Category: Featured

Customer service is always a priority at Westside, but when we received a call last month from an active military family in need, we kicked it into high gear to make sure they had a working washing machine as soon as possible.

With a baby due in a week and a husband soon returning from deployment, a customer called us in tears hoping to find a solution for her broken washer. Westside’s owner, Joe Chmelka, is a veteran, as well as a few of our technicians, so we understood firsthand the stress military spouses can feel navigating these issues alone. Imagining all the tiny baby clothes that will soon need to be washed and a family trying to find normalcy during this exciting stage of their lives, we knew we had to find a solution quickly.

Due to the global shortage of replacement appliance parts, we were on the hunt to find the right part for their Whirlpool washer, but we were also calling around to local retailers to find a similar washer in stock. We had a backup plan of purchasing a new washer for the family in the case that we couldn’t find a replacement part in time. In the end, having Central Iowa’s largest supply of appliance parts paid off, and we were able to find the part she needed.

Happy tears were shed as we were able to repair her washer within two days, just in time for the extra loads of onesies!

Does a cluttered fridge = a cluttered mind? Regardless of your organizational style, a messy fridge can lead to a foodborne illness and your appliance working harder than it needs to. A clean fridge can keep both YOU and your appliance healthy! If the longer days of spring and additional sunshine have shed light on your dirty refrigerator, spend some time this month spring cleaning it.

Start with the Outside

It’s hard to keep stainless steel looking shiny and smudge-free of fingerprints, water spots and streaks! Before cleaning, check your owner’s manual or manufacturer’s website to see what cleaners they recommend to avoid. When cleaning the outside of your refrigerator, avoid harsh abrasives, scouring powders, steel wool, bleach, and ammonia. Instead, opt for a soft cloth dipped in warm water mixed with a mild dish detergent. If you can still see fingerprints, spray a glass cleaner onto a soft cloth and wipe fingerprints away.

Don’t forget to clean underneath or behind your fridge as well! Dirt, dust, and pet hair can clog your refrigerator’s condenser coils, making your compressor work harder and longer than it’s designed to do. With Westside’s Premium Appliance Maintenance Package, we’ll remove all of the dust and debris from your condenser coils to help your fridge keep its cool.

Get a Cooler Ready & Start to Scrub

According to the FDA, foods that need to be refrigerated should never sit out at room temperature for longer than two hours. To play it safe, store the food you plan to keep in a cooler while you’re spring cleaning out your fridge. Once you’ve emptied your fridge, fill your sink with hot, soapy water and thoroughly wash the shelves, drawers, and pull-out compartments.

While all the compartments are drying, take a soapy microfiber cloth and scrub down the inside of your refrigerator from top to bottom. Rise frequently and repeat if necessary. Have a tough spill? Dip your cloth in soapy water and sprinkle it with a small amount of baking soda. This will act as a gentle abrasive to help you clean the mess up.

When in Doubt, Throw It Out

As you start to refill your fridge, check your foods and condiments for expiration or best-by dates, and restock safe foods. Toss any items that look funny, feel or smell weird, have expired, or that you know you’ll probably never going to use. If you’re on the fence about an item, use the motto, “When in doubt, throw it out!” To keep your fridge clean, wipe down any sticky lids or spills on the packaging.

Let Westside help you with your spring cleaning!

Browse our different Maintenance Packages, with services including Dryer Vent Cleaning, Gas Fireplace Cleaning, Refrigerator Coil Cleaning, Washing Machine Refresh, Dishwasher Refresh, Garbage Disposal Refresh and a Refrigerator Water Filter Change.

The appliance industry is not immune to the supply chain issues that have impacted the world due to COVID-19. Currently, there is not only a shortage of new appliances available, but also the parts needed to repair your current appliances.

At Westside, we are doing our best to anticipate delays and stock up so that repairs can be made at the time of your service appointment. One way you can help speed up the repair process is to provide us with your appliance’s make, model number and serial number.

Because manufacturers are running behind, shipping for your necessary part may be delayed. At Westside, we do our best to diagnose your appliance’s potential issues by the information you give us at the time you schedule your service. With a general idea of what might be wrong with your appliance, we’ll order parts for your specific appliance ahead of time so it can be available at time of service. With manufacturer delays, we may need to schedule a second trip to complete our repair after confirming our diagnosis (or discovering a different issue) during our first visit.

While these delays are inconvenient, we don’t recommend for our customers to seek out these parts through unauthorized retailers. Suppliers like Amazon are NOT factory-authorized by appliance manufacturers to sell their branded parts. You cannot rely on these retailers to have in-stock parts consistently for every make and model of appliance, and it can be costly if you purchase the wrong one! You’ll get what you pay for, appliance parts that are cheap to buy but aren’t factory-quality are more likely to break down faster.

