Basic home appliances are integral to carrying out some of the most often performed tasks at home.
You need an oven complete with a cooktop to cook family meals. A fridge/freezer helps you keep your food at low temperatures for longer.
Air conditioners, fans, and air purifiers help maintain cool and healthy living conditions in your space.
The Eight Mobile Home Must Have Appliances
In this guide, we take a brief look at each of the most important home appliances and how to choose the best product for your needs:
1. Water Heater
A water heater is a device used to heat domestic water.
Water heaters are often mistaken with boilers.
They do the important job of ensuring a steady supply of hot water to your taps and plumbing fixtures on demand.
See Also: Why Is It Dangerous To Touch Electrical Appliances With Wet Hands?
Without them, you would be forced to manually heat all your hot water every time you wash your hands, bathe, etc.
Amount of water used by your family
Consider the size of your family. A typical individual uses 20 – 30 gallons per daily.
Source of heat
This can depend on the heating fuel already present at home.
If, say, gas, is present but would be expensive a more expensive option to heat the water, you will want to consider another heating option such as oil or electricity
Available Space
Water heaters occupy a sizeable space, so consider the size of the room you have for them.
Accessibility
The water heater needs to be easily accessible to technicians in case it needs repair or breaks down.
You don’t want plumbers to spend hours trying to gain access to the device.
Water Heater Type
Remember to consider the model or type of the unit.
There are 2 main types of devices by construction design.
- One is the tankless model which, as the name suggests, the product comes with no reservoir tank to hold or store your heated water. As such, you will need to reserve some space for a standalone tank.
- Then there are water heaters that come with their storage tank. These are more compact as you don’t need to leave additional space for the tank.
2. Washer Dryer
A washer-dryer is the most integral part of any functional laundry room.
Instead of going for a washer or dryer as separate devices, why not buy a unit that combines both?
It can save you a significant amount of money in initial investment and even more in running costs – that’s a washer/dryer for you.
The washer/dryer combo, however, comes with one major flaw: if one part becomes faulty, the other one will definitely develop problems as well thus requiring complete replacement.
Are you planning to get one?
Consider The Price
Since it’s a 2-in-1 product, consider the price of the combo and determine whether you’d be better off with a standalone washer and dryer or a combined unit.
While price tags vary widely depending on the brand and type of washer/dryer combo, you can expect to part with anything between $1,000 – $3,000 for a set.
Sets equipped with a top-loader washer complete with a matching dryer normally cost less than a front-loader washer and a coordinating dryer.
Space
The standard washer/loader combo width is around 27”, which is very similar to what comes with the standard standalone washer or dryer.
But, you may also want to find a more narrow model which measures around 24″ in width.
3. Air Conditioners
An air conditioner – sometimes styled as “A/C” – is a home cooling equipment designed to remove heat from the living space and expelling it to the outdoors.
The resultant cool air can be moved throughout your home through ventilation.
Air conditioners work almost the same way as heat pumps, only that they follow a predetermined cooling cycle.
Would you rather install a fan in place of an A/C system?
The Fan vs. A/C debate is decades-old in the world of home keeping.
Ceiling fans come with low to moderate cooling abilities, through a more different mechanism compared to the standard air conditioner, and with a low price tag.
Air conditioner units, in contrast, offer much greater cooling capability, but at a disproportionately higher monetary cost.
Consider these factors when acquiring an A/C system:
Type
A/C systems are a diverse lot but most fall into three broad categories:
- window-based
- split air conditioners
- and portable units.
Window
For a house with doors, go for the window-based product albeit with some pre-requirements such as space.
Split Air
Split air conditioners are perfect for spaces with no windows.
Portable
Go for the portable product if you plan to use it in different rooms and even in your RV without necessarily fixing it in one location.
Tonnage
Tonnage is basically the size of an air conditioner perfect for a certain size of living space.
It is measured in “British Thermal Units,” or BTUs.
A BTU is the same as the amount of total energy (heat) required to raise 1 lb. of water 1-degree F at sea level. 1 ton of standard air conditioning can eliminate 12,000 BTUs of room heat each hour.
