What should you do If Your Appliance Breaks During the Pandemic? Well, when Karen Burket’s 7-year-old dishwasher stopped working late last month, she had one thought: “We’re thankful it’s not the refrigerator,” says Burket, a research nurse who lives in Flagstaff, Arizona with her cardiologist husband and three daughters. “We don’t want to put the repair person at risk of getting the coronavirus—or us—so we’ll wait.”
Even though Burket and her family haven’t shown any symptoms of COVID-19, her cautious approach makes good sense amid the pandemic. But what if it had been her refrigerator? If the problem appliance is one you can’t do without, how do you decide if you should get it repaired or replaced?
In normal times, you’d want to base your decision on how old the appliance is, how many repairs it’s had, and the cost of parts and labor versus the price of a new machine. Now, If Your Appliance Breaks During the Pandemic, with social distancing necessary, you have to factor in whether it’s worth potentially risking the health of your family and the health of the technician to get something repaired. Meantime, some retailers may not be delivering and installing new appliances like they normally do.
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It may help to know how long various types of appliances typically last, so you can gauge whether a repair is worth it given how much life your appliance may have left.
Regardless of the brand or condition of your home appliance, if you’re in Flagstaff, Arizona or the surrounding areas, Kopa Home Services Appliance Repair is the way to go. Our in-home service call is only $49.95 and our technicians are factory trained to know your machine and give you an honest opinion of your options.
Read on for our advice on your options when something breaks: DIY fixes, hiring a technician, and shopping for a new appliance.
Is It a DIY Job?
If Your Appliance Breaks During the Pandemic, before you contact a repair person, see if the issue is something you can handle yourself. Start by taking a look at the most common problems and repairs for kitchen and laundry appliances, based on CR member surveys and interviews with appliance repair pros. Contact the appliance manufacturer’s customer service, or check with Kopa Home Services, the BEST home appliance repair service in Flagstaff and surrounding areas!
Give Kopa Home Services to see if it can offer any free advice, and help you with minor issues, like if you accidentally put your refrigerator in showroom mode, which stops the cooling.
“Consumers are looking to do repairs themselves rather than call for an outside repair person,” a Kopa Home Services rep says. “Shipping times, for the most part, have been on schedule. There are some pockets around the country experiencing delays but they have not been significant that we know of.”
Kopa Home Services reports that so far there’s no shortage of supplies, and most items are available for next-day shipping (except on Sundays).
If it is indeed your refrigerator that has conked out, you need to act quickly. First, keep the fridge and freezer doors closed as much as possible to contain the cold. Move perishables that freeze well—meat, poultry, and leftovers—to a stand-alone freezer, if you have one. Cook any other perishables you can within 4 hours, which is about how long the temperature inside a refrigerator can maintain a safe temperature of below 40° F. (The best freezers we’ve tested stay around 7° F after being unplugged for 9 hours.)
You can use a cooler packed with ice to keep food cold, but check with a food thermometer that the temperature of the food is 40° F or below to prevent bacterial growth.
Getting Your Appliance Repaired
If Your Appliance Breaks During the Pandemic and the issue is serious and requires a pro, keep in mind that a technician from Kopa Home Services is only a phone call away. Most other service providers can’t stock all of the parts for all of the brands, so it could be weeks or more before your appliance is working again. But Kopa Home Services keeps a large stock of commonly replaced appliance parts from all major brands.
What Precautions You Should Take,
When you call for an appointment?
See what steps will be taken to keep both your family and the technician safe. Ask:
• What precautions will the repair person take prior to entering my home? For example, does the technician clean tools and other supplies with a disinfectant before each repair visit? Does the technician use hand sanitizer before and after appointments? Do your repair people wear masks?
• What measures are taken as the technician enters the home, and once inside? Can I talk to the technician before the appointment to go over precautions? Will the technician be wearing a mask and disposable gloves, and maintaining a 6-foot distance? (You should do what you can to try to keep 6 feet between you and the technician at all times.)
If you do have your appliance fixed, disinfect it by scrubbing the surface with soap and water. The friction of the scrubbing can break the coronavirus’s protective envelope. Toss the towel or allow it to soak in soapy water to destroy any virus particles that might have survived. And, of course, wash your hands.
Buying a New Appliance
Although home centers remain open during this pandemic, there are special considerations if you’re shopping for an appliance now. Keep in mind that you should avoid going into stores and shop online instead, because it may be difficult to maintain social distancing in a store.
If you want to buy from a big name store, Many still have on-site inventory and offer curbside store pick-up or delivery. You can shop online at a number of retailers, but be sure to check for availability and delivery time before you place an order.
Other Tips
Measure your space. This is always important, but it’s especially so now, since you don’t want to have to return an appliance. Allow for ventilation (refrigerator) or hoses (washer). Measure the doors to your home, and any others the appliance will need to fit through to get to its location. You can find the dimensions for models in our ratings for washers, dryers, ranges, and refrigerators.
Scan our ratings. Before you shop, research different models’ performance and features by consulting their ratings. Narrow your list to at least a handful of models, given that some may not be available right away. Top-freezer refrigerators, for example, are usually easier to get than other types, and are relatively inexpensive. A top-freezer fridge may not be your top pick, but for now, it may have to do and you can always move it to your basement or sell it later on. And take a good look at models designated as CR Best Buys. They offer impressive performance at an appealing price, if you’re looking for a replacement without spending a lot.
Check retailer’s hours. They may close earlier than usual during the pandemic so that they can clean and restock daily. Home Depot stores, for example, close at 6 p.m., and Lowe’s shut its doors at 7 p.m. Sears and Best Buys stores are closed temporarily, but you can shop on their websites.
Ask about delivery, installation, and haul-away. Retailers may have changed their policies, and continue to do so, especially if anybody in your household has tested positive for the coronavirus. Remember, Kopa Home Services also provides Handyman services. We can install any and all new appliances and insure their functionality FOR YOU. Never second guess an install, get the pro’s at Kopa Home Services to install it for you.
You can also buy appliances on the manufacturers’ websites. These sites indicate whether home delivery and installation are still available in your zip code, just remember that Kopa Home Handyman Services insure it’s done RIGHT! If you place an order, you’ll be asked three screening questions to ensure the health and safety of the delivery team. So, If Your Appliance Breaks During the Pandemic Kopa Home Services is here for YOU!