Leave your appliance repair to the experts! Follow these instructions to find your appliance’s model and serial number, and schedule your repair today!

It seems counterintuitive that some microwaves come with a removable metal rack in them. You may have learned the hard way that metal and microwaves don’t mix, like accidentally leaving aluminum foil on your leftovers, or making tea in a metallic coffee mug. Some stoneware containing trace amount of metal can also throw sparks when zapped.

So, is it OK to use the metal cooking rack? YES, but only if you use it properly!

Microwaves that come with racks are specifically designed for the oven they come in. The rack is ideal for giving you more space to heat up two or more containers at the same time. They attach to plastic or rubber clips on the sides of the oven, out of contact with other metal in the microwave that could cause it to become reactive. Do not attempt to use any other rack, besides those supplied with your microwave. It’s also best to remove it if you do not need the additional surface, as this rack does get hot.

Here are a few reminders from Whirlpool when using your Microwave’s rack:

• Do not allow the rack to touch the inside cavity walls, ceiling or floor.
• Do not cook with the shelf on the microwave floor. This could damage the microwave.
• Do not use metal cookware, utensils, or a browning dish with the rack.
• Do not let food container on rack touch the top or sides of the oven.
• Do not cook food directly on the rack. Always use a microwave-safe container.

Is your microwave malfunctioning? Give us a call or schedule your appointment online!

Looking for some expert appliance repair advice? Westside Appliance Repair’s Owner and CEO, Joe Chmelka, always recommends passing on purchasing (or renewing) their appliance’s extended warranty through the manufacturer. “I always tell friends and family NOT to buy the extended warranty. They are typically expensive, and the money does not stay local!”

While extended warranties may sound like a great safety net, extended warranty companies are not easy to deal with when your appliance breaks down. Instead of having a staff of repair technicians, they rely on local companies like Westside to complete the repairs for them. Because the manufacturer or extended warranty companies want to make money too, they pay us a much lower rate than what we’d typically charge customers. Therefore, we use our discretion based on profitability and workload to decide whether or not to take the repair (most of our local competitors also decline these jobs). The companies that pick up these jobs are typically inexperienced.

With an extended warranty, you may be paying MORE to have a much longer wait for your service to be completed – and you will have to wait even longer after the initial diagnosis for your appliance part.

Skip the extended warranty and call Westside at 515-276-8899 (or visit our online scheduler) the next time your appliance is on the fritz! We offer a VIP program that puts you on our priority repair list for guaranteed service within 1-2 business days. Learn more about our program here!

The springtime sunshine often sheds light on the dust and dirt that have been accumulating in your home all winter. While online spring cleaning checklists may direct you to wax your hardwood floors and shampoo your carpets, it is also a great time of year to give your appliances a little TLC, so they can perform better throughout the year. Here are a few easy appliance cleaning tips recommended from our experts at Westside to extend the life of your appliances:

Your dishwasher and clothes washer need to be cleaned, too!

Your dishwasher and clothes washer make life so much easier! While they help you save time and water (and money on your water bill), it’s easy to forget that they too need to be cleaned in order to perform their best and last longer.

To clean your dishwasher, pull out the racks and wipe down the inside of your dishwasher with warm, soapy water. Scrub the rack’s wheels with a toothbrush to get out any hidden bacteria. Then, fill the detergent cup with Affresh Dishwasher Cleaner (which you can purchase over the phone and for contactless pick-up at our Urbandale office: 2877 99^th St. ). The dishwasher cleaner will get rid of lime deposits, stains and icky odors in your dishwasher. Plus, it’s safe to use with dishes and detergent, so you can use the cleaning tablet while running a cycle. The tablets are designed to descale your dishes and glassware, leaving them sparkling clean.

Disinfecting your washing machine is also simple to do! Just run an empty cycle with hot water, put some distilled white vinegar and baking soda in, and let it sit for 30-60 minutes. Restart your machine, let the water drain, and wipe it dry when you’re done. We also recommend Affresh Washer Cleaner, which is specifically formulated to break up dirt and residue in your washer (also available for contactless pick-up at our office in Urbandale).

Wipe up soup splatters and tough spills from your microwave.

Soup may have helped to warm your soul over the winter months, but heating it up in the microwave often leads to spills, splatters and even explosions – leaving you with tough residue that is difficult to scrub off. One easy solution to clean your microwave is to place a coffee mug or bowl filled with water and some lemon slices in your microwave and heat on high power for 3 minutes. Then, let the water sit for 3 minutes. The steam will soften the dried food spills and will leave a lemon-y aroma to eliminate any odors. Wipe the entire interior and exterior of the microwave with a cloth and warm, soapy water. Dry it with a clean cloth.

