Money Saver: Cleaning With These Brushes Lowered My Electric Bill

Is your home’s energy bill mysteriously creeping up, or do you notice unusual noise from your refrigerator? Dust and lint build-up in your appliances could be the culprit, causing inefficiencies and posing a fire hazard. Fear not, because with our affordable brush set and the step-by-step how-to video below, you can tackle this problem head-on, keeping your appliances in top shape and your wallet happy.

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Did you know that dirt, dust, lint, and all the other stuff that gets caught up in your appliances is making them less efficient? Letting those hard-to-reach spots go uncleaned puts unnecessary stress on your appliances, increasing wear and tear on their components and driving up your utility bill. In some instances, that build-up even poses a pretty serious fire hazard. It’s not an issue that should go ignored.

That said, a glance at professional cleaning services is enough to tell you this job isn’t cheap. Even the easiest tasks can run you over $100 – unless, of course, you do the cleaning yourself. We’re here to help keep your appliances running in tip-top shape all on your own in just a few minutes annually using a few common household tools and a set of brushes that cost less than $15.

This two pack of universal appliance brushes from GE is a great get at an affordable price point – other packs will run you as much as $10 for a single brush, so you’re getting two tools with two different uses at the same price point of one other brush.

These plastic bristle brushes make cleaning refrigerator condenser coils, dryer vents, and other appliances a breeze. They’re not so firm that they’ll damage your appliance’s expensive components, and they’re effective enough to have a noticeable impact on how your appliances perform (and your energy bill) after just one use. Both brushes are flexible, durable, and great at gripping all that hidden crud. If you want to try your hand at saving some money on your next electric bill or just need to get those dryer vents clean, you should check this 2-pack out.

How Using GE Universal Appliance Brushes Will Benefit Your Home

These universal brushes are compatible with all sorts of appliances, no matter the make or model. You can use them to clean up HVAC vents and coils, refrigerator coils, dryer vents, lint traps, and more. Some folks online are even using them on their cars! It’s a great one-time purchase with a ton of long-term uses and specific benefits.

Take a look at how these brushes can help out in your home:

• Making tedious tasks quick and easy. The narrower of the two brushes can get into those cracks and crevices in condenser coils and lint traps, lifting up hidden dirt with ease.
• A ton of money saved. If you keep the condenser coils clean on the appliances that have them, like refrigerators, freezers, and AC units – you can improve their energy efficiency by as much as 10% to 15%. Depending on how high your energy bills are right now, that’s a pretty significant savings at the end of the year.
• Less noise from your fridge – clean condenser coils mean the condenser won’t have to run quite as much.
• You’ll be breathing a bit easier if you clean your home’s HVAC vents with the wider of the two brushes, as it stops potential allergens from being blown into the air.
• Peace of mind. Clear up a potentially serious fire hazard by using the wider of the two brushes on your dryer’s vents. It has honestly unbelievable grip – it’s great at grabbing stray lint in those hard-to-reach spaces.
• Regularly cleaning your dryer’s vents will get your clothes dry faster. No need to run a cycle at the longest setting to get towels or denim completely dry.

GE Universal Appliance Brushes Are An Easy-To-Use Addition To Your Cleaning Routine

Depending on what you’re hoping to clean, you can expect the work to take as little as ten minutes or as much as an hour, but even the lengthier tasks only need to be done once or twice a year. When you consider the benefits we’ve mentioned above, it’s a cheap and easy investment. Next, we’ll review how you put these brushes to work.

Here are a couple of general use tips we have, both from our experts and from DIYers just like you:

• All that dust getting kicked up isn’t good for your lungs, so consider wearing a face covering like a bandana when you do your initial sweep of anything.
• You’ll benefit from using a vacuum alongside these brushes – the brushes can dislodge a lot of dust and lint, particularly if there’s a lot of build-up, and you’ll need something to pick it all up. Keep the vacuum running, and position the hose attachment near wherever you’re pulling the brush out to catch the debris that comes along with it.

For the most part, using these brushes is incredibly straightforward. You stick them into vents or between coils and scrub while turning the handle, then vacuum up the debris that they retrieve. Let’s get specific, though, and go over how to use them for a couple of their most common jobs:

Cleaning Your Refrigerator’s Condenser Coils

One of the main reasons to use this brush set is to clean your refrigerator’s condenser coils, and the narrower of the two brushes is great for getting rid of dust, pet hair, and other grime. To keep your fridge running at top efficiency, you should do this once or twice a year – more if you have pets or smokers in the house.

Even if your refrigerator’s coils have a lot of build-up, this job shouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes – most likely, it’ll be more like 10 to 15. Here’s how it’s done:

• Consult your appliance manual to track down where the coils are. They’re likely at the bottom of the appliance, accessible either from the front or the back.
• Unplug your fridge – don’t clean the coils while it’s still receiving power.
• Remove whichever access panel is covering them. For front access, remove the kickplate at the bottom of the refrigerator. For refrigerators with coils on the back, there should be a panel held in place by a few screws.
• Set your vacuum cleaner up. You can either set it up with the hose attachment positioned near where you plan on pulling the dust out, or you can hold the hose in your offhand while you work.
• Tuck the narrower brush into the space between coils, run it in and out, back and forth, and turn it as you work to dislodge dirt and pull it out of the appliance. Be sure to vacuum all that up as you go.
• While you’re there, you can use your vacuum, brush, and a soft cloth to clean things like the condenser fan, condenser, and water inlet valve if your fridge has one. Just take care not to damage any of the copper tubing back there!

Cleaning Your Dryer With GE Universal Appliance Brushes

You can get use out of both brushes when cleaning your dryer! These are jobs you can do once or twice a year to keep your dryer running efficiently and combat lint build up – which otherwise poses a serious fire hazard.

• Unplug that appliance! Don’t do any cleaning while it’s still receiving power. You’ll also likely need to pull the appliance away from the wall to disconnect the duct.
• Start by removing your lint filter. Then use the narrower brush to clean out the lint trap housing. Be sure to move it around to get at all the nooks and crannies. It should grab any bits of lint that have escaped the trap and tucked themselves away.
• Time to disconnect the flexible duct. You’ll likely need a Phillips screwdriver to loosen the band clamps holding it in place. Take care not to damage it as you work with it. If there are any holes in it, you should replace it.
• Use the wider of the two brushes to clean out either side of the flexible duct, sliding it in and turning it to dislodge any stuck lint. Use a vacuum to pick up the dust that falls out.
• Now clean the house vent in the same way. You’ll likely need a screwdriver to remove the vent cap from the exterior side. If your home’s dryer vent is too long for the brush to clean in its entirety, you can use a vacuum or shop-vac with a long hose attachment to clean it.

Cleaning The Brushes Themselves

These brushes are really good at gripping dirt and grime. That can make it a bit of a challenge to get them cleaned up once you’re done using them. In most instances, cleaning the stuck on gunk with a vacuum should be enough, but if the dirt and debris are stubborn, you can wash both brushes with soap and water. Make sure they’re completely dry before using them again, however.

Cleaning Up With GE Universal Appliance Brushes

Appliance cleaning might not be your favorite chore, but think of all the money you can save by putting these GE appliance brushes to work on your refrigerator or freezer. Buy the GE Universal Appliance Brushes online at AppliancePartsPros.com. We can have it shipped to your door in as little as two days! While you wait, why not check out some of our other great guides?