energy costs (Part 2)

The average family does 300 leaks of laundry every year. Each load costing about $0.68 or about $204 yearly. Now, there has to be a way to minimize that cost, right? Yes! We have 10 tricks to help save energy in the laundry room!

5. Spin zone
When clothes spin faster in a dryer, they dry faster. If your dryer has the option, pick the fastest spin cycle.

6. Lint
Removing lint after every load helps your clothes dry faster, and thus uses less energy.

7. Warm it up!
If possible, have your laundry room be warm. Having it be cold makes it so the dryer has to work harder.

8. Get gassy
Gas dryers typically cost $0.15-$0.33 less than electric dryers per load.

9. Let nature take its course
If the weather is nice outside and you have the time, consider setting up a clothes line. They dry your clothes for free!

Extension Cords and Appliance Safety

When it comes to appliance safety, one of the most commonly used, and commonly misused, gadgets on the market is the extension cord. Extension cords pose several risks. First, the extension cord connections may not be secure. Besides causing power fluctuations that may damage the equipment, poor connections can also result in sparks that could start a fire. Another problem with the appliances connected by extension cord is that they are extra vulnerable to water penetration. This is especially true in damp areas such as laundry rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, garages and outdoors. Water and electricity are a dangerous combination responsible for many avoidable deaths each year.

Extension cords also come in different sizes, and not every width is suitable for every appliance. People often make the mistake of using extension cords that are too small. The wires on extension cords are rated according to size, with lower ratings corresponding to larger sizes. A simple household extension cord for a lamp might have 16-gauge wire. An outdoor cord may have 14-gauge wire. Heavy-duty cords are usually 12-gauge. It is a good idea to plug things in directly to the socket or to a surge protector whenever possible; when an extension cord is necessary, make sure that it is large enough to handle the electrical load it is going to carry. In general, in those circumstances where use of an extension cord is unavoidable, employ one that is heavier than the wires already attached to the appliance.

Also, whenever using power tools or similar equipment on long extension cords, be aware that the longer the cord the more power that is lost en route. This phenomenon, called voltage drop, is much less pronounced in heavier wires. Whenever you use an inadequate cord, you run the risk of damaging the appliance or causing the wires to overheat and become a fire hazard.

When extension cords, appliance wires and outlets are incompatible, people often use adapters to make things fit. Most commonly, people have a three-prong plug and a two-prong outlet. The third prong is the ground, and it offers important safety advantages. A much better long-run solution is to have an electrician replace your 2-prong outlets with properly grounded three-prong outlets. Heavy-duty appliances have plug configurations that are unique. Never use an adapter to fit these into more standard outlets.


For more helpful tips like these

Call us at

208-344-6700

Visit us at

www.expressapplianceid.com

Stop by at

609 N. Orchard, Boise

Business hours:

M-F: 8-6; Sat 8-5

Nobody wants to open their oven and find burnt, caked on grime on the racks. Fortunately it is very simple to get them clean.

Things You'll Need

• Distilled white vinegar
• Baking soda
• Scrub pad

Step 1

Remove the oven racks and place them in a tub or shower.

Step 2

Spray the racks liberally with vinegar.

Step 3

Liberally pour baking soda all over the racks and let sit for 10 minutes.

Step 4

Cover them with hot water and let sit for 10 minutes.

Step 5

Use a scrub pad to remove grime, rinse and let dry.

Step 6

Place the racks back in the oven. Now you're oven has sparking clean racks with no grime

For more helpful tips like these 

Call us at

208-344-6700

Visit us at

www.expressapplianceid.com

Stop by at

609 N. Orchard, Boise

Business hours:

M-F: 8-6; Sat 8-5

A tip for your oven between heavy cleanings

If you're going to cook something that will leave your oven a mess, put a baking sheet on the bottom rack of your oven. This will make it so the mess falls in the cookie sheet. You can wash it instead of the whole oven! The clean up a lot easier!

For more helpful tips like these

Call us at

208-344-6700

Visit us at

www.expressapplianceid.com

Stop by at

609 N. Orchard, Boise

Business hours:

M-F: 8-6; Sat 8-5

Protect-N-Shine is a great product that prevents smudges, fingerprints, and build up on your appliances. Watch their demonstration video!

If you have any questions,

Call us at
208-344-6700

Visit us at
www.expressapplianceid.com

Stop by at
609 N. Orchard, Boise

Business hours:
M-F: 8-6; Sat 8-5

Maximize your food's life

Have you ever taken out an item from the freezer and then ended up putting what you didn't need back after its defrosted? Thawing and freezing your food wears out its lifespan. However, there is an easy way to prevent this.

Put your food in a baggy, and separate the food into portion sizes while in the baggy. This allows you to break off pieces that you need, without having thaw it all.

Freezer not freezing your food?

