Intifix Care
Look after it. Know when to call.
Most of the repairs we are called out for were avoidable. A filter nobody washed, a door seal gone hard, a geyser never drained, a chimney duct thick with grease. So here is the honest version for all 15 trades we work in — what to do, what to watch for, and what could actually hurt somebody. Written for Nellore: the dust, the hard water, the coastal damp and the voltage.
Looking after your AC.
10 AC guides- Routine
- Wash the two filters every three weeks. Nellore dust blocks them far faster than the manual assumes, and a blocked filter is the most common reason an AC stops cooling. Get the coils deep-cleaned once a year, before summer starts.
- Call someone when
- Ice on the copper pipes, water dripping inside the room, a burning smell, or the outdoor unit running while the room stays warm. Switch it off rather than pushing it — running an AC that is low on gas is what kills the compressor, and the compressor is worth more than the repair.
- Safety
- An AC needs its own 16A point, never an extension board and never a socket shared with something else. If the plug or the socket feels warm to touch, stop using it that day.
Looking after your washing machine.
10 Washing Machine guides- Routine
- Clean the lint filter every few washes, and leave the door and the detergent drawer open to dry between loads. A closed drum grows mould quickly in this humidity. Once a month, run an empty hot cycle with half a cup of vinegar.
- Call someone when
- Water under the machine, a burning smell, a drum that walks across the floor, or clothes still soaking after the spin. Stop using it — a leaking machine standing near a live socket is the real risk, not the laundry.
- Safety
- Turn the inlet tap off at the wall whenever you leave home for a day or more. Inlet hoses burst without warning, and a floor of water reaches the wiring long before anyone gets back.
Looking after your fridge.
10 Refrigerator guides- Routine
- Wipe the door rubber with soapy water once a month and check it grips a sheet of paper all the way round. A hardened seal makes the compressor run all day and shows up on your bill. Leave four inches of air behind and above the fridge, and defrost by hand if it is not a frost-free model.
- Call someone when
- The motor running without ever stopping, water collecting under the vegetable tray, ice building up on the back wall, or food spoiling within a day. All of them point at the same few parts, and all of them get worse if left.
- Safety
- Use a stabiliser. Voltage swings here burn refrigerator compressors more often than any other fault, and a compressor is not a small repair.
Looking after your water purifier.
10 Water Purifier guides- Routine
- Change the sediment and carbon filters every six to eight months, and the membrane every two to three years. Our groundwater is hard and salty, so filters die here sooner than the sticker says. Get the storage tank sanitised once a year — that tank is where bacteria grow, not the filter.
- Call someone when
- Water that has started to taste salty again, a slower stream into the tank, the machine running at night, or a TDS reading creeping back up. That is a membrane that has stopped working, and water through a dead membrane is no safer than water straight from the tap.
- Safety
- Never run it dry, and never open the housing without switching off at the socket first. Wet hands and a live pump are a bad combination.
Looking after your geyser.
10 Geyser guides- Routine
- Drain the tank once a year to flush out the salt scale. Hard water coats the heating element until it burns out, and that is a bill you can avoid. Have the anode rod checked at the same time — that rod is the part that rusts instead of your tank.
- Call someone when
- Water that will not get hot, an MCB that trips when you switch it on, rust colour in the water, or a hissing sound from the tank. Any leak from the body matters too: a drip from the pressure valve means the valve is doing its job, a leak from the tank means the tank is finished.
- Safety
- Switch a storage geyser off before you bathe, never leave it on all day, and never block or plug the pressure release valve. A gas geyser must never sit inside a closed bathroom — the carbon monoxide it gives off has killed whole families in this state. It belongs outside, or in a room with a window and an exhaust.
Looking after your TV.
10 TV guides- Routine
- Wipe the screen with a dry microfibre cloth and nothing else. No water, no spray, no glass cleaner — they take the coating off. Keep the set an inch off the wall so the back can breathe, and unplug it at the wall during a lightning storm.
- Call someone when
- Lines or patches on the picture, sound with no picture, a standby light blinking in a pattern, or the smell of hot plastic. The blinking is the set telling you what failed — count the blinks and tell the technician, it saves the diagnosis.
- Safety
- Put it on a surge-protected point. A power cut coming back with a spike is what kills most TV boards here, and the panel alone costs more than half a new set.
Looking after your microwave.
10 Microwave guides- Routine
- Wipe the inside out after every use, before food dries onto the wall and starts heating unevenly. Once a week, steam it clean with a bowl of water and lemon. Never scrub the pale mica plate on the side wall — it is a part, not dirt.
- Call someone when
- Sparks inside, a door that no longer shuts flush, the fan still running after the timer ends, or food that comes out cold. Sparks and a bad door seal both mean stop using it that day.
- Safety
- No metal, no closed steel containers, no aluminium foil, never an egg in its shell, and never oil on its own. If the door is bent or the latch has gone loose, the door is leaking — do not use it until someone has looked at it.
Keeping the wiring in your home safe.
10 Electrician guides- Routine
- If your board has no RCCB, get one fitted, and press its test button once a month. It is the only device in the house that turns a fatal shock into a tripped switch. Have the board terminals tightened once a year — loose terminals heat up, and that is how wiring fires start.