Don’t forget about cleaning out your dryer vents and gas fireplace!

Your dryer has been working hard winter to regulate its warm temperature despite the cold weather. Make sure it doesn’t have to work harder than it needs to by cleaning out the dryer vent. Cleaning out your dryer vent will not only improve it efficiency and extend the life of your appliance, but it will also increase your safety. Clogged dryer vents are one of the top causes of house fires in the U.S., and are estimated to cause 2,900 home fires per year. Cleaning out your dryer vent helps reduce your risk!

Now is also a great time to clean your gas fireplace! After the long winter season, turn off the pilot light and wipe the exterior of your fireplace with a damp cloth to remove the dust from around it. You may want to consider calling a professional to deep clean your gas fireplace. Chemical cleaners, including normal gas cleaner, can fog up and damage the finish on your gas fireplace (and they are also very flammable).

Sign up for Westside’s Annual Fireplace/Dryer Vent Maintenance Program (AMP).

Join our Annual Fireplace/Dryer Vent Maintenance Program to save on important services that keep your appliances performing their best and help increase safety in your home. This new program consists of service twice a year.

In the spring, a Westside technician will:

• Turn off your fireplace pilot light
• Clean your dryer vent from the dryer to the exterior vent
• Clean the area behind the dryer
• Clean the area below and around the lint trap

In the fall, a Westside technician will:

• Completely clean the fireplace/add fresh embers (if needed for a small additional charge)
• Re-light the pilot light
• Check for gas leaks

The current price of these services if purchased separately is $319.98. Through the Annual Fireplace/Dryer Vent Maintenance Program, our special price is $279.99.

Book your maintenance today and sign up for the program by calling us at 515-276-8899.

Are you hosting a large meal this holiday season? While you’re busy prepping and cooking in the kitchen, it is easy to see how freezer and refrigerator space fills up quickly! Not to mention when your guests show up with a dish they brought in hopes to snag up your precious fridge real estate. Whether your refrigerator is broken, you’ve lost power due to a winter storm, or you have simply run out of room, a common midwestern solution is to take advantage of our cool winter weather and store food outside in your garage, on your deck or patio, or even keeping it chilled in a snowbank. These solutions are not advised by the USDA.

According to the USDA, food can thaw when exposed to the sun’s rays, even if the temperature remains very cold. If any sunshine does hit your food, the outer part will thaw slightly before freezing again. This could cause chilled food to enter into the “danger zone” of being warmer than 40 degrees but cooler than 140 degrees Fahrenheit. When your frozen or refrigerated food becomes too warm, foodborne bacteria may begin to grow.

You also cannot control any contamination and unsanitary conditions if you set your food outside. Often, the food is set out-of-sight, where a curious pet or other wild animals could get into and contaminate. Rodents, in particular, pose a real health concern if they come into contact with your food! Animals have an extraordinary sense of smell, even through plastic wrap and sealed containers.

What about storing food in your garage? While your food may be sheltered from sunlight and the outdoor elements, fumes from your car, truck, tractor, and snow blowers also pose the threat of contaminating your food. The temperature in your garage also fluctuates throughout the day, unlike the cold consistent temperature your refrigerator would provide. Also, the unsanitary nature of a garage provides additional opportunities for contamination from road salt, winter grime, and dust.

Have a happy holiday by storing your food safely! Maximize your fridge storage space with stackable containers or flexible food storage bags. Plan meals that use few ingredients and create minimal leftovers, or send a to-go bag home with guests. Move non-perishable items, such as soda, to a cooler with ice for guests to grab! And, if your refrigerator isn’t staying cool, give Westside a call!

To repair, or not to repair? That is the question on most homeowners’ minds when their appliance is on the fritz. Appliances are an investment, and you want to make them last as long as possible, but there are times when the cost of maintaining and up-keeping your appliance is greater than purchasing a new one. How do you know when to call an appliance repair technician or when to start shopping for something new? Here are a few things to consider:

They don’t make ‘em like they used to. Remember in the ‘70s and ‘80s, when appliances seemed to live forever? Household appliances like refrigerators, washers, dryers, ovens and dishwashers were built to last almost as long as you own your home. They were built like heavy-duty machines that could withstand decades before needing to be replaced. Newer appliances are built more like computers, leaving them with more advanced technological vulnerabilities. If your “old reliable” is starting to slow down after years of hard work, consider repairing it instead of replacing it.

