Tag Archives: refrigerator repair

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.

When Should I Replace My Refrigerator?

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Every homeowner knows they have to replace their fridge at a certain point, unfortunately, most don’t know when they should do it. Are you wondering, when should I replace my refrigerator? According to appliance repair professionals, fridges give several signals that it’s time to replace them. Some of these signals include:

The back of the fridge feels hot.

The back of the fridge will feel hot due to a malfunctioning motor. If your appliance is less than 8 years and hopefully under warranty, get in touch with a repair professional to fix it. If the appliance is older than this, there is no point in fixing the motor as doing so will set you back hundreds of dollars, and it will be a matter of a few months before you need a new fridge.

The fridge is sweating.

A properly functioning fridge should be dry, so if yours is sweating, there is definitely something wrong with it.

When your refrigerator is sweating, it’s a sign that the unit has insufficient cooling capabilities, and it will sweat in different areas. If the moisture is on the appliance’s exterior, check the door seal and if worn out or damaged, replace it.

If the seal is in good condition and the fridge is sweating on the inside, that is a giveaway that the internal temperature isn’t cold enough to prevent the food from spoiling, and it’s time to replace it.

You can hear the motor running.

It’s normal for the motor to run, but it shouldn’t be running at maximum speed, and if this is the case, there is something wrong with your unit as there is no need for the fridge to regulate and re-regulate the temperature constantly.

If the motor keeps running, you have a problem in your hands, and you should have it taken care of by a professional. Again, if the fridge is less than 8 years, you can fix the motor, but you are better off saving some money and getting a new unit if older than this.

The fridge is not making any sound.

A quiet refrigerator is as bad as a loud one, so if your unit is completely silent, you have a problem that you should address as soon as possible. If the fridge is quiet and the food isn’t cooling, that is a sign of a damaged refrigerator.

You should unplug the fridge, then plug it back in and confirm whether it’s back to proper working condition. If the problem persists despite there being power, get in touch with a repair professional to fix the unit. If the fridge is more than 8 years, you will most likely be better off getting a new unit than repairing the old one.

The refrigerator keeps breaking down.

Any appliance close to the end of its life keeps breaking down, which quickly adds up the repair cost. Is your refrigerator breaking down every few weeks or months? That’s an obvious sign that it’s time to get a new unit. By so doing, you will save money and have peace of mind as you will be working with a reliable appliance.

Frost keeps building up in the freezer.

It’s common for some frost to develop in the freezer, but these are often easily remedied by turning off the freezer and giving the frost time to melt. As you can guess, the frost in the appliance often isn’t a lot.

When your fridge is malfunctioning or too old, it will produce a lot of frost that is difficult to get rid of. Do you find yourself chiseling through piles of frost whenever you are looking for a frozen entrée? Your appliance might be outdated, and you should get a new unit that is energy efficient and won’t need the annoying and time-consuming manual defrosting.

Your energy bills are through the roof.

Have you noticed that your energy bills are ever-increasing, but you haven’t added another appliance? Chances are your fridge is running inefficiently.

To confirm whether this is the case, refrigerator repair Springfield recommend you plug in an energy usage monitor between the fridge and the outlet to determine the amount of wattage the fridge is drawing and the estimated energy bill. If the fridge’s energy usage increases month to month, it’s time to think about getting a new unit.

6 Reasons Why the Fridge Is Not Cold but The Freezer Is

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In a perfect scenario, the freezer and fridge should always be cold and in perfect working conditions, but this isn’t always the case. If your freezer is working, but your fridge isn’t, it means you have a problem in your hands, and you should have an appliance repair professional look at it.

Are you wondering why the fridge is not cold, but the freezer is? There are plenty of reasons this might be the case. Some of these reasons include:

The evaporator coils are covered in frost.

When the evaporator coils are covered in frost, air doesn’t get space to pass through them to get cold, hence a warm refrigerator. To restore the fridge, remove the frost by blowing hot hair over it.

If you do this, then after a few days, the problem recurs, you might be having a problem with the defrost heater. Check the heater and confirm that it’s working perfectly.

The defrost timer is malfunctioning.

The defrost system relies on the control board to control it, and the timer makes the heater turn. This means that if the timer is malfunctioning, the heater won’t start working, and frost will form on the coils preventing the fridge from cooling.

To fix this issue, try advancing the timer dial to the defrost cycle. If the heater doesn’t come on within 30 minutes, consider replacing the timer.

The thermistor is broken.

Thermistors monitor the refrigerator’s temperature and relay the information to the main control board. When the temperature gets too high or low, the control board turns the compressor on and off as needed.

