Celebrate Earth Day by living a green lifestyle and growing some green in your pocket too. This month, make an effort to break old habits and take a step away from energy-waste to energy-smart.
“By maintaining your appliances regularly, you can extend the life of your investment and save energy,” said Doug Rogers, president of Mr. Appliance. “The harder an appliance has to work to do its job, the more energy it consumes in the process, which puts a strain on the appliance, the environment and on your energy bills.”
Follow these simple tips from Mr. Appliance to make your appliances not only benefit planet earth, but also your pocketbook.
Open the Door to More Savings
- Give your refrigerator some breathing room by keeping the appliance at least two or three inches away from the wall. Place your refrigerator away from direct sunlight and appliances that produce heat to make your refrigerator run more efficiently.
- Do you crave a midnight snack, but can’t decide what to eat? Keep your fridge full, not only to satisfy all of your midnight munchies, but also to help the fridge save energy after recovery from the door being open.
- Check and care for the rubber seals surrounding the inside of your fridge by using mild soap twice a year to help prevent cracked and torn seals. Use your money to test the seals by placing a dollar bill halfway inside the refrigerator door. If the dollar pulls out easily, then your losing money in more than one way and it may be time to replace the rubber seals.
- Enjoy a night of leftovers and defrost your fridge regularly. The frost build-up wastes energy by making the compressor run longer.
Keep the Heat Inside of Your Oven and Out of Your Pocket
- If you notice your food cooking unevenly or it is taking longer than before, it may be time to replace cracked or torn door seals that can allow up to 20% of heat to escape.
- When cooking up your favorite meal, turn off electric burners two to three minutes before you finish cooking and let the residual heat sauté the rest to perfection.
- Save yourself a step by planning out your cooking schedule to only bake in the oven instead of preheating. Sometimes there is no need to preheat if the food requires more than an hour in the oven.
- When tidying up your kitchen don’t forget about your electric and gas burners. Clean burners allow for a more efficient use of energy.
Clean Plate, Clean Mind
- Save up to 20 gallons of water by hand -scraping your dishes, instead of running water for your pre-rinse.
- Give your dishes a breath of fresh air by turning your dishwasher setting to air-dry or open the dishwasher after the rinse cycle.
- Hold off on washing your dishes until you have a full load. Your dishwasher uses the same amount of water per cycle, so fill it up with all of your hand-scraped plates.
- Give your dishwasher a wash of its own by running an empty cycle with a citric acid-based cleaner. The cleaner will remove soap and calcium build-up that makes your dishwasher work harder than it has to.
Follow these do-it-yourself energy efficient tips periodically by adding them to your family calendar. To help prolong the life of your appliances, combine these tips with regular visits from your local appliance repair professional.
Through the use of simple maintenance tasks you can extend the life of your appliances, your bank account and most importantly, our planet.