Call us at

208-344-6700

Visit us at

www.expressapplianceid.com

Stop by at

609 N. Orchard, Boise

Business hours:

M-F, 8-6; Sat 8-5

5 Things You Should Never Do With Your Oven

1. Don't use the self-cleaning feature before preparing a holiday meal.

The self-cleaning feature on an oven makes the oven heat up to 800-1,000 degrees - much hotter than normal. If an oven were to "pull a muscle", it would be during that sprint.

2. Don't go overboard with tin foil.

Foil reflects heat, which may unevenly cook food. Give your turkey an even tan by directing the heat in the proper way.

3. Don't forget the vents!

Vents in the oven allow good heat circulation, and thus proper cooking. Unlike the Death Star, we don't want to cover those vents.

4. Be careful where you aim!

Spraying cleaning products on control knobs may spark an electrical fire. Our object is to cook in the kitchen, not cook the whole kitchen!

5. Use the oven the right way.

Many use their ovens to heat their homes. Ovens are designed to keep heat focused on the food inside, and using it in this wrong way would just put it through unnecessary strain. This would be an especially risky move so close to the holidays.

Tips to Help the Dishwasher Run Better (part 2)

If you're lucky enough to have some mechanical help with your dishes, how's your helper doing these days? Cooking can be tough on the dishwasher. All those goopy soups, milk-crusted mugs, and baked-on casseroles can overload it; perhaps you're feeling like things aren't running so smoothly or smelling as good as they ought to in there.

Well, we're here to help, with 5 more tips for making your dishwasher run its best.

Are these tips familiar to you? I was already doing several of them, but a few were new, so I thought they might be to you as well.

6. Run an empty dishwasher with vinegar

It’s the same concept as running a vinegar load in your washing machine. You simply toss a cup of white vinegar into the bottom of an empty dishwasher and run a normal cycle. It cleans out old food particles to keep your dishwasher smelling fresh.


7. Clean the dishwasher trap

Down in no-man's land, under the lower sprayer, there's usually a piece that is removable. Under it you'll usually find bits of food that didn't make it out the drain or even pet hair (eww) if you have a fur-ball of any kind running around your home. Sometimes the tray comes out fully so it can be rinsed in the sink; sometimes a towel is needed to remove the gunk buildup.


8. Clean the dishwasher seals

After a few months of use, your dishwasher accumulates a little bit of ick and stick around the rubber gasket in the door and often around the soap door as well. Make sure to give them a once-over with a damp towel to keep the grime down.


9. Check your water heater's temperature

There's a joke about where to put the thermometer, but we'll pass this time around. Make sure your water heater is set between 120 and 125 degrees. Many units are shipped new set to a much lower heat. This is the ideal temperature for washing dishes; don't be tempted to turn it higher or else it will cause water to flash dry and not roll off your dishes, taking the ends of the dirty bits with it.


10. Test your water

Hard water is killer on dishes and your ability to really get things clean. Make sure to have things tested and soften accordingly.

Tips to Help the Dishwasher Run Better (part 1)

If you're lucky enough to have some mechanical help with your dishes, how's your helper doing these days? Cooking can be tough on the dishwasher. All those goopy soups, milk-crusted mugs, and baked-on casseroles can overload it; perhaps you're feeling like things aren't running so smoothly or smelling as good as they ought to in there.

Well, we're here to help, with 5 tips for making your dishwasher run its best.

Are these tips familiar to you? I was already doing several of them, but a few were new, so I thought they might be to you as well.

1. Don't confuse scraping with washing

No one wants to wash their dishes before they wash their dishes; it's just silly. But you wouldn't want to eat a Thanksgiving dinner and then go run a marathon right after. Well, neither does your dishwasher. Scrape food bits off before loading up to help reduce particles stuck on dishes once the cycle is over.

2. Don't overcrowd the dishwasher

It's something that's easier said than done. It's quite tempting to layer in one more bowl or plate to avoid hand washing. Just remember, it's better to wash a few pieces by hand than it is to rerun an entire load because things were too tightly packed.

3. Run hot water before starting the dishwasher

Before starting the cycle, turn on the faucet and run until the water is hot to the touch. This means your first dishwasher fill cycle will be hot, instead of cold, until it finally makes its way over from the hot water heater. This is an especially important tip in winter time, as it takes longer for the water to heat up.

4. Use the correct cycle

It can be tempting to use a shorter, lighter setting to save on time and water bills, but make sure you're washing all your super dirty dishes by hand if that's the case. Just like doing your laundry, keep soil levels together when washing to end up with the best performance.

5. Don't double up on rinse aid

When looking to purchase a new soap for your dishwasher, make note if it includes a rinse aid. If it does, then there's no need to add any extra. If it doesn't, skip the extra purchase and just fill the reservoir with white vinegar. It'll do the trick every time!