A broken thermistor causes the compressor to run too often, or it doesn’t run enough, leading to improper temperatures. Use a multimeter to test your thermistor for continuity and install a new one if the current one is broken.

The evaporator fan is defective.

For the fridge to cool, the evaporator fan has to draw cold air over the evaporator coil. This means that when the fan is defective, it doesn’t draw cold air; hence the fridge doesn’t cool.

To find out if this is the cause of the problem, turn the fan blade using your hand. A properly functioning fan should run smoothly, so if there is resistance, the fan is defective, and you should get a new one. You also should get a new fan if the current one is noisy.

The damper control assembly is faulty.

The damper allows cold air into the fridge from the freezer section. This means that if the damper blocks or stops working, little or no air gets into the refrigerator section.

To determine if the damper is the reason for the warm fridge, you need to physically inspect the damper and see whether it’s opening and closing correctly. If it’s not functioning properly, replace it.

You have overstuffed the fridge.

When you overstock the fridge, you save money you would have spent cooling small chunks of foods, right? Wrong. When you stock your fridge with more food items than it can take, you prevent air from circulating, as well as it should, and without proper air circulation, the fridge cannot maintain a cool interior.

To restore the unit to proper working condition, you need to remove the excess food. The proper way to go about this is to remove all the foods in the fridge and clean the insides with a clean cloth and warm soapy water. You should then rearrange the shelves to allow for better airflow. Once the shelves are in place, sort the foods and dispose of the old ones. You should restock the fridge only with fresh foods.

Understand your fridge first

From the problems and solutions presented above, you can see that the fridge problem you have can be fixed even with basic skills. It’s always wise to hire a refrigerator to repair Alexandria to look into the issue and fix it, but if you don’t have the money for it, try to fix it yourself.

If this is the first time opening up the fridge, don’t go at it blindly—first, take time to understand the various parts and how they work. Thankfully, you can get most of the information from your refrigerator user’s manual.

Do French door Refrigerators Have More Problems?

French door refrigerators are known for their sleek design, easy access to fresh food items, and plenty of attractive features.

Despite these, many homeowners have reported that the refrigerators keep developing problems, so they end up spending a lot of money on appliance repair.

Do French door refrigerators have more problems? If the fridge has a bottom mount freezer, it’s bound to have more problems. This is because the freezer is the most complicated part of the fridge, and when it’s mounted at the bottom, it brings about plenty of issues.

Other problems your French door fridge might be having

Other than the bottom mount freezer, your fridge can have plenty of other issues that include:

Less vertical storage

French door fridges feature closely stacked fresh food shelves that make it hard to store sodas and magnums of wine due to their limited space.

Some fridges try to salvage the situation by having split shelves where one section slides out of the way, allowing you to store taller items on the shelf below, but this is still a problem as you can’t store a large pot.

They go at a higher price.

In addition to having limited vertical space, they often go at a higher price, often due to the many features they come with. This means when you are looking to own one of the units, you have to part with a substantial amount of money.

External dispensers keep failing.

Many French door refrigerators come with a through-the-door ice and water dispenser that keeps failing, and this can burn a huge hole in your pocket.

They can be too large.

The refrigerator designers are all about designing units that are as large and feature-packed as possible, so if you live in an old home, the appliance might not be too large for your home, giving your house a weird look after installing them.

The refrigerators are also bulky, so when you install them in a small kitchen, the kitchen might appear swallowed up.

The units aren’t energy efficient.

Due to all the features on them, refrigerators consume more energy than other units in the market. This means when you own one, you always have a high energy bill at the end of every month.

Still interested in a French door refrigerator?

It’s no doubt that French door fridges have issues as you need to repair them more often and they cost more, but if you feel they are right for you, there is no reason you shouldn’t buy them.

When buying the pieces, ensure you are cautious. For example, ensure you buy a fridge with a freezer drawer that can pull all the way out. You can also opt for a fridge with two freezer drawers at the bottom, one on top of the other.

As mentioned, French door fridges are larger than other fridges, so before you head to the stores, ensure you have enough space to store them.

Where will you be using the fridge? In the kitchen or the utility area? Ensure the fridge you are looking to buy is compatible with this space.

When choosing where to store the fridge, remember that the fridge doors open on both sides, so store the fridge in an area that allows you to open the door from both sides.

You don’t want to spend your entire income paying your energy bill, do you? So you should pay close attention to the energy star rating of the appliance.

Although, you should expect the unit to consume more energy than a standard fridge, the difference shouldn’t be too much. For a great experience, ensure your fridge has a high energy star rating.

