Tag Archives: refrigerator repair company

How Do I Keep My Fridge Tidy? 5 Tips To Make It Sparkle

A tidy fridge is not only beautiful to look at, but also saves you money as it runs more efficiently, not to mention lasting for a long time.

How do I keep my fridge tidy? If you are asking this, you should know that there are plenty of ways to do it, as given by refrigerator repair professionals.

Which are these ways? Here they are:

Maximize the shelf space

Most people will say that their fridges are full, but when you inspect them, you find that they aren’t using their shelf space as well as they should.

To keep your fridge tidy, you need to make the most of your shelf space. And the beauty is there are plenty of ways to make it happen.

One of the things you should do is avoid having unopened cans or single-serve bottles crowding the food that you should keep cold. This calls for you to keep the cans out of your fridge.

Instead of keeping the cans in the fridge, keep them in the pantry. If you need to cool the bottles, use ice, instead of placing them in the refrigerator.

Another way to make the most of your shelf space is to use square instead of round plastic containers. The reason for this is because square bottles store more food and look much cleaner than round ones.

If there is leftover food, don’t place it in huge, space-sucking containers. Instead, put it in individual portions in smaller bins. You can also store them in resealable bags that you can easily grab and go.

Make the food items accessible.

You will be doing double work removing items out of the way then restocking them. You will also be messing with your fridge by doing it.

You should strategically place the different items in your fridge to ensure this doesn’t happen. Of course, the items you use regularly should be near the door to easily access them.

Experts also recommend you use a Lazy Suzan.

Regularly clean the fridge.

You should regularly clean your fridge and remove any materials that might make the unit look dirty. For the best outcome, thoroughly clean the insides of the refrigerator,

Besides the cleaning, reduce the work you have to do to keep the unit clean by lining the bins with paper towels that will catch the drips.

It’s also wise to keep the sticky items such as syrups, jams, and sauces in removable shelf bins. This way, if dribbles happen, you only need to take them out and rinse them.

As you are doing the cleaning, you will come across stuck-on messes. To remove these, use a damp scrubber sponge sprinkled with baking. This will not only remove the messes, but also get rid of dirt and odors.

Clip the opened bags

When you have many bags in your fridge, it’s easy to forget what you have already opened, and you end up with many half-used food items that make your fridge look full and disorganized.

To ensure that you exhaust one bag before moving to the next, mark the bag you have already opened.

One way to do this is to clip the bags to the shelf with a binder clip. Of course, you should keep the bag close to the fridge door so that it becomes the first thing you see when you open the refrigerator.

Keep the items sorted in the freezer.

Due to its small size, things can quickly build up in the freezer, giving it an untidy, disorganized look. To avoid this, keep the items in small containers. For example, you can have fish, poultry, or even vegetable containers.

After keeping the items in clear plastic containers,  label them to make them easy to find.

Parting shot

These are some of the ways to keep the fridge clean and organized. As you organize the food items, store them to make them last for as long as possible. This calls for you to double bag certain foods such as raw meat.

Appliance repair Springfield professionals also recommend you pat the wet fruits and vegetables with a dry paper towel to get rid of excess moisture that can spoil the items.

How Do You Take Care Of A Refrigerator?

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.

Ways A Commercial Appliance Repair Professional Can Help You

As a business owner, you need to be able to easily source commercial appliance repair professionals when you need them. Unlike with appliances in your home where you can delay a day or two before you fix them, you need to fix the appliances in your commercial business as soon as possible to keep your customers happy and reduce losses.

How commercial repair professionals help your business

Depending on your business, repair professionals can help your business in different ways. Some of these ways include:

Bars and pubs

To serve your customers properly, you need glasses, and when you don’t have clean glasses for the customers to use, you have no business. You also need fridges, ice coolers, and freezers working at all times for you to serve refreshing beverages.

If you have a problem with any of the appliances, you should contact a repair professional as soon as possible to fix the problem.

Restaurants

As a business owner in the food industry, you are reliant on your appliances running in top condition at all times. If your fridge or freezer has broken down, you have wasted stock. If the dishwasher is not working, the staff are forced to clean the dishes manually, which can stretch them too far, and when the ovens aren’t working, they can decimate your menu.

A commercial repair professional will visit your establishment, inspect your appliance, and fix the prevailing problems.

Dry cleaners

When your washing machines and tumble dryers are malfunctioning, no work can be done, and when you decide to work with them, you risk tearing at your customer’s clothing. The repair professionals will help you diagnose the washing machines, tumble dryers and washer dryers and fix the problems they are having.

