How to inspect a used appliance before you buy it

The single most common way people get burned on a used appliance is buying one they never saw run. A seller who says "it was working when we took it out" is asking you to buy a story. Cold metal tells you nothing. Insist on seeing the unit powered on and running an actual cycle, even a short one — and if that isn't possible, price the risk in or walk.

A fridge needs the longest lead time. A compressor that has been sitting will not show you a cold box in five minutes; it wants a couple of hours to pull temperature down. If a seller has had it plugged in ahead of your visit, that's a good sign about more than the fridge.

• Find the model and serial plate — usually inside the door frame, behind the kick plate, or on the back panel. No plate means no parts lookup and no age estimate. That's a real strike against a unit.
• Decode the age from the serial number. Most manufacturers encode the year and week of manufacture. A ten-year-old washer isn't automatically a bad buy, but it changes what the unit is worth.
• Check the power cord end to end for nicks, scorching, melted insulation, or a replaced plug done badly. Cord damage is cheap to fix and expensive to ignore.
• Look at the back panel. Rust blooming out from the bottom, water staining, or a panel that's been off and put back crooked all say something about the unit's history.
• Open and close every door. Hinges should not sag, and the door should not need a shove. A door that doesn't sit square is a seal problem waiting to happen.
• Press your hand along the door gasket. It should be soft and springy, not hard, cracked or torn. On a fridge or freezer, a bad gasket means the compressor runs constantly.
• Smell it. Mildew in a washer, burnt-oil smell from a dryer, or a sour smell in a fridge each point at a specific problem — none of them cosmetic.

The compressor is the appliance. Everything else — shelves, bins, lights, ice makers — is replaceable and cheap by comparison. A failed sealed system is usually the end of the unit's economic life.

• Listen to the compressor. A steady low hum is right. Loud rattling, a rhythmic knock, or a unit that starts and stops every couple of minutes is a warning.
• Put your hand inside after it has run. The fridge compartment should be genuinely cold, not cool, and the freezer should be hard-frozen.
• Look at the back wall of the freezer for heavy frost build-up. Frost patterns point at a defrost system fault or a door that isn't sealing.
• Pull out the crisper drawers and check underneath for standing water — a blocked defrost drain is common and usually fixable, but you want to know.
• Check the condenser coils underneath or behind. Caked dust is normal and cleanable; oily residue around the tubing is not, and suggests a refrigerant leak.
• Test the ice maker and water dispenser if it has them, and accept that on an older unit these are the first things to quit.

• Run a short cycle with water. Watch it fill, agitate or tumble, drain, and spin. Most faults show themselves in one of those four stages.
• During the spin, a little movement is normal and a machine that walks across the floor is not. Violent shaking on a front-loader often means worn suspension or failed shock absorbers.
• Listen during the spin for a grinding or roaring sound that rises with speed — that's usually the main bearing, and on most machines replacing it costs more than the machine is worth.
• Check the drum for play. Grab the top of the drum and rock it. Significant movement is a bearing warning.
• On a front-loader, peel back the rubber door boot and look inside the fold for mildew, grit, and tears. A torn boot leaks.
• Look underneath the machine and at the floor where it sat for signs of a slow leak.

Dryers are mechanically simple, which makes them one of the safer second-hand buys — but the failure modes that matter are fire-related, so inspect rather than assume.

• Run it on a heat setting and confirm the air coming out is actually hot, not merely moving. No heat on an electric dryer is often a failed element or thermal fuse, both inexpensive; on a gas dryer it can be the igniter or valve coils.
• Listen for squealing or thumping while the drum turns — usually rollers, a belt, or the idler pulley. All are cheap parts, but they tell you the machine has miles on it.
• Pull the lint filter and check for tears. A torn screen sends lint straight into the blower housing.
• Look into the lint trap housing with a flashlight. Deep packed lint means the unit was never cleaned out, which shortens everything.
• Check the drum seal at the front and back. A worn felt seal lets clothes catch and scorch.
• For a gas dryer, confirm which gas it's configured for. Natural gas and propane are not interchangeable without a conversion kit.

• Turn on every surface element or burner and confirm each one heats or lights. Individual elements are cheap; a failed control board is not.
• Set the oven to bake and give it fifteen minutes. It should get hot and the element should glow evenly along its whole length, with no dead sections or blistering.
• Test broil separately — the broil element is a different part and fails on its own.
• Open the oven door and check the door seal and the hinges. A door that won't close flush wastes heat and cooks unevenly.
• On a glass cooktop, run your hand over the surface. Surface scratches are cosmetic; a crack, chip, or a raised ring around an element is not, and a cracked top must be replaced before use.
• On a gas range, watch the flame. It should be blue and steady. Yellow, lazy, or noisy flames mean the burners need service.
• Confirm the fuel and voltage the unit needs. Electric ranges are typically 240V and need the right receptacle; gas ranges are configured for natural gas or propane.

Plenty of problems on a used appliance are worth fixing. These generally aren't, because the repair approaches or exceeds what the machine is worth:

• A refrigerator that never gets cold, or shows oily residue at the tubing — sealed system failure.
• A washer that roars and grinds through the spin cycle — main bearing.
• A cracked glass cooktop.
• A visibly rusted-through cabinet or base, particularly on a washer or dishwasher where water is involved.
• Any sign of an electrical fire: scorch marks, melted plastic at a terminal, a burnt smell that persists.
• A unit with the model and serial plate removed or unreadable, with no explanation.

Everything else — a broken bin, a missing shelf, a worn gasket, a scratched panel, an ice maker that's given up — is a negotiating point, not a reason to walk. Cosmetic wear on a mechanically sound appliance is the whole reason used appliances are worth buying.

• How old is it, and how do you know? An answer with a serial decode behind it is worth more than a guess.
• Why is it being sold? A kitchen renovation, a move, or an upgrade are ordinary answers. Vagueness is not.
• Has anything been repaired or replaced? A recently replaced pump or element is a plus, not a minus — it means the machine has a new part in it.
• What happens if it fails next week? A dealer should stand behind the unit for a defined period. A private seller, by definition, cannot.

That last question is the real difference between buying from a shop and buying from a listing. We put every unit through a full cycle before it's listed and back it for 30 days, which is a promise a private sale can't make at any price.