The final thing to do is to buy a unit that is pleasing to the eye. As mentioned, the fridge doesn’t come cheap, and you shouldn’t spend all of your money on an ugly appliance, so ensure the fridge you are looking to buy has a beautiful finish and is aesthetic to look at.

To settle on a given look, consider your home décor. Will the décor suit a matte texture, metallic color, or something different? It’s up to you to decide.

If not sure about the right unit to go for, ask a refrigerator repair Fairfax professional to help you out.

How Do You Clean Your Refrigerator?

Virginia Refrigerators Repair

Cleaning your refrigerator is important as it keeps it looking great and ensures it’s in top working condition all the time. While this is the case, the big question is, how do you clean your refrigerator? According to refrigerator repair professionals, proper refrigerator cleaning requires you to follow the right steps that include:

Step 1: Switch off the fridge.

If you can easily move the fridge and access the plug, turn off the circuit breaker serving the refrigerator. You should note that you don’t have to do this on all refrigerators. If your fridge has removable shelves and you are cautious about keeping the door closed while cleaning, leaving the fridge on makes no difference, but if your appliance doesn’t have removable shelves and you are going to have the doors open for long hours, unplug the fridge to avoid wasting electricity.

Step 2: Remove all the food.

The first thing to do is to remove all the food from the fridge. Toss any old or expired food into the trash. Remove the food that is still good and place it into a cooler to keep it cold while cleaning the remainder of the fridge.

Step 3: Remove the shelves and drawers

Does your fridge have removable drawers and shelves? Remove and set them aside. If you got any drawers and shelves made from metal or plastic, wash them with hot water and dish soap. For glass and ceramic pieces, gradually warm them up to room temperature before washing them with scalding water. This is to prevent them from cracking and breaking.

Step 4: Wipe down the interior

Using a clean cloth with hot water and mild dish soap, wash your fridge from top to bottom to prevent the water from dripping onto the surfaces you have already cleaned. If the insides have tough, stuck-on spills, use a plastic, non-abrasive scrubber to clean them.

If you got no scrubber, lay a warm wet cloth over the spilled area for a few minutes for the spilled area to get softer and easier to wipe away.

As you are cleaning the insides of the fridge, remember to clean the rags, so you don’t transfer dirt. Also, consider using multiple rags to maintain cleanliness. Once you are done with the insides of the fridge, pay attention to the interior doors.

Step 5: Clean the shelves and drawers

After removing the shelves and drawers, now it’s time to clean and dry them. Be cautious when cleaning, so you don’t break the slippery glass shelving.

Step 6: Dry the interior of the fridge

Once everything is clean and tidy, use a clean, dry cloth or towel. Wipe the interior of the refrigerator to ensure it’s completely dry. Remember to dry the interior walls as well.

Step 7: Replace the food.

Now, it’s time to put food back into the fridge. If you have jars or containers that you may need to store the food, now is a good time to clean them. Remember to use clean cloths when cleaning the jars and dry them thoroughly once you are done.

Step 8: Clean the freezer

Using the above-mentioned methods, clean the freezer. The cool thing with freezers is they often don’t get a lot of spills, so you don’t need to scrub them. You only need to check for and remove expired foods.

If there is some dirt or want to leave the freezers sparkling clean, go ahead and clean them.

Step 9: Clean the outside of the refrigerator.

Start cleaning the fridge from the top and work your way to the bottom using hot/warm water and mild dish soap. If you have a stainless steel fridge, use a soft, non-scratching rag and vinegar or window cleaner to clean the surfaces.

While at it, remember to clean the rubber gasket seal around the door edges using warm water and dish soap. By doing this, you remove dirt and grime that might have collected there, putting the seal at the risk of cracking.

Clean your fridge once a month

For an optimally functioning fridge, clean it at once every month. You don’t have to hire an appliance repair Fairfax professional to help you out, as you can do most of the work by yourself.

What Can Damage A Refrigerator? Refrigerator Repair Experts Answer

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Fridges don’t come cheap, and when you buy one, the last thing you want is to damage it. As a homeowner looking to have your fridge for as long as possible, you must be wondering, what can damage a refrigerator? According to refrigerator repair experts, the fridge can be destroyed by plenty of things that include:

Overstocking the fridge

This often happens when you come back from the grocery store. Since you don’t want any fresh groceries to spoil, you put everything in the fridge, which is wrong. When you put more items than the fridge can handle, you make it difficult for the refrigerator to regulate the interior temperature and keep the insides of the appliance cool.

This provokes the appliance to work harder than it should, putting a lot of strain onto the compressor and condenser coils, which puts the fridge at the risk of overheating.

How can you prevent this from happening?

