Avoidable vs. Unavoidable Appliance Failures: A 5-Year Review

Every property manager knows that appliances can make or break the tenant experience. Heating and cooling systems, laundry equipment, refrigerators, and dishwashers are the everyday essentials residents rely on. When they fail, the costs are not limited to repairs. They ripple into tenant complaints, higher turnover, and lost NOI.

Not all appliance failures are the same. Some are completely preventable with the right maintenance program. Others are bound to happen because of natural wear or the end of the product’s lifespan. The difference between the two is what separates a proactive property team from one that is constantly putting out fires.

Understand which failures you can avoid and which ones you should expect. Doing so helps you stay ahead of repairs, plan smarter, and dodge those costly surprises. It’s about fixing things and anticipating them.

This blog takes a five year look at what you can prevent versus what is unavoidable and how property management technology is reshaping the balance.

Why Appliance Failures Matter in Property Management

Appliance issues in multi-unit buildings scale quickly. A water leak in one unit can damage several floors. An HVAC outage in one wing can generate dozens of complaints. A single mismanaged update can create inconsistent performance across a portfolio.

The financial stakes are high. Research shows that planned and predictive maintenance can reduce overall operating costs by 12-18% while also preventing most breakdowns before they occur. Every oversight not only increases costs but also erodes tenant trust.

Common Appliance Issues

In your property, appliance issues often go unnoticed until performance declines. Your dryer might be taking forever to finish a cycle, or your fridge isn’t cooling in all areas. It’s easy to miss these early warning signs. This is especially true if tenants come and go often or if many teams handle maintenance.

Even your best technicians can have trouble finding the real issue. It’s harder without real-time data or a clear service history. That leads to repeat service calls, quick fixes, and problems that keep coming back.

It doesn’t matter if you manage a single-family home or a multi-unit building. The same culprits tend to show up: blocked vents, dirty filters, clogged drain pumps, worn-out gaskets, and those stubborn error codes. They may seem routine, but they often signal neglected maintenance or growing mechanical stress.

And if you don’t have a system in place to catch these patterns early, small issues can snowball fast. What starts as a minor inefficiency can turn into a full-blown breakdown. Despite the tech upgrades over the years, appliance lifespans haven’t changed much. They still average between 9 and 14 years. Most failures today aren’t even about bad design. They’re about inconsistent use, skipped upkeep, and a lack of visibility into how your appliances are performing.

That’s where the line starts to form. Some problems you can prevent, while others are only part of natural wear and tear. The key is knowing which is which and catching them before they catch you off guard.

Avoidable Appliance Failures

Avoidable appliance failures are breakdowns caused by maintenance oversights, misuse, or neglect. They are the problems that property managers could have prevented if the right checks and tools had been in place.

Take dryers, for example. According to the US Fire Administration, about 2,900 residential dryer fires happen every year. These fires lead to five deaths, 100 injuries, and roughly $35 million in property damage each year. One of the most surprising facts is that lint buildup in vents and filters causes 34% of those incidents.

The bottom line is that avoidable failures consume labor and capital that could have been directed toward improvements rather than repairs.

Unavoidable Appliance Failures

Unavoidable appliance failures occur because of natural wear, end of useful life, or manufacturing defects. Even the best preventative maintenance program cannot stop a water heater from reaching the end of its rated lifespan or a compressor from eventually failing.

Take your commercial refrigerator compressors, for example. They last around 8 to 10 years. Over time, heat buildup, frequent cycling, and wear and tear reduce efficiency. In time, the appliances slow down or stop working completely. These failures are expected and should be part of long term planning and capital expenditure forecasting.

While they cannot be stopped, unavoidable failures can be managed with data. By tracking the age, service history, and performance of appliances, property managers can anticipate replacements and avoid surprises.

Planning for End-of-Life Appliances

That’s why it’s so important for you to keep an eye on appliance lifecycles. By tracking age, usage, and failure trends, you can identify units that are close to wearing out. This lets you plan replacements before they break down.

A proactive, data-driven approach helps you avoid surprise expenses and keeps operations smooth. It also gives you leverage with vendors and makes procurement less stressful. Using actual usage data, not gut feelings, helps you plan repairs and replacements. You shift from reacting to breakdowns to making confident, cost-effective decisions.

A 5-Year Look: What You Can Prevent vs. What’s Bound to Happen

Looking across five years of maintenance records in multi-unit housing, patterns become clear. A significant percentage of appliance failures are avoidable. Dirty coils, skipped filter changes, and ignored diagnostic codes create downtime that could have been prevented.

Industry estimates suggest that more than half of appliance failures in multi-unit environments fall into the avoidable category. That means managers who adopt preventative maintenance and connected technology have the ability to cut their service calls dramatically.