Living spaces with sizes 100 sq. ft. or less can be serviced perfectly with a 0.8 ton A/C unit.
4. Ceiling Fan
It can be hard to make up your mind between ceiling fans and an A/C unit.
Unlike air-conditioning which cools the whole room, ceiling fans don’t actually cool the air in the room.
Rather, they cool the occupants within the room.
They remove the insulating layers of air which increases your body’s heat loss hence making you feel cooler.
Bear in mind these factors:
The Number Of Blades
Ceiling fan blades have a say on the noise level generated by the unit as well as cooling levels. 4-blade fans are less noisy.
They also tend to work flawlessly with air conditioners.
However, these fans move the air much slower compared to 3 blade fans and tend to be costlier.
There’s no major difference between 3 blade and 5 blade ceiling fans except on their appearances and personal taste.
Overall, ceiling fans get less noisy with an increasing number of blades.
But this means the fan gets to circulates less air.
Ceiling fans with more blades tend to experience more drag on their motors which eventually affects their movements.
CFM
Airflow quantifies the total amount of cool air ceiling fans produces and is often measured in CFM (cubic feet per minute). As you can tell, ceiling fans with high CFM ratings move more air and are more efficient.
5. Air Purifier
Air purifiers do more than making fresh breathable air.
These are some of the most diverse home must-have devices – there are numerous types of the device out there each with a unique filter engineered to eliminate a particular air contaminant.
Air purifiers are the best relievers of Asthma symptoms according to the CDC (Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention).
If your living space is prone to accumulating harmful chemicals, whether from outdoors or anywhere else, an air purifier with the right type of filter will be necessary
- They neutralize those unpleasant odors
- Air purifiers cut the chance of your living space accumulating some airborne diseases
- Some people sleep better with air purifiers running
- Eliminates radon, hazardous asbestos particles, and similar filamentous particles
- Can increase your life expectancy
Consider these factors when choosing an air purifier:
The Cost Of Replacing The Filters
Generally, you should replace your filters (or at least clean if they allow) every 6 to 12 months – this is for pleated filters. For those made from activated carbon, do so once every 3 months.
Certifications
The first and most important is the logo of Energy Star.
To be effective, air purifiers need to run around the clock, so you should consider the energy cost of running the product for that long.
EnergyStar certified units are about 40% more energy-efficient compared to the standard unrated models. You might also see the blue AHAM Verified seal.
This label means that AHAM (Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers) has subjected the model to its testing regime.
Size of the Room
A small air purifier certainly won’t work for a large family room. Also, if a product has the AHAM Verified seal, it is likely to comfortably handle the suggested size of the room listed on the package.
Noise Production
Most machines nowadays come with noise ratings printed on them.
Generally, a noise rating in the region of 50 decibels is very much close to your wheezing refrigerator which isn’t bad for an air purifier, or is it?
Type of Filter
Different filters targets different particles or forms of air pollution.
What they target relies almost entirely on the kind of filtration technology.
The HEPA filter is the most common of all and is perfect for eliminating most of the household allergens like dust, pollen, animal dander, pollen, and particles
6. Dishwasher
Not a long time ago, the fiercest conflict in any average home was not about who grabbed the largest share of the blanket, but who would wash the utensils next.
Today, this disagreement has been largely ended: all thanks go to the dishwasher.
A dishwasher is an under-cabinet machine for cleaning cutlery and dishware automatically.
Unlike old-school manual dishwashing, which relied almost entirely on physical scrubbing and rinsing to remove the dirt, the mechanical dishwasher does the job by spraying jets of hot water, often between 45 – 75 °C, at your dishes.
Delicate items such as dishwasher-safe plastics are washed at lower temperatures.
To get the best product for your needs, consider these factors:
Capacity
Compact vs. Standard Size: An 18″ dishwasher generally is enough for 2 to 3 people and accommodates up to 6 or 8 standard place settings.
The regular 24” dishwasher comes with a capacity for between 12 and 14 standard place settings. It can service an averagely-sized family
Type
Built-in, Countertop Models, Portable, or Drawer: your choice to purchase a built-in, countertop, or portable dishwasher will depend on whether you own the home or you are renting.
