When you buy a refrigerator, you want it to last for as long as possible. Unfortunately, the appliance can’t just last for a long time—you have to take good care of it.
How do you take care of a refrigerator? According to refrigerator repair professionals, there are plenty of ways to do it. Some of these ways include:
Keep the door closed.
Keeping the fridge door closed prevents the cool air from leaving the fridge. This prevents the refrigerator from overworking, which keeps the energy bill low and ensures that the fridge has a long life.
To ensure that you open the fridge door only when it’s necessary, think about what you need before you open the door. This way, you go straight to what you need without holding the door open, thinking about what you want.
Other people will get what they want then fail to close the door completely. This is wrong, as it’s the same as when you don’t pick what you want fast.
After you have picked what you want, confirm that you have fully closed the door.
Keep the fridge level.
There are plenty of downsides that come with a fridge that isn’t level. For one, the doors don’t close as well as you would want them to. As you can guess, this results in the fridge overworking, and it has a short life. The motor also stains, and this also contributes to the fridge going to an early grave.
When you place the fridge in your house, take time to confirm that its level. One of the best ways to go about it is to place a level tool on the shelves. If not balanced, adjust the feet or place a piece of stone or wood to keep it balanced.
Clean the coils
Although not visible, coils caked in dust, debris, and pet hair make the fridge overwork which works against the appliance.
For your appliance to last for a long time, you need to clean the coils. The coils are located at the bottom of the fridge or in the back. To access them, you have to remove a grill. In some cases, depending on the type of fridge, you have to snap off a plate or remove a few screws to access them.
If the coils in your appliance are located at the back, you have to roll or move the fridge away from the wall to access them. While at it, clean the floor under the fridge using a vacuum, stiff brush, or any specialized tool.
When it comes to cleaning the coils, you don’t need to be fancy about it. Simply running a vacuum or brush over and under them will get the work done. Besides the coils, also clean the condenser fan.
To keep your fridge in top shape, clean the coils once or twice a year. You can clean them even more regularly if you have a pet that sheds.
Maintain the right temperature
To prevent your fridge from overworking, you should regularly check the temperature in the fridge and freezer sections of your appliance. For an ideal functioning fridge, the fridge compartment should be around 37 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while the freezer section should be at zero degrees Fahrenheit.
If you have an older model without an inbuilt temperature gauge, buy an inexpensive thermometer from your local home improvement store.
Run it full
A fridge with fewer items is more efficient than a full one, right? Wrong. When you fill your fridge, the cool air easily moves from one item to the other, which comes in handy at helping the unit cool better and operate more efficiently.
While you should keep the fridge full, you should be cautious that you don’t overstock it such that there is no room for the cool air to flow, which leads to the food spoiling.
Overstuffing the fridge also blocks the vents and controls, causing the fridge to overwork and head to an early grave.
Place it away from heat sources.
Most people place their fridges in the kitchen, where most of the heating appliances are located. While this is the case, it’s still possible to place the fridge away from the oven, cooktop, and other heat sources.
According to appliance repair Alexandria professionals, placing the fridge close to the heat-generating items makes the fridge work harder than it shoul. This not only results in it consuming a lot of energy but also drives it to an early grave.