How often should you…? Every maintenance interval
Updated July 2026
The twelve intervals that keep a house out of trouble, in one table: HVAC filter every 90 days, water heater flush yearly, gutters twice a year, septic every 3–5 years — each linked to a deep dive covering what moves the number for your home, what skipping it costs in real dollars, and how to do the task. Print the table, or let OnOtto run the whole schedule for you.
| Task | How often | It depends on… |
|---|---|---|
| How often should you change your HVAC filter? | Every 90 days | 30–60 days with pets or allergies; 6–12 months for thick media filters |
| How often should you flush your water heater? | Once a year | Every 6 months in hard-water areas; descale tankless annually |
| How often should you clean your dryer vent? | Once a year | The duct — the lint screen is every load; every 6 months for heavy use |
| How often should you clean refrigerator coils? | Every 6–12 months | Every 6 months with shedding pets; some sealed modern units skip it |
| How often should you replace smoke detector batteries? | Every 6 months | 10-year sealed units need no swaps; replace any detector at 10 years |
| How often should you pump your septic tank? | Every 3–5 years | Sooner for big households or small tanks; inspect every 1–3 years |
| How often should you test your sump pump? | Every 3–4 months | Always test before spring melt / rainy season; replace pumps ~every 10 years |
| How often should you add water softener salt? | Check monthly | Top up below half-full — typically a 40-lb bag every 4–8 weeks |
| How often should you clean your gutters? | Twice a year | Late spring + late fall; quarterly under heavy tree cover |
| How often should you service your garage door? | Once a year | Full lube + tune yearly; auto-reverse safety test monthly |
| How often should you inspect your roof? | Twice a year | Ground-level look spring + fall and after storms; pro every 2–3 years |
| How often should you clean your chimney? | Once a year | NFPA 211: inspect annually; sweep at 1/8" creosote — yearly for regular burners |
Twelve intervals, four cadences, one house — that's a lot of calendar math. OnOtto reminds you at the right interval — and won't let you snooze it into next year. Every task persists until it's done, and completing one schedules the next.
Put every interval on autopilot — free for 30 daysPrefer to work by season?
These same tasks, organized into printable seasonal work sessions: the complete home maintenance checklist splits 62 tasks across spring, summer, fall, and winter. For budget planning, the cost calculator prices your personal list.
Frequently asked questions
What home maintenance needs doing monthly vs yearly?
Monthly: test smoke detectors, check the HVAC filter (change at 30–90 days), glance at the water softener salt. Quarterly: test the sump pump. Twice a year: gutters, roof walkaround, detector batteries. Yearly: water heater flush, dryer vent, chimney inspection, garage door tune-up, refrigerator coils. Multi-year: septic pumping (3–5 yrs). The table above has every number with its caveats.
Why do maintenance intervals vary so much between sources?
Because the honest answer is usually a range that depends on your home: an HVAC filter is 30 days (fiberglass, pets) or 12 months (5-inch media); septic is 2 years (big family, small tank) or 5 (couple, big tank). Sources that give one number are averaging. Each deep-dive page here leads with the typical number, then gives the variables table so you can place your own home on it.
What’s the most commonly missed interval on this list?
The annual ones — dryer vent, water heater flush, chimney inspection. Monthly habits survive on rhythm and seasonal tasks get anchored to weather, but "once a year" has no natural trigger, which is why these tasks quietly stretch to two or three years. That failure mode — the snoozed reminder that never comes back — is exactly what OnOtto was built to end.