At home with your parents everything works and most of the household will be done ‘automatically’ Dust and dirt on furniture and on the floor is easy to trace. But what about spots in the house that are crucial for releasing/draining water?
Did you ever clean the filter of your washing machine or dish washer? Or have you ever unclogged the drain of the sink in the kitchen or the shower? If you do not do this regularly, equipment will stop working and even may be damaged? Who will pay for repair? Or even worse: who will replace it or will pay the company that will release the drain or replace parts? You as a tenant of a student apartment are responsible as well keeping the house and its equipment in shape. The landlord counts on your responsibility and most probably inserted a clause in your rental contract stating the house and equipment should be cleaned regularly.
Cleaning invisible places
Every country has its own systems and installations in houses. Therefore we hereby explain how it works in the Netherlands in general. First of all make clear appointments with your housemates to tidy the house and the invisible spots regularly. Taking action if a washing machine does not pump its water away and will stop in the middle of a washing program, is in fact too late.
4 tips to clean your washing machine
Your washing machine stinks and you are afraid that your laundry will stink too. There is a good chance that this is due to aphid. This is an accumulation of, among other things, dander and soap scum. Time to remove the stench from your washing machine. For example, by turning a hot wash or cleaning the soap dish. Read here how to remove bad smells and soap rests from a washing machine.
tip 1: Remove dirt and awful smell
Buy some baking soda at the grocery, put 1 tablespoon in the soap reservoir. Close the door of the washing machine (don’t put laundry in). Choose a program that will heat up the water to 90 degrees celsius (cotton program). Start the program and have it finished. Your machine will be clean on the inside again.
tip 2: Clean the rubber ring
Also do not forget to regularly clean the rubber ring around the drum opening. Dirt gets into it unnoticed. Make soapy water with hot water and a splash of dish soap. Dip a clean cloth into the soap and wipe the rubber ring, also on the inside. Finally, dry the rubber with a cloth.
tip 3: Clean the soap tray and prevent from using too much soap
Take out the soap tray and clean it with soapy hot water. Put it back again.
Nowadays one uses ‘pods’ (ready made balls for cleaning their clothes) in the washing machine. If you only want to wash two trouwers for example and you use 1 pod that contains very concentrated soap, the soap will ‘explode’ and come out of all openings of the washing machine, cannot be drained and could cause damage. So please dose your soap consumption and use powder or liquid soap.
tip 4: Clean the filter
The drain pump filter ensures the correct and prolonged operations of the washing machine. Take a look at this video how to clean the filter.
If the machine is in error, please send a picture of the display indicating the error as well as the brand and type number of your machine to your desk manager. Then he/she knows what is wrong and who to call to fix it.
Cleaning or unclogging shower drains
Not one of the favorite household chores … but necessary. Shower drains can become clogged easily with minerals from hard water, hair and soap. Most of the time hair is the culprit causing the clog. You can easily remove it by pulling it out with your hands. If you are doing this once in a fortnight you certainly don’t have to try the next tips;) If that doesn’t work anymore, try using a wire hanger or a plunger.
Did you try it all and there is no result yet, try a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. Throw the mixture in the drain before you go to sleep and wait until next morning. Put hot water down the drain and hopefully it is running again. If not, inform the desk manager. The plumber will be called.
How to prevent the kitchen sink from being clogged?
Pans on the stove still covered with butter or fat in which you just cooked meet or fried potatoes… Before cleaning dishes, pans, etc. in the sink, wipe them with a paper cloth to absorb the fat and throw it in the bin. Doing the dishes with hot water in the sink while fat is still there will clogg the drain after a while as fat will solidify and attach to the inside of the drain once the temperature is too low to keep the fat liquid. The layer will soon become thicker and thicker until the drain is completely clogged. A plumber is the only solution. You can imagine it is not a cheap one.
How to keep your dishwasher running?
Nothing more boring than cleaning appliances. Treating your dishwasher with care will save you a lot of time. Doing your dishes without a machine is the only option left if your machine stops working. Watch this tutorial how to clean your dishwasher with natural means and take action. Always remove food rest before putting your dishes in the machine. If a glass has been broken, remove the glass immediately. If an error appears on the display, make a picture and send it together with the brand and type number to your desk manager or chek if there is a reset possibility in a manual you can find on the internet. Some students are op opinion that repairing a dishwasher has to be treated like an emergency. Unfortunately for them this is not the case. Doing the dishes by hand will be the case.
Defrost your freezer every six months?
Grabbing a pizza from the freezer will be done frequently. In order to store as many pizza’s as possible you have to defrost your freezer every six months to prevent ice against the walls is getting thicker and thicker. This will take a lot more electricity to keep the temperature minus zero, the space will be limited and in the worst case you cannot even close the door anymore. Getting rid of ice in your freezer should be done with caution. Watch this tutorial how.
Back from vacation? Flush your faucets!
Have you not been home for more than a week? Then the water has stood still in your home for a while. Standing water affects the quality of the drinking water. During a warm summer (25 degrees or warmer) there is also a chance that bacteria will grow in the pipes in your home. That is why it is good to flush the taps for one minute immediately after returning from your holiday. To avoid contamination with Legionella bacteria, we especially recommend rinsing the shower head submerged in a bucket of water.
Flushing tips
Flush the toilet first
Open all cold and hot water taps for one minute. Let the water flow smoothly and prevent the water from misting.
Hold the shower nozzle under water in a bucket or remove the nozzle from the faucet. This will prevent you from inhaling the water vapor.
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