The call usually starts as a text from a tenant: the fridge is warm, the washer flooded the unit, the dryer is running but the towels are still wet between guests. You are often not in the building, so what you need is a clear cause, a clear next step and a note you can forward. This page covers standard residential appliances in rental units: refrigerators, washers, dryers, dishwashers, ranges and microwaves. It does not cover restaurant or commercial kitchen equipment.
What The Problem Looks Like
A warm refrigerator with a running compressor is most often a failed evaporator fan motor, or a frosted evaporator coil caused by a failed defrost heater or defrost thermostat. A washer that will not drain or spin usually has a blocked drain pump or a failed lid switch. A dryer that tumbles but does not heat has a blown thermal fuse or a failed heating element. A dishwasher with standing water has a clogged filter or a failed drain pump. A range that will not heat has a failed bake element or igniter. Each of these has a different fix, so describe the symptom as exactly as you can.
Safe First Checks For A Tenant
Ask the tenant to check three things before anyone travels. Is the breaker on, and is the outlet live? Is the washer or dishwasher door fully latched? Is the dishwasher filter or the dryer lint trap packed with debris? If the dryer is not heating, have them clear the lint trap and look at the vent run behind the unit. Stop there. Nobody should pull a refrigerator apart, open a control panel or reach into a drain line. If the breaker trips again, stop and call us.
When It Is An Emergency
Some calls cannot wait for a normal schedule. Water actively leaking into a unit below: shut the washer or dishwasher supply valve if it is reachable, unplug the machine, and call. A gas smell from a range: the tenant leaves the unit right away, touches no switches, and calls Piedmont Natural Gas at 800-752-7504 from outside. A burning smell from a dryer: stop the cycle, unplug it or switch off its breaker, and leave the door closed. Lint-packed vent runs are a real fire risk, and stacked units with long, bent vents are the worst case. Once the immediate danger is handled, call us and we will arrange urgent appliance repair as our schedule allows.
What The Job Involves
Access comes first. We work with a lockbox code, a window when the tenant is home, or a property manager meeting the technician. For short-term rentals we try to fit around checkout and check-in times. On site, the technician tests the appliance, finds the failed part and explains the repair and what it depends on before any work starts. If the part is not available locally, we order it and set up the return visit around the unit's access. You get written notes on what failed and why, in a form you can send to an owner, a tenant or a management office.
What Affects The Price
Cost depends on which part failed, the appliance's age and model, whether the part is available locally or has to be ordered, and whether a sealed refrigeration system is involved. A drain pump or heating element is a different job from a control board. When a unit is old enough that repair stops making sense, we say so and explain why.
A Nashville Detail Worth Knowing
Metro Nashville requires short-term rental (STRP) permit holders to post a local responsible party whose number is answered 24 hours a day during every rental period. That person is usually the one who calls us first. If you are the host or manager, give them the appliance's model number, a photo of its rating plate and the access arrangement, so the call to us has everything we need. We take calls Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm.
Metro Water Services water is moderately hard, about 75 mg/L in its 2025 report. In high-turnover units that builds scale on washer inlet valves and on dishwasher heating elements, which shows up as slow fill, weak wash results and failed elements sooner than in a single household. Heavy turnover also wears washer and dryer parts faster, which is why drain pumps, lid switches and door seals fail early.
Where This Shows Up
We cover rental units across Davidson County and nearby towns, including East Nashville, Sylvan Park, The Gulch, Germantown, 12 South, Antioch and student rentals near MTSU in Murfreesboro. Stacked washer and dryer units in apartments and condos often have long vent runs with several bends, so check that vent when a stacked dryer runs hot or slow. For appliance-specific detail, see refrigerator repair, washer repair, dryer repair, dishwasher repair and oven and range repair.
Call (615) 412-2497, Monday to Saturday, 8am to 7pm, and tell us the appliance, the symptom and how to get in.
Technician insight
What catches property managers off guard most often is not the repair, it is access. A unit with no one home and no lockbox turns a simple fix into two trips. Send the model number, a photo of the rating plate and the access plan with the first call and the diagnosis goes faster.
A common call from a short-term rental host
A guest texts the local responsible party that the refrigerator is warm. The host passes along the model number, a photo of the rating plate and the lockbox code, then calls us. The technician finds a frosted evaporator from a failed defrost heater, explains the repair, and leaves a written note the host can read before the next guest checks in.
Rental Property Appliance Repair Services We Offer
✓Rental Refrigerator Repair
Diagnosing refrigerators that run warm between tenants, usually a failed evaporator fan motor, a worn start relay, or a frosted coil from a failed defrost heater or thermostat.
✓Rental Washer and Dryer Repair
Fixing washers with a blocked drain pump, failed lid switch or scaled inlet valve, and dryers with a blown thermal fuse or failed heating element.
✓Rental Dishwasher Repair
Clearing clogged filters, replacing failed drain pumps and scale-damaged heating elements in dishwashers used hard between occupants.
✓Rental Range and Oven Repair
Testing bake elements, igniters and cycling thermostats on standard residential ranges and ovens in rental kitchens.
✓Turnover-Timed Scheduling
Fitting a repair visit around a short-term rental's checkout and check-in window, or a tenant's availability, so the unit is not left with a broken appliance.
✓Owner and Manager Reporting
Written notes on what failed and why, easy to forward to an owner, a tenant or a property management office.
How it works
- 1
Describe The Unit And Access
Tell us the appliance, its model number if you have it, what it is doing, and how the technician gets in: a lockbox, a scheduled window, or someone meeting them there.
- 2
On-Site Diagnosis
The technician tests the appliance and identifies which part failed.
- 3
Explain The Repair And Cost
We lay out what the repair involves and what the cost depends on before any work starts, in terms you can pass to a tenant or owner.
- 4
Repair And Written Notes
If the part is available locally, the repair can be finished that visit. If it has to be ordered, we set up the return visit around the unit's access. Either way you get a plain written explanation of what was found.
Pricing
What a rental repair costs depends on which part failed, the appliance's age and model, whether the part has to be ordered, and whether a sealed refrigeration system is involved. We explain the repair and the cost before any work starts.