As you are putting your groceries in the fridge, leave enough room for air to circulate freely, so you aren’t overburdening the appliance. A good rule of thumb is to keep your fridge 75% full.

Another great idea is to remove the old food before you go grocery shopping. This way, you always have enough room to stock the new fresher items.

Failing to clean the fridge regularly.

People rarely clean their fridges either due to their busy lifestyles or ignorance. When you let food spills and other debris accumulate, the refrigerator seal, compressors, and other parts degrade and crack.

This results in the fridge working too hard to cool the interior, which not only leads to an increase in your electricity bill, but the fridge also has a short lifespan.

Thankfully, it’s easy to fix this problem. Clean the fridge at least once every two weeks and when doing it, clean both the inside and outside of the appliance.

You store the food improperly.

It’s one thing to overstock the fridge and an entire ballgame to improperly store the food. For example, you will be storing the food improperly if you move the hot leftover food directly from the dinner table to the fridge.

In addition to the food spoiling, it can also spoil the fridge. This is because you expose the fridge to too hot food, forcing it to work harder than it should.

You can avoid damaging your refrigerator this way by giving your leftover food time to safely cool on the counter then carefully place it on your fridge.

Failing to replace the water filter frequently enough.

If your fridge has an ice and filtered water dispenser on the refrigerator door, you should regularly clean the filter to keep your drinking water and ice-free of contaminants and prevent sediment from building up in the pipes.

When you have debris in your pipes, your fridge works harder than it should; hence you have a high energy bill at the end of the month. Also, the fridge has a short lifespan due to its overworking.

Replace the water filter at least once every six months to keep your fridge in top working condition. You should note that even if you have an ice maker and no water dispenser, you still need to change the water filter to have peace of mind, the ice is free of pollutants.

Failing to inspect the fridge regularly

Like any other appliance, you need to inspect the fridge routinely. You can inspect it by yourself or hire a technician to help you.

Most people will inspect the other parts and forget a vital area—the door seal. When you don’t inspect the door seal frequently enough, it deteriorates, gets brittle, and cracks. This causes it to break down, and it doesn’t properly seal in the cool air.

As you might guess, this leads to a massive loss of energy as the fridge has to work harder to maintain a cool interior.

Whether you are doing the inspection by yourself or you have hired an appliance repair Fairfax professional to do the work, pay attention to the door seal, and look out for any signs of wear and tear or cracking. If your door is no longer resisting as much as it should when opening it, and the suction feels week, it’s time to replace the seal.

6 Signs Your Refrigerator Is Dying As Given By Refrigerator Repair Experts

While homeowners know they have to replace their refrigerator at a particular time, most of them don’t know the exact time to do it. So you will find them trying to salvage a dying horse. They will keep contacting a refrigerator repair professional, not realizing they are pouring money down the drain that they could have put to better use by simply buying a new appliance.

Do you have a hunch your refrigerator is on its deathbed? Here are signs your refrigerator is dying:

You can hear the motor.

Refrigerators are loud, but if you have never noticed its sound, but now you start hearing the motor, you have a problem. The temperature control board supplies voltage to the fan motors and compressors. If this part is malfunctioning, it could send continuous power making the fridge too cold. As a result, the motor runs continuously.

A motor that runs unnecessarily not only makes a lot of noise, it also increases your energy bills.

Your electricity bill keeps going up.

If your appliance has faulty components, you are bound to see your electricity bills go up. For example, if your fridge has a defective gasket, other components such as evaporator, fans, condenser, and thermostat have to work harder to compensate for it, which translates to high energy use.

If you haven’t installed a new appliance in your home and you have noticed your electricity bills going up, you should check whether you have a faulty part or there is food that has built up in the appliance. While it seems harmless, sticky food buildup can lead to tearing up of gaskets. To prevent the buildup, regularly clean your refrigerator with warm, soapy water.

It’s common for older appliances to consume more energy than newer models, but the consumption shouldn’t be too much that it doubles your energy bills.

Your refrigerator is sweating.

Your fridge will look like its sweating as a result of excess condensation, which is an indication of insufficient cooling capabilities. Carefully inspect the refrigerator. If the moisture is appearing on the exterior, check the door seal, and if faulty, replace it.

If the seal looks in good condition or the condensation is coming from the inside of the appliance, the appliance’s internal temperature isn’t cold enough to keep the food from spoiling, and it’s time to replace it.

The freezer is too cold.

Yes, the freezer can be too cold. The freezer is supposed to be precisely zero degrees, so if yours feels like it’s more than freezing, you have a problem. If you have an older appliance, this problem might be brought about by a cracked door seal that is allowing warm, moist air to enter.