What should you consider when hiring the repair professional?

You know the repair technician is vital for your business, but what should you consider when hiring for you to hire the right one?

Certifications and licenses

You don’t want a quack to work on your appliances, do you? To ensure you are working with a professional who abides by the federal and state laws, ensure you hire a certified professional.

You should note that some contractors will try to fake the certifications, so take your time to ascertain the certifications are genuine. You also should ensure the contractor is licensed to work in your local area. Avoid working with an unlicensed technician as they might not be qualified to provide the services.

Customer service

How do the contractors treat you? Do they make you feel special? When you call them, do they respond to your calls fast? And when you leave a voice message, how soon do they reach back? These are some of the things you should look out for to determine whether you will have a smooth ride with the technician.

If you are like other business owners, you hate hiring a new contractor for every problem that crops up—you want to use the same technician for all appliance problems so that you will be working with them for a long time.

Due to this, you want to work with a technician with a likable personality.

Professionalism

Some contractors have the impression they are tradesmen, so they don’t put a lot of effort into maintaining professionalism when they are dealing with their clients. So when you contact them and ask them when they will come to repair your appliance, they give a vague answer such as, they will arrive anywhere between 10 A.M and 4 P.M.

Others will show up much later than agreed and don’t even come with the proper tools, so they waste time trying to complete the work with the wrong tools. You don’t want this.

You want to work with a professional company that treats its customers with respect. You can tell this from the conversations you have with the company before you begin working with them. You want a technician who talks professionally and gives clear timeframes of when and how they will accomplish the work.

Repair cost

Before you decide to work with a given company, get quotations from different companies. While at it, avoid extremely cheap companies as they will provide you with a cheap service. At the same time, avoid an appliance repair Alexandria company charging you exorbitant prices as it will most likely be ripping you off. Take time to find a company that gives you an excellent service at an affordable price.

Does a Refrigerator Need To Be Level? Refrigerator Repair Experts Answer

Virginia Refrigerators Repair

When you install a new refrigerator, the first thing you should do before you slide it into position is to ensure it’s leveled. If you are wondering why does a refrigerator need to be level, for one, you should know a leveled refrigerator looks great. A leveled unit also functions better.

Luckily, if your unit isn’t leveled, you can easily do it. Here is how to go about it as given by refrigerator repair experts:

Locate the legs

The most effective way of leveling the fridge is by adjusting the legs. The access points for the legs vary depending on the manufacturer, where some are easy to access without removing the panels, while others require you to remove the panels.

Find out the type of refrigerator you have and do the necessary. Once you reach the legs, inspect them for screws and bolts, and if present, you need to adjust them. You can rotate some of the legs freely while others will require you to use a wrench or screwdriver.

Rotate the legs

To rotate the legs, look along the top and bottom. You will see a slot near the top or a screw or bolt near the bottom. Using a flat head screwdriver or an adjustable wrench or pliers, turn the leg clockwise to raise the fridge and counterclockwise to lower it.

For easy time, level the refrigerator from left to right. To ensure the fridge is level, place the level on top of the fridge behind the door and adjust the legs accordingly.

Adjust the rollers

If you adjust the legs and still the refrigerator isn’t leveled, you should now adjust the rollers. Begin with removing the grille over the legs using your hands. If unsure how to go about it, consult the owner’s manual.

Each roller has a screw-on it that requires you to use pliers or a wrench to adjust it. You should turn the screw clockwise to raise the legs or counterclockwise to lower them.

After adjusting, measure the refrigerator tilt with a level. Place the level at the top of the fridge behind the door, and if the rollers are properly adjusted, the level will be flat from left to right.

As you are leveling the fridge, never tilt it back, prop or jack it unless the manufacturer advises you to do it. This is because even small appliances are heavy enough to cause serious injuries when they tip over or fall. Also, don’t attempt to lay the fridge on its back or side.

Other ways to keep your refrigerator functioning optimally

Other than keeping the refrigerator leveled, there are plenty of other things you can do to keep your fridge functioning optimally. Some of these things include:

Keep the appliance clean: Most homeowners only clean the outside of the refrigerator, which often isn’t enough to keep the fridge working properly. At least once a week, remove all the food in the refrigerator and clean the insides.

While at it, inspect the seals and ensure they are in good shape. Remember, if they are faulty, cold air will escape making it harder for the unit to keep its cool. So replace them if necessary.