Is your appliance still under warranty? It is not uncommon for appliances to have issues within their first few years. If your appliance is new, check if your warranty covers the repair. Sure, there are rare occasions that you may have purchased a lemon appliance, but often the issue is due to an error in installation, plumbing or electrical line problems, or it could be user error. If your appliance is still under warranty, opt to repair instead of replacing it.

Is it the end of your appliance’s useful life? All good things must come to an end, including your appliance’s life. Someday the time will come when it costs more to continually maintain your appliance than it does to buy a new one. It is advised to use the 50% rule – if your appliance is 50% through its lifespan, the cost to fix it should be less than 50% of the price of a new appliance. According to Consumer Report, here is a list of the life expectancy of modern appliances:

• Gas Range: 15 years

• Range & Oven Hoods: 14 years

• Electric Range: 13 years

• Dryers (electric and gas): 13 years

• Refrigerators: 13 years

• Garbage Disposal: 12 years

• Freezers: 11 years

• Washing Machines: 10 years

• Microwaves: 9 years

• Dishwashers: 9 years

• Compactors: 6 years

With proper care and usage, the lifespan of your appliance can exceed these averages. At Westside, we pride ourselves on making honest recommendations when we believe it would be best for our customer to replace their appliance than to repair it.

Could proper maintenance extend the life of your appliance? Guilty of overloading your washing machine or not scraping off excess food before placing your dishes in the dishwasher? When was the last time you had your dryer vents or refrigerator coils cleaned? Have you changed your washer hose since it’s been installed? If putting in a little time, TLC and money for preventative maintenance on your appliances will help extend its life, choose to repair it instead of replacing it.

Do you want a matching set? Appliance manufacturers often change the look and feel of appliances to keep them looking modern and updated. If you replace your dryer, would you need to buy a new washing machine as well? Would a new dishwasher make your other kitchen appliances look outdated? If you want your appliances to match and hope to keep expenses low, consider repairing instead of replacing it.

Have you considered the additional fees associated with repairing or replacing? Don’t forget about the extra fees associated with both repairing and replacing your appliance. If you are considering purchasing a new appliance, most appliance retailers charge a delivery fee to transport and install your new appliance in your home. Similarly, appliance repair companies charge a standard trip/diagnosis fee for an expert technician to come to your home to troubleshoot your appliance and identify the problem (and they charge this fee whether you repair your appliance or not). Luckily, with Westside Appliance Repair, if you do decide for our technician to repair your appliance, the Trip/Diagnosis fee comes out of your total repair estimate – so you’ll pay less out of pocket.

Do you have the time to repair or replace your appliance? If you are considering replacing your appliance, factor in the value of your time and stress of shopping for a new appliance, plus the days/weeks it could take your appliance retailer to deliver and install your new appliance. Can you afford that downtime without a working refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine or dryer? Even busy appliance repair companies will only take a couple of days to get to your home, will schedule a convenient time to come to you, and can usually fix your appliance in one visit.

Have you considered your carbon footprint? Appliances made in the last 20 years are built more energy-efficient and designed to save more water than ever before. If your appliance was made past 1996, it has been subjected to Energy Star requirements by the EPA. Therefore, if your broken appliance was made after that time and has the familiar yellow Energy Star tag on it, consider repairing it instead of sending it to the landfill.

Westside Appliance Repair is the leading expert in appliance repair, parts and maintenance in Central Iowa, as well as select services in Sioux City. We now offer a VIP program for guaranteed service within one to two business days! Learn more about our VIP program, and call to purchase your annual membership today!

Most of our clients are surprised to learn that here at Westside we run approximately 110 service calls each day in the Des Moines metro area.  Currently, we have 15 repair technicians.  In order to meet the large number of customer repair requests each day, we have to be as efficient as possible.

When you call us or schedule an appointment online, our customer service representatives examine each technician’s workload within the following days.  We gather as much information (sounds, error codes…) about your broken appliance as you can provide us.  Based on that information we attempt to identify the potential repair solution.  Your Westside technician will bring parts that will hopefully resolve the problem on the first trip to your home.

Click here to learn how to prep for a service call! Providing us with the brand, model and serial number of your appliance will help us to accurately identify the solution and assists the technician in bringing the correct part on the first visit. If you have trouble finding your model number, check out our guide on where to find it for your specific type of appliance.

Our technicians plan their own route each day to fit in more appointments and minimize their driving time.  Your assigned repair technician will give you a call or text by 9 AM the morning of your appointment to give you 2-hour window of time that you can expect them to arrive.

If you have any questions regarding our scheduling process, do not hesitate to contact us.   We look forward to working with you on your next appliance repair, dryer vent cleaning or gas fireplace service!

Thank you,

Joe Chmelka

Owner and CEO of Westside Appliance Repair