Try These Cheap Fixes Before Replacing an Appliance

I come from a family of replacers, not fixers. Whenever an appliance stopped working, we would give it away to someone in the neighborhood to fix while my mother would shop for an upgrade.

Because I am not a woman of leisure, I cannot afford to just replace expensive appliances when they start to act up. Because I am also absurdly self determined, I can’t abide spending money when I don’t have to. And I am frequently amazed at how easy (and cheap) it is to fix many appliance problems yourself, saving a ton of cash in the process.

Before replacing your dishwasher, try deep cleaning tablets

While taking the visible parts on the inside of the dishwasher out and cleaning them is absolutely something you should consider, the best first step is to just use dishwasher cleaning tablets.

It seems to simple, but appliance experts agree they actually work. If your dishes aren’t getting clean, run the machine on empty using one of these cleaning tablets instead of your usual dishwashing detergent. Chances are good it will clear up the issue.

If it doesn’t work, you can also spend an hour taking apart the interior of your dishwasher to thoroughly clean out the drain. Head on over to YouTube and search for your dishwasher model, and you’ll undoubtedly find videos showing you how to dissemble the drain to clean it. But hopefully you won’t need to.

Deep-cleaning dishwasher tablets and dishwasher pods that won’t cause buildup:

If your dryer is taking forever to dry, clean the vent

Last year I was convinced I needed a new dryer. Mine was a decade old and had stopped drying my clothes. Determined to try absolutely everything before dropping money on a new set, I hired someone to clean my vents. Voila: dry clothes.

Watching the cleaners attach a suspiciously retail-level cleaning device to their power drill, I thought, “I bet I can get that on Amazon,” and I was not wrong: For a lot less than the cost of a professional cleaning visit, you can get a dryer vent cleaning kit that attaches to your power drill. You access the vent from the spot where the dryer hose attaches to the wall.

Since cleaning the actual hose—the droopy elephant trunk that comes off your dryer and attaches to the wall, is a pain because of the attachment points, I also bought a quick connect kit to make detaching and reattaching it much simpler.. It uses space-saving 90-degree angled ports, and the hose attaches using a piece of rubber; it’s lasted me a few years so far. (An additional tip—ensure your hose is the right length; if it drapes on the ground, water will collect in it, which will contribute to your drying problems.)

To take care of lint inside the dryer itself, I also purchased an attachment for my vacuum that reaches into the vent, and really sucks everything out. (I also got a magnetic lint bin to stick to the side of the appliance.)

It’s now been two years, my dryer works better than ever.

Everything you need to clean your dryer vents:

If your microwave is sparking, try steam cleaning it

Recently, my microwave started sparking, so I got rid of it right away—I thought the spark meant death. It turns out it can be a sign of a few different parts needing replacement, but it can also mean it just needs a deep clean. As you use your microwave, grease and food particles can collect on the waveguide cover, and those “sparks” can be the food burning as the microwave heats them up.

I don’t advocate puttering around replacing innards on anything this complex, but I am down to try a deep clean. You can try some low-rent hacks (like microwaving a fully wet sponge), but a better way is to get a gadget specifically designed for steam cleaning. I bought a tiny microwave steam cleaner and now use it regularly.

Deep clean your microwave:

Self-cleaning mode is killing your oven

The self cleaning setting is the number one reason ovens die. Modern ovens and stovetops include complicated, expensive computer components that apparently don’t enjoy high heat and are expensive to replace. But you do still need to clean them well—he number two reason ovens die is due to a fire caused by grease buildup under the stovetop.

To pivot away from relying on the self clean setting, you can use a tried and true oven cleaner. Spray it on, wait a few minutes, and then wipe off. (Scrub Daddies are really useful here.)

When it comes to your stovetop, you can usually replace the drip pans and the burners easily, and should do so when the drip pans can’t be cleaned throughly. They come in different sizes, so you’ll need to search by your stovetop model.

You can prevent the problem from reoccurring by using a stovetop protector like StoveGuard, which come in different configurations to fit your model. Some brands offer gas burner protection as well.

Keep your oven and stovetop clean:

What to do if your vacuum doesn’t suck

I hate to clean a cleaning device, but an occasional deep cleaning is what keeps my vacuum actually sucking. When it lacks suction, my first act is to turn it upside down and check there’s nothing blocking the rollers, and that the rollers themselves are clean. If you have long hair, or a floofy pet, all that hair will eventually strangle your vacuum roller. The good news is they are easily replaced.

Modern vacuums are generally designed to be easy to take apart. Disconnect the tubes and hoses and clean each one out over the garbage can. Don’t use a wire hanger to clear blockages, as you might pierce the hose, which will need to be replaced. (A wooden spoon handle can push out anything you can’t reach with fingers.)

Obviously, replace filters regularly, as well as any brushes that aren’t functioning the way they should. I’d make a bet that literally any broken part of your vacuum, particularly on the outside, can be replaced on Amazon. For expensive vacuums like a Dyson, this can mean saving $1,000.

Get your vacuum sucking again:

Happy cleaning/repairing/maintaining—and money saving.