If the seals aren’t damaged, clean them with warm soapy water that will stop debris and food spills from blocking them.

Give the fridge enough space: There is no way a stressed refrigerator will function optimally, so ensure your appliance has enough breathing space. The unit should have enough space on the top, back, and sides. This way, the unit will have enough space to expel heat.

Don’t overload the appliance: It’s common for homeowners to pack the fridge with as many products as it can take. This often happens after they have visited the grocery store. You should note that when you store too many items in the refrigerator, you prevent air from circulating as well as it should, and the air conditioner works harder than it should preserve the food.

Overloading the appliance also leads to excessive wear and tear as given by appliance repair Northern VA experts. To keep your appliance in top shape and prevent it from getting damaged, only stock what the unit can take.

Appliance Repair: 7 Tricks To Keep Your Fridge Organised For The New Year

appliance repair

Your refrigerator was full of activity during the festive season. As the New Year begins, you need to keep it organized for you to keep it functioning efficiently. How do you do it? Here are expert tips given by appliance repair professionals:

Start with a clean slate

Start everything on a clean slate. This calls for you to toss out any expired products that you aren’t using.

With all the hands that were going in and out of the appliance and the accidental spills during the season, the chances are that there is a lot of dirt in the appliance.

Before you do anything, clean the unit. A simple wet cloth and soap are enough. Regardless of the stains, avoid using abrasive products as they will damage the appliance.

Leftovers on the top shelf

You should designate the upper shelves for pre-cooked foods, packaged foods, drinks, and leftovers. The cool thing with these foods is that they are already cooked, so you don’t have to worry about them spilling from their packages hence compromising the foods you place below.

For you to have an easy time telling what is in your appliance, transfer the foods from the delivery containers into a glass or BPA-free plastic storage.

Having the foods in clear containers also prevents you from forgetting about the foods.

Place fruits and vegetables in bins

You should have specially designated containers for fruits and vegetables. The containers should keep the contents as fresh as possible. While it’s tempting to prepare the foods ahead, avoid chopping the ingredients until too close to the time you will be using them.

If you slice and dice the vegetables too early, they can easily go bad.

Store the fruits and vegetables in their whole form and at the right humidity levels to keep them nice and crisp.

Watch what you place in the door

The fridge door is often warm, so you should be cautious of the items you put there.

The best items to put in the door are milk or fresh juices. These are highly perishable, and the best place to store them is towards the bottom and in the back of the appliance where the fridge is the coldest.

You can place butter and soft cheeses in the door as you don’t have to keep them too cold.

When it comes to eggs, keep them at an area with the most consistent temperature. This is on the middle shelf of the fridge.

Do you have deli meats? Keep them in their designated meat bin.

Store the bottles neatly

If you struggle finding enough space in your fridge due to all the drinking bottles and containers in your appliance, you can improve the look of your appliance by stacking the water bottles in a pyramid shape to make them easy to grab.

Transfer things such as juice and iced tea to tall, slim, grass carafes to make the fridge neater.

Don’t buy more than you need

When you are looking to give your fridge a new look, it’s easy to buy more things than you even need. As you might guess, this results in overstocking the appliance.

You should note that an overstocked fridge doesn’t do its work properly, which means that it doesn’t keep the items cold and fresh.

When the fridge is too packed, the cool air doesn’t circulate properly; hence the food items spoil faster.

One of the best ways of avoiding buying more than you need is to have a notepad or chalkboard nearby to keep a tally of what’s in the fridge, so you don’t buy what you already have.

Move what needs to be eaten at the front

If you are like other homeowners, you have food that you need to eat sooner than the other. Whether it’s leftover yogurt, don’t run the risk of having to throw it away simply because you forgot about it.

Go through the fridge once a day and move the foods that need to be eaten soon to the front of the appliance.

Refrigerator repair Springfield professionals recommend that you mark the container with the date you opened the food, so you don’t have to wonder whether it’s still good.

Appliance Repair: 7 Ways To Keep Your Refrigerator Functioning Efficiently

appliance repiar

Refrigerators work hard to keep the food cold and safe. Unfortunately, many kitchen owners don’t do much to love them back. According to appliance repair professionals, this results in the appliances breaking down more often.

They also consume a lot of energy. Do you want your refrigerator to run efficiently? Put these tips into action:

Keep it away from hot appliances

It’s common to have ovens, dishwashers, and other heat-producing appliances at home. The heat produced by these appliances makes the refrigerator work harder to maintain its cool temperature. As you might guess, this leads to a high electricity bill.

