How do I set up a new appliance properly the first time?

Almost every appliance that fails or misbehaves in its first year does so for one of a very small number of reasons, and all of them happen on installation day. Transit bolts left in, a cooling appliance switched on too soon, a machine sitting on three feet, and a hose crushed behind a cabinet account for the bulk of it. None of them takes long to avoid and all of them are annoying to discover later, particularly on an integrated appliance that has to come out of a kitchen to be reached.

Safety

What you'll need

• The installation manual, read before you start
• A spirit level and an adjustable spanner
• The transit bolt spanner supplied with a washing machine (optional)
• A phone, to photograph the rating plate

Step by step

1. Read the installation section of the manual before touching anything.Not the whole manual — the installation pages. They state the transit bolt procedure, the standing time, the ventilation clearances, the water pressure limits and the first-use cycle. Every appliance differs and the manufacturer's instruction overrides any general rule, including everything here.
2. Photograph the rating plate before the appliance goes into position.Model number with any suffix, serial number, product number and the electrical figures. On an integrated appliance this becomes very hard to read once fitted, and you will need it for parts, warranty, recalls and engineer bookings for the next decade.
3. Remove all the packaging, including the parts you cannot see.Polystyrene blocks inside a drum or an oven cavity, tape, cardboard spacers, protective film on stainless steel, plastic on shelves, and any packing behind or underneath. Packaging left in place is a common cause of a genuine burning smell and of a machine that will not run.
4. Remove the transit bolts from a washing machine, and keep them.Bolts through the rear panel clamping the drum for transport. They must come out before the first cycle or the machine shakes violently and can damage its own suspension. Fit the blanking caps supplied, and keep the bolts somewhere findable — they are needed again if it ever moves house.
5. Let a fridge, freezer or air conditioner stand before switching it on.The manual states how long — commonly two to four hours upright, and longer if it was transported on its side. It lets the compressor oil drain back where it belongs. Switching on early is one of the few ways to damage a new cooling appliance immediately.
6. Level it and lock the feet.Spirit level front to back and side to side, all four feet adjusted until pressing each top corner produces no movement at all, then every lock nut tightened up against the base. A machine on three feet passes a level check and still walks across the floor.
7. Check the clearances the manual specifies.Fridges and freezers need air behind and above the condenser; built-in ovens need their stated ventilation gaps; tumble dryers need space at the intake and a room that can take the moisture if they are vented or condensing. An appliance jammed into a tight aperture runs hot and dies early.
8. Connect water and drainage properly, and check for leaks.Inlet hose hand-tight plus a nudge, not overtightened, with the washer present. Drain hose at the height the manual specifies and pushed into the standpipe only as far as instructed — too deep causes siphoning and a machine that empties as it fills. Run a cycle and check underneath and behind with a torch afterwards.
9. Plug it into a wall socket, never an extension lead.Directly into an accessible socket, on its own. Check the plug is not warm after the first full cycle. Anything hard-wired, and any gas connection, is a job for a qualified person and not a delivery driver.
10. Run the commissioning cycle the manual asks for.An empty hot wash for a washing machine and dishwasher, an empty high-temperature burn-off for an oven with the room ventilated, and the first run of a dryer without a full load. It clears manufacturing residues and gives you a chance to see the machine run before you depend on it.
11. Set the settings that matter now, not later.The dishwasher's water hardness setting to your area's figure and the salt reservoir filled; the fridge and freezer temperatures to about 5 and minus 18 degrees; a washing machine's default spin speed if the floor is timber. These are the settings people never go back to.
12. Register the appliance and file the paperwork.Manufacturer registration, which is how you are contacted about a safety recall and sometimes activates the extended part of the warranty. Then the receipt, the delivery note and the rating plate photograph in one place you will find in five years.
13. Check it again the next day.Underneath for a leak, behind for a crushed hose, the level after a full spin, and the plug for warmth. Five minutes the day after installation catches most of what goes wrong in the first month.

Tips

• Photograph the rating plate before the appliance goes into its space. It is the step people skip and regret most often.
• Keep the transit bolts taped inside a kitchen drawer or to the back of the machine. Moving a washing machine without them can wreck the suspension.
• Set the dishwasher's hardness setting on day one. It is the most commonly ignored setting on any appliance and it decides how long the element lasts in a hard water area.
• Do the oven burn-off on a day you can open the windows rather than an hour before guests arrive.
• Delivery teams generally will not connect gas, hard-wired electrics or plumbing beyond a simple hose. Arrange the trade in advance rather than on the day.

Common mistakes

• Running a washing machine with the transit bolts still fitted — The drum cannot move on its suspension and the machine shakes violently, damaging itself within a few cycles. It is the single most common new-appliance installation error.
• Switching on a fridge or freezer as soon as it is delivered — Compressor oil needs to drain back after transport. Switching on early can damage the compressor, which is a terminal fault, and it is not covered as a manufacturing defect.
• Levelling by eye and not tightening the lock nuts — The feet unscrew during spin cycles and the machine drifts out of level within weeks. The lock nut is what makes the setting hold.
• Not registering the appliance — Registration is how a manufacturer contacts you about a safety recall, and on some products it activates the extended part of the warranty. It takes five minutes and it never happens later.

Checklist

• Installation section of the manual read
• Rating plate photographed, model and serial recorded
• All packaging removed, including behind and underneath
• Transit bolts removed and stored, blanking caps fitted
• Cooling appliance stood upright for the specified time
• Levelled, all four feet solid, lock nuts tightened
• Manufacturer's ventilation clearances respected
• Water and drain connected, checked for leaks after the first cycle
• Plugged directly into a wall socket, plug not warm afterwards
• Commissioning or burn-off cycle run
• Hardness, temperature and default settings configured
• Appliance registered with the manufacturer
• Receipt, delivery note and plate photo filed together
• Rechecked the following day for leaks, level and warmth

Questions people ask