Moving House Without Killing Your Appliances

A move is the single most concentrated risk an appliance faces in its life. It gets tipped, dragged, driven, stored at the wrong temperature, and reconnected by someone in a hurry — often on the same day the new place needs to be liveable.

Most of the damage is preventable and the prevention is dull. Here is the version that matters, in the order it comes up.

The week before

Find the manuals, or download them. Model numbers are on a data plate: inside the refrigerator on a side wall, inside the dishwasher door frame, on the back of a washer or dryer, under the range's bottom drawer. Photograph every plate. You will need these numbers for the move, for parts, and for any warranty claim afterwards. Ten minutes now saves an hour later.

Locate the shipping bolts for the washer. If you kept them, find them. If not, order a set from the manufacturer or a parts supplier now — not on moving day. Our parts supplier directory lists vendors who can identify them from your model number.

Empty and defrost the freezer. Start at least 48 hours out. A freezer needs to be fully defrosted and dry before it moves, and defrosting takes longer than people plan for. Water left inside will find its way out during transit and can get into places you do not want it.

Run the washer and dishwasher empty and hot a couple of days before, then leave the doors open to dry out. A machine that is sealed damp and then sits in a truck for a week comes out smelling like something died in it.

Book any disconnection you cannot do yourself. Gas appliances in particular — see below.

Shipping bolts, and why they matter

This is the single most important paragraph in this article, so it gets its own section.

A front-load washer's drum hangs on springs and dampers so it can move during a spin. Those suspension components are not designed to restrain the drum against the forces of being carried down a staircase or driven over potholes. That is what the shipping bolts are for: rigid bolts through the back panel that clamp the drum solid for transit.

They were removed when the machine was installed. They must go back in before it moves. Without them, the drum swings on its suspension for the whole journey and can damage the dampers, the springs, the bearings, or the outer tub. The damage is often not obvious immediately — the machine works, and then starts walking across the floor a month later.

Two related warnings:

• Removal is just as important as installation. Running a first cycle with the bolts still in produces violent shaking and can damage the machine in one load. Take them out before the first wash, every time.
• Not every mover knows this. Some do, many do not, and it is not usually in the contract. Tell them, and check.

Top-load washers vary — some use shipping bolts, some use foam blocks or a transit strap, some need nothing. Check the manual for yours.

Refrigerators and the standing rule

A refrigerator's compressor holds oil, and the sealed system depends on that oil staying where it belongs. Tip the appliance over — or lay it on its side or its back — and oil can migrate into the refrigerant lines. Start the compressor while that oil is in the wrong place and you can damage the sealed system, which is the most expensive repair in the appliance world.

The rules:

1. Move it upright if at all possible. An appliance dolly with straps, not a tilt across the back seat of an SUV.
2. If it must be laid down, lay it on the side opposite the compressor discharge line where the manual specifies one, and note how long it was down.
3. Let it stand upright before plugging it in. The common guidance is to stand it upright for at least as long as it was on its side, and many manufacturers specify a minimum of four hours regardless, or 24 hours if it travelled on its side. Check your manual; when in doubt, wait longer. It costs you nothing but patience.
4. Do not plug it in and open the doors to “check.” Let it run closed for several hours before loading food.

The same rule applies to freezers, wine coolers and any other sealed-system appliance. It is also worth remembering that a refrigerator left in an unheated truck or garage over a cold weekend has its own problems — see what cold ambient temperatures do to refrigeration controls.

Secure the doors for transit with tape or a strap, but do not tape directly to a painted or stainless surface for days — adhesive residue in the sun is its own small disaster. Remove glass shelves and crisper drawers and pack them separately; they are among the most commonly broken items in a move and among the most annoying to replace.

Gas connections

Gas ranges, gas dryers and gas cooktops are the one category where the answer is unambiguous: have the connection made and broken by someone licensed to do it. Many moving companies will not touch a gas line, and they are right not to.

Practical points:

• Shut off the appliance valve, then disconnect. Cap or plug the line.
• The flexible connector should be replaced rather than reused when reconnecting. They are inexpensive and they are not designed for repeated bending.
• After reconnection, the installer should leak-test every joint. Ask them to.
• Confirm the new home's gas type matches the appliance. Natural gas and propane are not interchangeable without a conversion kit and a properly performed conversion.

Electric ranges and dryers have their own version of this: the cord configuration. Three-prong and four-prong 240V outlets both exist in American homes, and moving between them requires changing the cord and, on some appliances, a bonding strap inside the terminal block. That is a real electrical detail, not a plug adapter, and getting it wrong is genuinely dangerous. If the outlet at the new place does not match your appliance cord, have it done properly.

The first hour at the new place

Resist the urge to plug everything in and go to bed. A short sequence prevents most first-week problems.

1. Refrigerator in place, levelled, and left to stand. Do not plug it in yet if it travelled on its side.
2. Remove the washer shipping bolts. Before anything else touches the machine.
3. New fill hoses on the washer. This is the moment to do it — the machine is already pulled out and the hoses are already off. Braided stainless, hand-tight plus a quarter turn, and check for weeping after the first fill.
4. Level everything with a spirit level, front to back and side to side. New floors are rarely as flat as old ones and every vibration complaint starts here.
5. Check the dryer duct. Whatever the previous occupant left is probably foil, probably crushed, and possibly full. Replace it with rigid metal and confirm the exterior hood opens. Airflow determines everything about a dryer.
6. Check the dishwasher drain hose has a high loop or air gap, and that the water supply valve under the sink actually shuts off. Run one empty cycle and watch for leaks before you trust it.
7. Run every appliance empty once and stay in the room. Listen. Look underneath afterwards.

What usually breaks, and why

The failures that show up in the weeks after a move are predictable:

• Washer suspension and bearings — moved without shipping bolts. Presents as noise and walking during spin.
• Refrigerator sealed system — started too soon after being laid down. Presents as a unit that runs but will not cool.
• Leaks at every connection — hoses reused, fittings cross-threaded, or the dishwasher drain not properly clamped. Check under everything at 24 hours and again at a week.
• Ice makers not making ice — supply line kinked behind the refrigerator when it was pushed back, or the shutoff never fully opened. Almost always this, not a real fault.
• Dryers taking forever — the duct at the new place, not the dryer.
• Broken glass shelves and cracked crisper drawers — packed inside the appliance instead of separately.

Notice that almost every item on that list is an installation problem rather than an appliance problem. That is the point. If something does fail after a move and it turns out to be genuine, the directory lists repair businesses by state and city — and if the appliance is elderly and the quote is large, it may simply have been a machine that a move was always going to finish off. The Blue Book will tell you whether to fix it or start fresh.