The overall size of your home as well as the size of the kitchen. Each type of dishwasher comes with its drawbacks and benefits
Energy Saving Considerations
You want a dishwasher that shows the Energy Star logo.
The product can also be certified by the CEE (Consortium of Energy Efficiency).
A product with one or both of these will save you some decent dollars compared to dishwasher models without them. Today’s dishwashers are equipped with add-on features that boost their efficiency.
Washing Cycles
The 4 most important washing cycles in dishwashers are economy, heavy wash (pans and pots), regular wash, and light wash settings.
Economy cycles will air-dry your dishes, which reduces the heating costs.
Enhanced cycles like glass or stemware, sanitize, pot scrub, rinse, and quick wash are enviable features in even the most basic dishwasher.
Stainless steel dishwashers’ interior can be a beautiful feature too but won’t improve washing performance—it’s mainly a design put there for aesthetics. However, a washing arm made of stainless steel won’t rust.
7. Ovens
The oven is where most of the home’s food is prepared.
Ovens and ranges are investments worth your time to think over – their price tag lies somewhere in the region of $500.
You use these cookers nearly every day, something you’d do for a decade or even more.
Note that: The oven is the appliance that does all the baking or roasting you want to do at home; this can come as a separate piece or part of your range. Those that come separate are normally and placed on your counter or wall. Typical capacity ranges from 4 – 6 cubic feet.
Cooktop/Stovetop
These are burners on which all the cooking happens. They can also come separate or as part of your range.
Stove/Range
These are appliances that come with both an oven and a stovetop. The standard width is 30″ wide.
8. Freezer
The freezer is where you keep your food frozen at very low temperatures for longer.
The keywords are “very low temperatures for longer” as fridges do a similar job.
While the freezer we’re accustomed to is a standalone cold box sitting somewhere in your kitchen’s corner, some modern fridges often come with freezers incorporated in them.
If you need frozen peas and ice cubes, you will get them in a freezer— it is a separate compartment at the bottom or top of your fridge.
You can’t get it wrong if you consider these factors when choosing one:
Space and Size
Start by measuring the size of your size of your door – that is, both the door leading to where you wish to install it and the main door.
Determine whether the model of your choice would fit within the frames.
Profile/Capacity
There are 2 groups of deep freezers:
- upright
- chest.
The profile of your freezer can influence its capacity. Your individual capacity requirements can help you choose between the chest type and the upright freezer.
Type
Choose between the 4 types of freezers out there:
- built-in/integrated
- semi-integrated
- freestanding
- built-under.
Compartments
Whether or not you should go for a compartmentalized product will depend heavily on the sort of food you plan to store and even how you wish to store it.
Compartments make it easier to discriminate between several types of food.
Key features
There is a list of features you want to have on your freezer: features without which the freezer wouldn’t be the traditional easy-to-use appliance we all know.
Consider such features as
- temperature warning
- frost-free operation
- control panel lock
- interior light
- flexible storage options
- open door alert
- fast freeze
- freezer guard protection
- soft freeze
- dial thermostat
- and freezer/fridge combo.
Energy Savings
The freezer will be in eternal operation, so you need to consider its energy-efficiency.
Recent advances in insulation technology mean nowadays’ freezers consume less energy when compared to their older counterparts.
Remember to look for the conspicuous ENERGY STAR® certification/logo on the freezer of your liking.
Brand
Such factors as the warranty of the products (which normally reflects of the item’s durability) and price, and even the quality can be determined by the brand that made the freezer.
Take into account the reputation and popularity of the brand behind your freezer of interest. Take your time to look at user reviews on some of the most recognizable brands on the market.
In a nutshell
Household appliances are to your home what jam is to bread – they make your life easier.
There is a list of factors that applies to virtually all kinds of home appliances regardless of their purpose.
For example, because most of the use electricity or some of form of energy source, you need to consider the efficiency of the device so that it doesn’t end up bloating your energy bills.
Also, check whether the product has been tested for energy efficiency has an Energy Star label.
The cost of acquisition and the long term running costs need to be factored in as well. If a device will be too expensive to run in the long run, you’d rather not buy it.
