Green Tips for Maintaining Household Appliances

First the credits: When Associated Content requested articles about "Green Employers in..." various parts of the country, I called local businesses that are helping people go Green in Scott County, Virginia. As noted in the article, tax incentives are motivating local contractors in all the building construction and maintenance fields to help people go Green.

The following tips were provided free of charge by the office assistant at Bill's Appliance Service in Duffield, Virginia (276-940-1096). "Bill" has been working in this area for over 35 years, and here is what he's trained his office assistant, who is also his wife, to tell customers about easy ways to go Green...and, in some cases, avoid having to pay Bill for a service call.

1. Choose energy-efficient models when you buy appliances. Buy the model that is most efficient for the type of work you do, and look for the Energy Star on appliances you buy.

2. If you choose an electric heat pump, choose an efficient model with a digital thermostat.

Fair disclosure: I neither use, nor plan to use, a heat pump. That's because I live in a farmhouse with a woodlot. The one enclosed room where I keep my computer is small enough that running a small space heater on the 1000-watt setting is efficient in that room; the rest of the house can be heated by burning scrap wood and orchard trash in the kitchen stove. For families who don't have this kind of heating options, however, a heat pump is more efficient than letting everyone in the house try to heat six different rooms at once with space heaters.

"Mrs. Bill" recommends the digital thermostats because they force a delay that protects the heat pump from thermostat battles. If different family members are apt to sneak around turning the thermostat up or down, at least the digital thermostat protects the mechanism from being snapped on and off continually. This can make a difference in the heating bill, and the "lifespan" of the heat pump, for some families...you know who you are.

3. When using an electric heat pump, pick a thermostat setting and leave it there.

If you grew up using simpler heating and cooling devices, you may have formed the habit of letting the temperature get as low or high as you can stand it before lighting a fire or turning on a space heater or air conditioner. You may have enjoyed turning off your temperature-regulating devices and letting the morning breeze cool your home in mild weather. This is not the most efficient way to use a heat pump, which will continue running to heat or cool the entire house to the temperature of your choice. It's more efficient to keep the doors and windows closed, trust the clean filters on the heat pump to aerate your home, and let the heat pump do its thing. In a large house, you may be able to shave a little off your heating or cooling cost by closing the vents and then closing the doors to unused rooms, but try to maintain a constant temperature in the rooms you need to heat or cool.

4. Always keep filters open. Vacuum-clean the surfaces of non-replaceable filters. Change the replaceable indoor filters over heating and cooling vents every month. Clean lint filters every time you use a washing or drying machine.

5. Lint filters are not 100% reliable in cleaning washing and drying machines. When Bill services these appliances, he often finds masses of lint trapped inside the machine itself, often clustered around the "drum" or clogging vents that drain air or water out of the machine. Find out whether your appliances are prone to this kind of problem and whether it's possible for you to deep-clean out the extra lint at home.

6. Seriously—it's not just a joke—machines can sometimes "eat" a whole sock or a pair of underwear, which then becomes trapped in the works and interferes with the function of the machine. Count small laundry items before and after doing a load of laundry. If a piece is missing, you may be able to remove it, and improve the operation of your machine, even before making a service call; or, failing that, the repairman may do it.

7. Troubleshoot by checking for blocks or kinks in air vents or water hoses. Sometimes these blocks or kinks are produced by moving the machine just a few inches, and can be fixed by reaching behind the machine to straighten the vent. People have bought whole new machines because they were unaware of this problem.

8. Keep appliances sparkly-clean, in front and back. You might not think that the wall space behind the refrigerator would attract a great deal of dirt, but it does, because the refrigerator draws in air and can suck in masses of dust and lint from the house. Refrigerators work better when they're not being used as household air filters, so check the back of your refrigerator for lint and dust it off before little gray mats start to form.

Other devices that have fans, such as space heaters and even computers, can also benefit from regular dusting; mats of lint always make the fan work harder, and depending on the type of machine, they can be sucked into contact with hot wires and damage the device or even catch fire.

9. Seal the edges of windows to reduce air flow when you're heating or cooling the house. If you see steam or frost on the inside of a window, you have a serious air leak that needs to be stopped.

10. Use appliances efficiently. Wash a whole load at one time. Plan menus so that you can bake enough things at one time to fill the oven. If you don't generate enough laundry to wash a full load before odor-causing bacteria start to form, consider sharing your washer and dryer with a neighbor.