To prevent the appliance from working too hard, put the fridge as far away from the heat-producing devices as much as possible. If you have a large kitchen, put the refrigerator at a designated area.

Fill it up

Some clueless homeowners have the notion that the refrigerator functions better with fewer items, but this isn’t the case. You should note that the more stuff the fridge has, the more efficient it runs.

If you don’t have a lot of food to store in the fridge, fill pitchers with tap water and place them in the excess spaces in the refrigerator.

Replace the rubber seal on the door

Also known as a gasket, the rubber seal protects the fridge from unwanted warm air from getting into the refrigerator. The opening and closing of the door wear out the gaskets, and it’s only a matter of time before you have to replace them.

When the rubber seal wears out completely, warm air from the outside enters the fridge, which triggers it to work even harder, which translates to high energy bills at the end of the month.

To keep warm air from entering the fridge, replace the worn-out rubber seals.

Clean it up

In addition to cleaning the insides of the appliance, you also should pay attention to the outside and especially the back of the unit. Pull the refrigerator away from the wall and get rid of dirt and grime from the coils.

If you have a modern appliance, the coils will be behind the grille. Dust and vacuum the exposed coils. You also should clean the area where the refrigerator stays. The beauty of cleaning the fridge is that you don’t need to hire a professional to help you out. You can easily do it by yourself.

Keep the fridge closed

The longer you keep the fridge open, the more the hot air gets in which triggers the refrigerator to work too hard than it should. For you to prevent a lot of hot air from getting into the fridge, keep it closed most of the time.

Most people spend a lot of time on the fridge door when they can’t remember what they are looking for. For you to reduce the amount of time you keep the door open, know what you are precisely looking for.

This way, you will be sticking your hand straight into what you want and close the fridge door.

Cool off the leftovers

If you have leftover food, don’t put it straight into the fridge while still hot. This is because it can dramatically increase the refrigerator temperature, making the compressor work too hard to cool the refrigerator.

A simple act as letting the food cool down first can go a long way at taking the strain off the fridge. By cooling the food, you reduce the amount of heat you add to the interior of the appliance; hence it doesn’t work hard to cool the food.

To prevent residual heat from escaping from the appliance, store the food in protective wrapping or Tupperware before placing it in the refrigerator.

Keep the refrigerator organised

Keeping the fridge organized makes it easy for people to find things they are looking for; hence you spend less time on the door.

If your fridge is overstocked, get rid of the excess items. Have you placed large bread items, serving dishes, and food boxes on the top shelf? Remove them from there.

Refrigerator repair Springfield professionals report that large objects at the top of the fridge trap heat inside the unit, forcing the compressor to work harder than it should, which translates to a high energy bill.

To reduce your cooling costs, get rid of these items.

Refrigerator Ice Maker Repair: Tips To Keep Your Refrigerator Ice Maker In Top Shape

refrigerator ice maker repair

Many people complain that their refrigerator ice makers aren’t working as well as they are supposed to. This is usually because they don’t know how to properly take good care of them.

To help you out, here are tips given by refrigerator ice maker repair professionals on how to take good care of their ice makers:

Keep the ice maker clean

Ice makers turn water into frozen cubes; therefore, it might seem absurd having to regularly clean the unit to keep it functioning properly. You should note that the machines are like any other machine you might be having in your home—you need to clean it.

When you go for a long time without cleaning it, you promote germ growth which not only prevents the machine from functioning as well as it’s supposed to, it also poses a great health risk.

You need to periodically sanitize your ice maker to keep it functioning optimally. If your refrigerator has built-in ice makers and water dispensers, you don’t have to rigorously sanitize it. Cleaning it once every month is enough to keep it in top shape.

Start with turning off the unit then shut off the water flow to it. Then remove the ice bin and melt or discard the remaining ice.

Using a mixture of warm water and dish soap, clean the insides of the ice bin then disinfect it once clean. Once you are done, return the bin to the freezer and turn the ice maker and water flow back on.

It will take you some time for the ice to produce again as the ice maker needs to get back to its operating temperature. Discard the first batch of ice made. This is because it tends to contain some cleaning solution that isn’t healthy for you. Ice from the first batch also tends to taste bad.

Place it at the right location

Where you place the ice maker not only determines how well it functions, it also determines how long it lasts. Where you place the ice maker depends on the type of ice maker that you have.