If you do an inspection and find that’s not the reason for the low temperatures, you must be having a problem with the refrigerator defrost sensor, or your appliance might be on its way out.

Food keeps getting spoilt.

Does your food keep getting bad much faster than usual? It’s an indication your fridge might be faulty. Before you run into conclusions, check the temperature settings. A properly functioning appliance should have a temperature of between 37 and 41 degrees.

If the temperature is within a normal range, but you are still having this problem, check whether the door seals are tight and clean. Door seals keep cool air in the fridge and prevent warm air from getting in.

Cleaning the seals can keep the fridge working optimally and prevent it from getting spoilt. If you do your inspection and find out everything is in top working condition, but the food is still getting spoilt, chances are your appliance is too old, and it’s time to replace it.

The back of the fridge is too hot.

The back of the fridge should always feel warmer than the front as this is where the motor is located, but if it’s too hot to the touch, it’s a sign the fridge is overheating. The overheating can be brought about by plenty of factors such as: dirty condenser, coil problem, and ventilation system problems.

Appliance Repair Springfield experts recommend you clean the coils, and the fridge will start running more efficiently, which decreases the operating costs. If you do this and still the appliance is malfunctioning, it’s time to get a new unit.

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.

Refrigerator Repair Experts Advice On How To Properly Store Food In A Restaurant Fridge

As a restaurant owner, how you store food in the fridge has a significant influence on the effectiveness of the refrigerator at cooling food and the amount of energy the appliance consumes. Would you like to know how to store food in a restaurant fridge properly? Here are tips to follow as given by refrigerator repair experts:

Top and middle shelf

This shelf is ideal for ready to eat foods such as ready meals, dairy products, leftovers, prepared salads, and cooked meats. To prevent contamination, cover the foods, and keep them in sealed containers. Also, store ready to eat foods at the top of the fridge, away from raw foods so that harmful bacteria cannot move from raw food to cooked food.

Bottom shelf

The best foods to store here are poultry, raw meat, and fish. To prevent them from touching or dripping onto other foods, put them in sealed containers. If storing different items, ensure that you wrap or seal each item in a sealed container, so it doesn’t come into contact with other foods.

Salad drawer

From its name, the salad drawer is ideal for fruits, vegetables, and salad vegetables that have been properly washed before storage. During storage, ensure fruits, vegetables, and salads are properly wrapped in paper or plastic with air holes to keep them protected from any contamination.

For salads and herbs, wrap them in a damp paper towel before you store them to prevent them from drying out. Doing this also ensures they stay fresh for longer.

The door

This is the warmest area of the fridge, so this is the best place to store the least perishable items such as mustard, ketchup, sauce, soy, and other items with longer shelf lives. If you have a large fridge, chances are it has door compartments for eggs and butter. Don’t store them in the designated areas. Instead, keep them elsewhere.

Other things you can keep here are juices such as orange juice.

What shouldn’t you keep in the fridge?

Did you know there are things you can’t put in the fridge? These include: bananas, tomatoes, potatoes, bread, and unripened stone fruits such as cherries or peaches.

Valuable refrigeration rules

To get the most from refrigeration, you need to consider some tips. These tips include:

Don’t overload the fridge

Cramming all of the food in the fridge might sound like a good idea as you cool all the food at once, but this isn’t wise. When you overload the refrigerator, you prevent air from circulating as well as it should; hence you don’t cool the food properly. Cramming the food also puts you at the risk of blocking the cooling unit that chills the food.

Lastly, there is the risk of the door failing to shut properly, so you spend a lot of money cooling the food.

For best results, store food that is just enough that the fridge won’t have a problem cooling.

Pay attention to the FIFO rule.

The FIFO rule stipulates that you should place new stock behind the old stock. Going by this rule, when you receive new food, you deposit it behind the older one. This way, you use the older food first.

To have an easy time, label the food with the date you got it and “use by” date.

Get rid of open cans.

You should never store open cans in the refrigerator as they may lead to chemical contamination. If you want to store canned food in the fridge, first put the food into a container that is suitable for chilling.

Pay attention to the temperature.

There is no way refrigerators will function optimally if the temperature isn’t right. If the temperature is too high, the fridge won’t preserve the food. To have an easy time, get a thermometer that the restaurant staff will be checking regularly and confirm it’s not below the danger zone.

Keep the floor and shelves organized and clean.

There is nothing that gives your refrigerator a clean and organized look as cleaning the floors and shelves. Appliance repair Alexandria professionals recommend you remove dirt and spills as soon as you notice them. If you have labeled items in the fridge, organize them to reduce the amount of time your staff takes to locate them.

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.