As the temperature starts to drop, household maintenance becomes increasingly important. Many things can go wrong that you should prepare for, including your garden, your air conditioner, plumbing, and your water tank. Getting ahead and keeping up with your appliance maintenance in your house in winter can save you a lot of trouble during winter and in the months thereafter.
This compilation of top tips will help you figure out what you should be doing.
Check your bulbs
Your bulbs are one of the most important aspects of household maintenance, especially in the winter when the nights draw in faster. You may not know that your bulbs can be negatively impacted by the cold and stop working completely. This happens more in external fixtures such as decorative lights and security systems. But it can happen in indoor lights too.
Excess emission of heat can cause them to burst when the temperature is cold, as the two extremes of temperature can put the glass under excess stress.
Checking your bulbs for cracks and switching them out every once in a while can save you from suddenly being caught out in the dark or your security system being left without lighting.
Changing your bulbs is one of the easiest household maintenance tips, as they only require a firm hand, a glove, and a stepladder. All you need to do is turn off the mains power source, wait for the bulb to cool (which won’t take long in a cold environment), unscrew the bulb with a gloved hand, and gently but firmly put the replacement bulb in.
Keep up with your garden
Your house in winter is the only place you want to be, you don’t want to be sitting in a frosty garden. However, this doesn’t mean you should completely neglect your garden and its needs. Overgrown plants can be a pain in the spring and summer, and you will want to minimise the amount of work you need to do when it starts to get warm.
Taking care of overgrowth and preventing vines from growing on your house can disperse the need to replace slabs and damaged bricks in the future while removing them. Alternatively, you could hire a landscaper to take care of your garden for you. Landscapers can take care of the surroundings of your house in winter, they don’t simply retire when the weather starts getting cold. They still offer services such as leaf removal and lawn preparation, to ensure your garden doesn’t fall too badly out of shape during winter.
Evaluate your AC
Appliance maintenance is integral in winter, especially for those machines that use cooling systems. If you notice any of the tell-tale signs that something is wrong with your air conditioner, for example, it is blowing hot air or making a terrible noise, you should have it fixed immediately. There could be a couple of reasons why this is, incorrect filter maintenance, a damaged compressor, and leaking refrigerant.
Leaking refrigerant is especially worrisome in winter, as there is a risk that your refrigerant will freeze and block up the pipes, or at the very least become more viscous and not work as it should. You can still use your AC in your house in winter to help circulate air and repel unwanted insects from coming in and multiplying.
You should endeavour to have an air conditioning technician evaluate your AC and figure out if there is something wrong that needs to be fixed.
Call in a plumber
Plumbing problems are rife in the winter, as the water in the underground pipes is exposed to lower temperatures than we feel on the surface freezes and bursts the pipes. This will not only affect the pipes themselves but can affect your bath, sinks, toilets, and more. Having a plumber evaluate the condition of your plumbing could prevent sudden bursts and out-of-action appliances that you need during winter.
To choose a plumber, you should be sure to ask for their accreditations, read their reviews and ask them plenty of questions to gauge their authenticity.
Although, there are some things you can do yourself without the help of a plumber, for example, bleeding your radiators is an incredibly helpful household maintenance method that could help your radiators to be more efficient. All you need to do is feel for cold spots to identify which radiators may be experiencing trapped air, turn the heating off and allow the radiators to cool. Then, place a cloth below the radiator valve and release it to bleed the trapped air. Some water may leak, but this is normal. Simply close the valve, check the boiler pressure, and confirm the efficiency of your bleed by waiting.
Re-Line your water tank
Whether you use your water tank to store potable or non-potable water, you should ensure that your tank is properly lined and in good condition. When it comes to appliance maintenance, servicing your water tank isn’t the cheapest task, but neither is a complete replacement of your tank. For this reason, you should have a specialist reline your water tank to keep your tank, you, and your water safe from bacteria.
When the surface of a water tank is constantly exposed to water for long periods, erosion of metals and minerals can occur, and your water can become contaminated. This deterioration is also responsible for cracks in your tank which may allow the ingress of bacteria. This bacteria can breed into far more dangerous viruses, such as Legionella, which can make you incredibly sick.
Always contact a professional to reline your water tank, as the confined space of a tank can be dangerous to those who aren’t trained for it.
We hope that we have alerted you to some of the things you should be doing for your household maintenance this winter.