If you are installing a built-in unit, choose a location that is easily accessible. The goal is to place it in an area where you can easily go back and forth from the ice maker without any problems.

Are you thinking about installing portable ice makers? You should note that these units are compact and require an outlet to function properly. The appliances are ideal when you already have a place to plug them in.

Avoid placing the portable ice maker next to beverages as someone can easily spill something on them. You can place the ice maker and other beverages on the same counter, but don’t place them too close to each other.

Change the water filter

A dirty water filter prevents you from making quality ice. It also makes the ice maker work too hard; therefore, it keeps on developing issues. It also doesn’t last for a long time. Most of the modern ice makers come with filtration systems that determine the quality of water that you get.

Over time, it’s common for the filters to get dirty or get damaged. For you to have good quality ice and for your ice maker to last for a long time, you should make a habit of replacing the ice filter when necessary.

It’s easy to change the filters even by yourself. One of the things you should do is to ensure that you get high-quality filters from a reputable brand. For ideal results, buy the filters from the same company you bought the ice maker.

Get rid of clogs as early as possible

Refrigerator ice makers are prone to clogs. The clogs result from the jamming of the ice dispenser chute. If you have a modern fridge, it’s easy to fix the problem.

According to refrigerator repair professionals, you need to remove the ice bin then clean it. You should then dry everything then replace the bin.

If you have an older fridge, you might require the services of an appliance repair Northern VA professional to help you remove the ice maker located in the freezer compartment.

Refrigerator Repair: Refrigerator Mistakes To Avoid

Virginia Refrigerators Repair

While people have been using refrigerators since time immemorial, according to refrigerator repair professionals, many of these people make plenty of mistakes that not only cut the lifespan of the machines, but also make the machines keep on breaking down. To help you out, here are some of the most common mistakes that many people make:

Packing the fridge too full

People make this mistake when they have come from the grocery store. Since they come with a lot of food, they want to preserve all of it. Since the refrigerator is often smaller, they have no way out, other than to pack it too full.

In addition to packing the fridge to capacity putting it at the risk of getting damaged, it has also been shown to overwork the machine. What is the end results of this? It spends a lot of energy thus you have a high energy bill at the end of the month.

For you to keep the refrigerator working optimally you should avoid packing it too full. It’s okay to fill the shelves but avoid overstocking. A tell-tale sign that you have packed the fridge more than its capacity it’s your inability to comfortably reach the back. If you can’t reach the back of it, its time you think about getting rid of some of the items.

Failing to clean the fridge properly

It’s common for the fridge to have spills and leaks. When the messes come about, you should clean them as soon as they happen. While many people know that they need to clean the fridge, they don’t clean them as properly as they should, which is wrong.

The FDA recommends that you clean the fridge as part of your regular kitchen cleaning routine. One of the best way of doing it is mixing a little bit of water with a little bleach. When doing the cleaning, remember to also clean underneath the fridge.

Has your fridge been warmer than it should? The coils might be dirty and require some cleaning. For the unit to function optimally, you should clean the condenser coils a few times a year. The best way of going about it is unplugging the unit, snapping the grate and cleaning the coils using a coil cleaning brush.

Turning the temperature too low

It’s common to leave the refrigerator door open from time to time. When many homeowners do this, they turn the refrigerator too low in order to compensate for this. While there is nothing wrong with this, you should note that you can easily forget and leave the settings too low.

When you let the fridge function at extremely low temperatures, it tends to spend a lot of energy thus you have a high energy bill at the end of the month.

Many people lower the temperature settings as they deem that by doing so they prevent the food from getting spoilt. While it’s true you prevent the food from spoiling, you should know that as long as the fridge isn’t overstuffed and is sealed properly, the fridge can catch up with the temperature loss on its own; therefore, there is no reason for you to reduce the settings.

Even if you have to lower the settings, avoid doing so abruptly. The best way of going about it is making gradual adjustments and give the unit an hour or two for it to catch up.

You keep hot food in the fridge

Refrigerators are designed to take a little heat thus you can store small amounts of hot food in it. While this is the case, it doesn’t mean that you should put a whole pot of soup in the fridge.

When you put extremely hot food in the fridge, you raise the temperature. According to appliance repair Fairfax professionals, when you raise the temperature above 40 degrees F, the bacteria start multiplying rapidly, making the food unsafe to eat.

If you want to keep the food hot and safe, you should divide it into smaller containers. Food in small containers allows more air circulation which cools the food more quickly allowing the temperature in the fridge to remain ideal.