Until home builders and manufacturers figure out for new ways for household appliances to be powered, we will still plug our appliances into our home’s electrical outlets. In other words, as we use our appliances, they will use up energy.
According to Energy.gov, A/C-heating units account for nearly 2/3 of a standard home’s energy, while water heaters take up another 20% of energy. Other household appliances that suck up energy include your refrigerator/freezer, home lighting, left-on computers and more. All in all, Americans pay about $2,000/year for household energy.
But with a little effort, you can cut back on home energy usage in several of these areas. This effort can mean the difference between a smooth-running household appliance and lower energy bills, or finding appliance replacement parts online.
Refrigerator and freezer:
- Avoid continuous opening and closing of refrigerators and freezers. In doing so, this lowers the coolness factor within, and the appliance has to use more energy to get cold. In busy household with children continuously looking for cold drinks, snacks and more, this can be a parent’s biggest frustration.
- Downsize if you have more than 1 refrigerator. Do you really need that basement fridge or freezer on all the time for the few cans of soda that are in there? If not, pull the plug and watch your energy bill lower.
- Items that you want to keep really cold place on the top shelf of the refrigerator, as this is where the cold air comes in at. Items that you do not want ice cold place in the shelves on the door. By doing this you can adjust the temperature settings on your refrigerator. The less it runs the less energy it uses.
Dishwasher:
- Pack your dishwasher only with a full load. Stop running the dishwasher with just a few plates within it. That’s a 30-40 minute cycle that is using a lot of energy to get a few dishes done.
- No heat drying option. Is that heat drying option super important? If not, consider using the air dry option instead.
Range, Stove and Oven:
- Can you combine oven use for several food items? For instance in our house, if the oven is on for a meat or pasta entrée, we usually get some cookies ready to bake afterwards, as the oven is already heated up.
- To clean, consider using the oven’s self-cleaning cycle for a thorough clean.
Laundry Washer-Dryer
- Reduce energy use with cold water washes whenever possible.
- Don’t overload the machine with too many clothes. The larger the load, the more energy the motor needs to use to wash the clothes.
- Use smaller water levels for smaller loads and larger levels for bigger loads. Make sure the clothes are under the water line in the wash drum.
With rising energy costs, it’s important to save money on energy use for household appliances. Using a little common sense and normal maintenance, you can cut the amount of energy used in your house and save on household appliance wear and tear.
And if you ever need replacement parts for household appliances, check out Appliance Parts Company. We provide replacement parts, advice and warranties from leading manufacturers like General Electric, Whirlpool and Maytag to customers all over the US.
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