Get a text when maintenance is due

Coils are the clearest example. Dust plus 110-degree air is what kills compressors here, and a refrigerator whose coils have never been touched can lose years off its life without ever showing a symptom until the day it stops. Twenty minutes, twice a year. We'd rather remind you than sell you a compressor.

It's the same reason every appliance page on this site has a free check. If you can fix it yourself, go ahead.

• What will you remind me about?

  Only the jobs that pay off in Arizona. Vacuuming the refrigerator's condenser coils twice a year, clearing the defrost drain once a year, cleaning freezer coils twice a year, and checking washer fill hoses for bulges or rust at the metal ends. The rest of a typical maintenance list is filler.

• Why do condenser coils matter so much here?

  Dust plus 110-degree air is what kills compressors in Arizona. Vacuuming the coils buys you more life out of a refrigerator than any other job in this climate, so it's on the list twice a year instead of once.

• What temperature should my freezer be running at?

  Zero degrees Fahrenheit. Don't trust the display. Put a thermometer in a glass of water inside overnight and read that. It's worth doing once a year.

• Is a garage freezer really working harder?

  A lot harder. A freezer in an Arizona garage in summer is working harder than anything else in the house, so its coils need cleaning twice a year, not once.