House Maintenance

shiggybop

Confession time. I didn't know we had a furnace filter...That's right folks. I didn't change it til sunday, and we have lived here for 2.5 years. :-$ What else should I be doing? How often do you vacuum out the lint trap for your dryer Or clean under your fridge? I need help, obviously.

tinyhumantoe

There is an 'under' to the fridge?  I don't even clean the inside, and I'm well aware that exists

MarisaKathleen

This is exactly why I hire people to clean our house.  

Prior to that, I guess none of us died, or ever got sick, so clearly it wasn't that big of a deal if we didn't clean under the fridge, vacuum our lint trap, or take the stove apart to clean the damn glass.  All that dust builds immunities, right? ;-)

BeebopandBuddy

I clean under my fridge...um...never. I do cleant the lint trap of the dryer with water and a toothbrush a couple of times a year because I read it helps it run more efficiently and reduces fire risk. I assume DH changes the furnace filter. I guess I should ask him. Clearly I'm not any better than upu are.

hmp1

I pulled out our fridge not long ago when our water stopped working. It wasn't bad at all, only 1 magnet. I'm not worried about cleaning under there. I was a bit grossed out by the side of my range when I pulled it out to paint the cabinets. I will need to remember to hit that up at least once a year.

We have our HVAC serviced every year and they handle all the maintenance for it.

Being in TX,  I would just pay attention to your foundation. Make sure it isn't getting too dry or too wet. 

Pokedot

So really, really dumb dryer question. I always clean the lint trap area whenever I change out loads of laundry. It's located in the front and catches the lint from all the clothes. What other spot are you all talking about? I've never cleaned anywhere else. ">

As for under the fridge, that happens like once every couple years. It's a hard spot to clean the way our kitchen is set up. I'll clean the oven when its yucky on the bottom but I usually use the "self cleaning" mode.

We have hot water heat so no filter for us.

kelbel527

DH takes care of the furnace filter.  Our old furnace needed it changed out more often, otherwise the heat stopped working.  It was probably close to needing a new furnace.  Glad we moved.  

I don't do anything extra to the lint trap in the dryer.  Under the fridge is close to never.  I clean the oven when it gets too dirty.  I'm not the model housekeeper though, so I am probably the wrong person to ask.

Only 2 more months until I get my cleaning service back!

BeebopandBuddy

There is a vent where the dryer vents to the outside. You have to clean it every few months or it will clog and the dryer will lose efficiency. We found this out after replacing our dryer when the new one still didn't work. Could have saved $700.

I am talking about the lint filter inside to clean with a toothbrush. If you wet the screen you can see how clogged up it still is even with routine cleaning. That's why I scrub it a couple of times a year.

tinyhumantoe

I bet this is why my dryer sucks ass.

hmp1

Pokedot said:

So really, really dumb dryer question. I always clean the lint trap area whenever I change out loads of laundry. It's located in the front and catches the lint from all the clothes. What other spot are you all talking about? I've never cleaned anywhere else. ">

As for under the fridge, that happens like once every couple years. It's a hard spot to clean the way our kitchen is set up. I'll clean the oven when its yucky on the bottom but I usually use the "self cleaning" mode.

We have hot water heat so no filter for us.

The tin coil behind the dryer that hooks to the vent.

hmp1

I should clean the jets on the tub but I don't.

kelbel527

tinyhumantoe said:

I bet this is why my dryer sucks ass.

It could be.  We got a brand new washer and dryer and our new dryer stopped working.  When they came out to "fix" it, we learned that our issue wasn't the dryer, or just cleaning out the vent, but that our vent went above our garage and out the other side of the house.  It was too long and the condensation from being in the garage was causing it to create build-up.  We had to change where our vent was going and it made a huge difference.  I imagine normal build-up can do much of the same.

smb+jab

We change our filters every three months and have our furnace / system serviced and cleaned every six months (fall and spring)

 although it should be more frequently as it seems our allergy filters with the smaller pores clog with with the dirty propane gas.  something i learned when the last guy who "serviced" our system didn't do a good job plus the filter build up = no working heat at the start of winter.  it did save me some money on propane but the house was mighty cold!!

