Appliances are the workhorses of daily life. They cook your food, wash your clothes, heat water, cool your rooms, and make modern life liveable. As hard as they toil for you, it’s no surprise they don’t last forever.
Most appliances will show signs of failing before they die. You should watch and listen for these and heed their message. Knowing when to put long-in-the-tooth appliances out to pasture will limit the inconvenience of downtime. In the process, you might find a better type of appliance to put in their place. Here are three appliances you’ll want to replace before they become unfixable.
1. Heating and Cooling Systems
Keeping your home warm during cold weather and cool during hot weather is a quality-of-life issue. Sleeping, cooking, or doing anything in a house that feels like a meat locker or blast furnace is difficult. Besides the humans and pets in the home, household appliances and electronics need well-regulated temperatures to function properly, too.
If you’ve noticed your heat is running for longer periods, especially during mildly cold temperatures, there may be an issue. Likewise, your system may be in peril if your utility costs are higher than usual. If you change a filter and the unit continues to run longer than normal, the problem could be major.
Murphy’s Law will likely apply to your HVAC system. It will stop working during extreme heat or cold, not during mild temps when your system would normally be off. Unless you’re proactive, you’ll be dealing with chocolate melting or water pipes freezing.
At the first sign of problems, have your system checked out? If it has lived beyond its years, don’t jump to replacing a central HVAC system with a new one. Other great options might be better for your home and your budget.
Consider a ductless AC unit as a more energy-efficient way to keep your home cool. A mini-split system can also heat your home in the cooler months. With an indoor air handler, an outdoor unit, and no ductwork, these systems can simplify your system and your life.
2. Water Heaters
Traditional water heaters are one of the biggest drains on your utility bill. It makes sense. They sit there keeping 30 to 60 or more gallons of water hot, day in and day out.
Even if you think your tank is working fine, check its date. If it’s more than 15 years old, you may be heating on borrowed time. When it can no longer keep up with household hot water demand, it’s definitely on its way out.
Sediment buildup in the tank will make the appliance work harder to keep the water hot. The electric coil or gas burner could be faulty. And if your water heater has started to leak even a little, dragging your feet on replacing it may cause serious water damage.
Besides the prospect of waking up to a cold shower, there are other reasons why delaying water heater replacement is a bad idea. The process involves more than just taking the old one out and putting the new one in its place. Plus, you’ll need time to research what you want to replace it with.
Take the opportunity to look into tankless electric or gas water heaters. They work more efficiently because they heat water on demand, not always. And while they may cost more initially, they’re likely to last up to twice as long as traditional storage tank models.
3. Refrigerators
The kitchen is the hub of the home, and the fridge is the hub of the kitchen. Few doors get opened and closed more often than those on a refrigerator. All that access can take its toll.
Frankly, your fridge is one appliance that it’s unhealthy to “get by” with. Warmer air inside, mold growth around door gaskets, and icemaker productivity decline are signs of impending doom. Popping noises and increasing heat from the coils behind the unit is also. If your milk goes sour quickly and food spoils faster than it used to, it’s time to seek a replacement.
Models have replaced the Frigidaire that cooled for 50 years with a much shorter life expectancy. Consumer Reports has a handy tool to calculate whether you should repair or replace your current fridge. It factors in the original cost, the age of the unit, and the repair estimate. But if your current unit is over a decade old, you should invest in a new one.
Refrigerators are increasingly energy-efficient, which helps your utility bill and the environment. They also keep adding convenient first-world features like writing your grocery list and notifying you before the creamer expires. You won’t be able to pass down a new refrigerator to your kids, but you’ll all enjoy it while it lasts.
Out With the Old and In With the New
You probably don’t give your household appliances much thought daily. That’s true even though life without them would be nigh well intolerable.
Instead of taking them for granted, take an inventory of your appliances, their ages, and how they perform. Start shopping for sales, research features on new models, and consider replacing them before things go badly. You’ll be glad you paid attention to your appliances’ signs of aging before they breathed their last.