- Call someone when
- Switches or sockets that feel warm, a burning smell you cannot place, lights dimming whenever the motor starts, an MCB that trips again the moment you reset it, or the faintest tingle from a tap or an appliance body. A tingle means the earthing has failed, and that is a same-day call.
- Safety
- Never reset a breaker that has tripped twice — it is telling you something is wrong downstream. No wet hands on switches, no wires run under carpets or through doorways, and nobody opens the board without the main switched off.
Looking after your pipes and drains.
10 Plumbing guides- Routine
- Clear the sink and floor traps once a month, and run hot water down the kitchen drain weekly so grease keeps moving instead of setting. Look under the sink and behind the toilet for damp now and then — the first sign of a hidden leak is a smell, not a puddle.
- Call someone when
- A tap that keeps dripping, a drain that has slowed, damp spreading on a wall or ceiling, a toilet that runs on after flushing, or a motor that will not prime. A hidden leak always costs more in wall repair than it does in plumbing.
- Safety
- Never pour acid down a blocked drain, and never put two drain cleaners down the same pipe — the fumes are the danger, not the blockage. Know where your main valve is, and close it before you leave home for more than a day.
Keeping a coastal home clean and dry.
10 Cleaning guides- Routine
- Dust weekly, wet-mop with a mild cleaner rather than plain water, and open the windows in the morning. A closed coastal home holds damp, and damp is where mould starts. Bathrooms need a proper clean once a week, not once a month.
- Call someone when
- Black patches on a bathroom ceiling, grout going dark, or a musty smell that comes back a day after cleaning. That is mould growing into the surface, and wiping the top of it achieves nothing.
- Safety
- Never mix bleach with an acid cleaner or with ammonia. The gas it makes is not a small thing. Keep every cleaning chemical locked away from children, and keep each one in its own labelled bottle — never in a water bottle.
Keeping pests out of the house.
10 Pest guides- Routine
- Keep food closed, empty the bin every night, and fix every drip. Cockroaches and ants come looking for water before they come looking for food. Seal the gaps where pipes enter a wall, and look under wooden furniture now and then for fine powder.
- Call someone when
- Cockroaches out in daylight, mud tubes running up a wall, sawdust under furniture, droppings in a kitchen cupboard, or bites in a line on your skin. Every one of those means the nest is already established somewhere you cannot see.
- Safety
- Never mix pest products, never spray anywhere near an open flame, and never attempt a fumigation yourself. After any treatment, keep children and pets out for as long as the technician says, and wash down every surface that touches food.
Looking after your chimney and hob.
10 Chimney guides- Routine
- Wash the mesh or baffle filters in hot soapy water every three weeks. Indian cooking loads them with grease far faster than any manual allows for. Wipe the hob and clear the burner ports at the end of each day's cooking.
- Call someone when
- Smoke hanging in the kitchen, oil dripping back down from the chimney, a motor that has grown louder, or a yellow flame instead of a blue one on the hob. A yellow flame is gas burning badly, and that is not only wasted money.
- Safety
- Grease built up in a chimney duct above a gas hob is the single biggest fire risk in an Indian kitchen — a neglected chimney is what turns a flare-up into a kitchen fire. Never clean the duct or the motor yourself, and always switch off at the socket before you touch anything inside.
Looking after wood and furniture.
10 Carpentry guides- Routine
- Tighten hinges and handles twice a year, before a loose screw tears the board around it. Keep wooden furniture off wet floors, and in a coastal home wipe damp off wood rather than letting it dry where it sits.
- Call someone when
- A door that has begun to rub, a drawer that sticks every monsoon, a cupboard back that has swelled, or fine powder collecting under a leg. Powder means a borer is eating the inside — the outside looks perfectly fine right up until it gives way.
- Safety
- Anchor tall wardrobes and open shelves to the wall if there are children in the house. A loose overhead cabinet, or a bed frame with a cracked joint, is not something to keep using while you think about it.
Making a paint job last.
10 Painting guides- Routine
- Wash walls down with a damp cloth twice a year instead of repainting them, and repaint the outside every four to five years — sea air breaks a coat down faster here than inland. Fix whatever is leaking before you paint over the patch, or you will be painting it again.
- Call someone when
- Bubbling, flaking, chalky powder coming off on your hand, or a stain that keeps bleeding through a fresh coat. Each of those is damp behind the wall, and paint on top of damp is money spent twice.
- Safety
- Keep rooms ventilated for two days after painting, and keep children and anyone with breathing trouble out until the smell has gone. If the home was painted before 2010, do not dry-sand the old coat — it may carry lead.
Looking after your sofa and mattress.
10 Sofa guides- Routine
- Vacuum the seams and under the cushions every fortnight, turn and rotate the cushions monthly so one seat does not collapse before the rest, and keep the sofa out of direct sun. Blot a spill straight away and never rub it in.
- Call someone when
- A musty smell, a seat gone hard or sunken, dark patches on the arms, or dust puffing out when someone sits down. Damp foam grows mould on the inside where nobody can see it, and that is what the room is breathing.
- Safety
- Do not soak upholstery to clean it. Foam that stays wet in this humidity grows mould within days, and it is a genuine problem for anyone at home with a chest complaint. A deep clean should be extracted dry the same day it is done.
Anything here you would rather not do yourself, we do. Read the guides, or ask the Intifix Care bubble in the corner and it will tell you what it costs before you commit to anything.