I will admit i do not clean under the fridge.  i do try to be diligent about cleaning the dryer lint but i am not sure i am that efficient.....

tinyhumantoe

Question - how often do you all run wash cycles with hot water and on what?  Towels?

hmp1

tinyhumantoe said:

Question - how often do you all run wash cycles with hot water and on what?  Towels?

I think sheets are the only thing I wash on hot.  If I do a load of only towels, I do hot but usually I just have towels tossed in with clothes.

BeebopandBuddy

@‌ THT Towels, bedding, rugs

It's pretty much anything I wash on the Heavy Duty cycle.

bosha711

Our furnace filter gets changed with our service contract - twice a season, I think.

Under, behind & the sides of the appliances. Ugh. I am afraid to even look. I keep saying it'll all get cleaned when we get a new kitchen floor. Which we've been intending on doing for the past 3 years, lol.

I didn't know about the dryer vent. I'll have to ask MH. I did hear that you're supposed to replaces those silver tube things every 5 years b/c they're a fire hazard.

smb+jab

Towels I wash in hot cold and i try to do a load every other week (when I have enough for a full load), but we'll switch towels when they start to smell (I guess its that wet towel smell if  that makes sense...)  

Bath mats also get hot / cold but they do not get tossed in the dryer, i line dry them...!

I wash our sheets in cold as the label said "wash in cold, tumble dry low".  I will bump it up to warm cold if say DS has an accident in our bed, which has been known to happen....

kelbel527

We reserve hot for sheets, towels or rugs.  If a kid has an accident, their sheets, clothes and anything else ends up on hot as well.

The rest of the stuff is usually cold water.

Eastie156

I'll admit we were bad about cleaning the dryer vent and cleaning the furnace/replacing the filter at our condo before Ethan. The. He was born and we only lived there about a year before we sold, so we were better about cleaning the furnace and making sure to clean the dryer vent.

In our house now, they told us to replace the furnace filter in the first month or two, since it's a newly built house, but my brother looked at it at Christmas and it looked ok. I never clean under fridges or on the sides of the range-do people do that ?

Eastie156

Don't know where my full response went, but anywho, the only new thing we have to do here is make sure the salt in our filtration/salinization system is kept full. We keep forgetting to check it.

jenndub

I've lived here for over 4 years and have never cleaned under the fridge. Or cleaned the lint trap from my dryer. Yikes.

Holly_1007

I've never cleaned my oven. It really really really needs to be replaced. It's so ancient. It's so gross. Ugh. Idk if I have a furnace?? Now I'm concerned

elizabethwig

shiggybop said:

Confession time. I didn't know we had a furnace filter...That's right folks. I didn't change it til sunday, and we have lived here for 2.5 years. :-$ What else should I be doing? How often do you vacuum out the lint trap for your dryer Or clean under your fridge? I need help, obviously.

this is one of the few perks of renting. i figure that's what my deposit is for: to make someone else clean the 4 years of accumulated filth between appliances. it's just too far gone now for me. 

watercolor5

I was patting myself on the back for having cleaned the oven and inside the fridge this week haha.  I have no intention of cleaning under appliances, probably until we change up flooring?  We pretty much just clean that when we have to move them for some reason. 

I'm probably due to clean the dryer lint trap.  I thought the only thing we had to change on our HVAC was the air filters, which we do based on the lifespan/quality of the filters we put in... I better double check that with DH that there isn't another filter to change.

The other thing I never have any idea how often to clean is the fireplace chimney.  You look it up online and google pretty much just says it varies.  We only have fires  a couple months a year, and not nightly, so it seems like we shouldn't have to have our chimney swept super often, but IDK. 

Luckily we've only been in the house a year, so nothing is too far gone haha.

Flamingemu

So I have terrible allergies. DH changes our air filter every 2 or 3 months. We have a bunch of reusable ones that he just cleans and reuses so we aren't so wasteful. My allergies have gotten better since then,

We pull out the stove and fridge twice a year to clean. When Shady was still alive the most we ever found back there was piles (and piles!) of dog hair. I bet it will be a lot cleaner now..

Nita2603

Air filter used to be every month, with the new furnace it's every three.
I clean the trap of the dryer after every use. The whole vent though? Never, I guess.