Appliance	Preventable Issues	Expected Failures
Refrigerator & Freezer	Dirty condenser coils	Compressor burnout (8–10 years)
	Overstuffing that restricts airflow	Thermostat sensor failure
Washer	Overloaded or unbalanced loads	Motor failure from extended high-use cycles
	Uncleaned filters	Sensor degradation over time
Dishwasher	Leaking or deteriorating hoses and seals	Internal corrosion in moisture-prone environments
	Blocked spray arms	Motor failure after prolonged use
Oven & Range	Grease buildup in vents	Heating element burnout
	Miscalibrated temperature settings	Ignition system degradation
Water Heater	Sediment buildup	Element burnout
	Missed flushing schedules	Tank corrosion
Microwave	Blocked vents	Magnetron wear
Dryer	Lint buildup in vents and filters	Cracks in sealed system components after prolonged use
Other Smart Appliances	Ignored error codes	Control board failure due to aging components

Over the five year window the best performing properties were those that combined preventative maintenance multi-unit strategies with data-driven oversight. Their avoidable failures dropped while unavoidable failures were anticipated and budgeted for.

The Hidden Cost of Ignoring Maintenance

Ignoring maintenance does not only increase repair bills. It increases energy consumption, risks property damage, and accelerates tenant turnover.

A refrigerator with dirty coils can consume up to 20% more energy than a clean one. A small leak from a dishwasher hose can waste thousands of gallons of water per year, which the EPA estimates at about 10,000 gallons per household. HVAC units that miss filter replacements strain motors, which then fail earlier and cost more to replace.

Tenants notice the effects. Higher energy bills, repeated service calls, and inconvenient downtime reduce satisfaction. According to NMHC data, dissatisfied tenants are twice as likely to start looking for a new residence. The cost of turnover dwarfs the cost of preventative maintenance.

Ignoring maintenance is not a savings strategy. It is a slow drain on NOI and reputation.

Avoidable vs Unavoidable: Side by Side Comparison

Category	Cause	Examples	Prevention Strategy
Avoidable failures	Oversight, misuse, skipped maintenance	Dirty coils, clogged filters, ignored leaks, firmware drift	Preventative checklists, OTA updates, leak sensors, diagnostics
Unavoidable failures	Natural wear, end of lifespan, defects	Compressor burnout, sealed system failure, board failure	Track asset age, forecast replacement, budget capital expenses

 

Appliance Maintenance Strategies That Work

The properties that reduce downtime and lower costs are the ones that adopt systematic maintenance strategies.

• Create seasonal checklists for every appliance category
• Track tasks by unit to identify repeat issues
• Replace consumables like hoses and seals on a schedule
• Standardize updates through over the air tools
• Use sensors in high risk areas to catch leaks before they spread

Preventative maintenance multi-unit strategies cut avoidable failures and extend appliance lifespan.

How SmartHQ Management Reduces Avoidable Failures

SmartHQ Management provides the oversight needed to reduce avoidable failures at scale.

• Remote diagnostics surface issues before tenants report them
• Over the air updates align firmware across units without room entry
• Batch commands standardize temperature and energy settings portfolio-wide
• Task management keeps staff aligned with real time notifications
• Leak detection alerts prevent costly water damage

With SmartHQ Management, property managers move from reacting to failures to preventing them.

Extending Appliance Lifespan and Reducing Operating Costs

Appliances last longer when they are cared for properly. Preventative actions like filter changes, firmware updates, and leak detection extend life by years. That extension directly reduces capital expenditures.

Proactive management also improves tenant satisfaction. Reliable appliances mean fewer complaints and faster resolutions. Satisfied tenants stay longer, which reduces turnover costs and supports stronger NOI.

Over five years the properties that invested in preventative maintenance and technology saw measurable reductions in avoidable failures, steadier budgets for unavoidable ones, and higher resident trust.

FAQs: Appliance Failures in Multi-Unit Housing

What is the difference between avoidable and unavoidable appliance failures
Avoidable failures are caused by neglect, misuse, or skipped maintenance tasks such as dirty coils or ignored leaks. Unavoidable failures result from natural wear, end of life, or manufacturing defects that cannot be prevented.

What percentage of appliance failures are preventable
Industry estimates suggest that more than half of appliance failures in multi-unit housing are avoidable with proper maintenance and connected technology.

What are examples of avoidable appliance failures
Examples include clogged HVAC filters, firmware that is never updated, dirty refrigerator coils, ignored leak warnings, and worn hoses not replaced on time.

How can property managers reduce appliance downtime
Property managers can reduce downtime with preventative maintenance checklists, diagnostics, over the air updates, leak sensors, and task tracking systems that keep teams on schedule.

How do you extend appliance lifespan in multi-unit properties
Appliances last longer when filters, hoses, and seals are replaced on schedule, coils are cleaned, and firmware is kept current. Technology like SmartHQ Management helps enforce consistency across large portfolios.

Why does preventative maintenance improve tenant satisfaction
Tenants notice when appliances fail repeatedly. Preventative maintenance reduces breakdowns, speeds up repairs, and builds trust. Satisfied tenants are less likely to move, which reduces turnover.

Conclusion

Appliance failures in multi-unit housing are not all created equal. Many are avoidable with preventative maintenance and the right technology. Others are unavoidable but manageable if you plan and budget ahead.

Over five years the properties that distinguished between the two categories and adopted proactive strategies saw lower costs, fewer emergencies, and higher tenant satisfaction.

Start your free 90 day trial of SmartHQ Management to reduce avoidable appliance failures and extend appliance lifespans.