Tag Archives: refrigerator tips

Guide to Running your Fridge Optimally

Virginia Refrigerators Repair

When you have a furnace, you want it to run all the time optimally, don’t you? Thankfully, there are several things you can do to make this possible. Which are these things? Here they are as given by refrigerator repair professionals:

Don’t run an empty fridge

You might argue that an empty fridge will spend little energy. After all, there is nothing inside, right? Well, this isn’t how it works. When you run your fridge while empty, you give the cold air a hard time moving from one side of the fridge to the other, so you often end up with a highly inefficient refrigerator.

If you don’t have any food in the fridge, it’s wise to turn it off. If there is some food, fill the empty spaces with water bottles that will aid in the transfer of the cold air.

The same way you should avoid running your fridge empty is the same way you should avoid running it when overfilled.

You might argue that if running an empty fridge is bad, then it should be okay to run an overfilled one. Well, that’s not the case.

Studies show that your appliance has reduced energy efficiency when you run your fridge when it has overfilled. This is due to blocked air vents, forgotten foods, and other issues.

Don’t stock your fridge more than it can handle to stay safe. Experts even recommend that you keep your fridge two-thirds full, as it tends to function at its best at this capacity.

Don’t pre-cut your fruits and vegetables before storing them in the fridge

Most people recommend that you wash and cut your fruits and vegetables before you keep them in your fridge to encourage healthy snacking, but this isn’t an excellent way to do it.

This is because chopped-up pieces deteriorate too fast as more surface area is exposed.

The right way to go about it is only to wash and cut the fruits and vegetables when you are ready to eat them.

Don’t store milk in the door.

If you visit refrigerators in most homes, you will find that most homeowners store their milk in the door and often on the top shelf.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the best place to store it. This is because the location is one of the warmest spots in the fridge, and since milk is liable to spoil, it easily gets spoilt here.

The best place to store your milk is on the middle shelf. What makes the area attractive is that it enjoys consistent temperatures.

The same thing applies to eggs.

The best items to store on the fridge door are salt and vinegar.

Store meat on the lower shelf

Homeowners store milk on the door the same way they store meat on the upper shelves, which is wrong. While the meat won’t get spoilt here, chances are high that it will drip onto other foods, and you don’t want this.

To avoid this, always store your meat on the top shelf. It will even be better if you can place a tray under the meat on the lowest shelf to contain any leaks that might happen.

Having a tray also makes it extremely easy to clean any spillages.

Use trays in your fridge

You might have heard that you should use bins, trays, and baskets in your home; they come in handy when it comes to keeping your home organized.

The same way it’s visually pleasing to see your pantry shelves compartmentalized with bins, and lazy Susans are the same way your fridge looks good and stays organized when you take advantage of these organization tools.

As mentioned above, you should have a tray to hold your meat on the top shelf. You also should have a bin to carry the condiments that don’t fit into the door. It also doesn’t hurt to have a colander to hold oranges and other fruits you might be having.

Fix even the most minor problems

When you notice a problem, even the most minor one, such as a change in the noise made by your fridge, don’t ignore it. Instead, get in touch with an experienced appliance repair Springfield professional and fix it as soon as possible.

Refrigerator Repair: Refrigerator Preventative Maintenance Checklist To Keep Your Fridge In Top Shape

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To avoid hiring refrigerator repair technicians to repair your appliance frequently, you need to be cautious of the sanity of your appliance. To have an easy time, have a refrigerator preventative maintenance checklist with you.

The list protects your appliance from sudden breakdowns and ensures that your appliance lasts for a long time. Some of the things you should do to maintain the sanity of your appliance include:

Keep the appliance leveled

If the fridge or freezer isn’t level, the doors don’t seal correctly, and in no time they warp out of place. To prevent this from happening, place a carpenter’s level on top of the unit. If it’s not level, adjust the feet using a hand wrench.

Defrost the unit

Many modern appliances have a self-defrosting mechanism that prevents ice from building up in the unit. If you have an old unit, it might be lacking this mechanism, so you have to defrost the appliance manually.

If the ice is over ½ inch, remove it. Start with turning off the appliance and let it defrost naturally. To speed up the process, turn on a fan facing the affected area. Avoid using sharp objects to remove the built-up ice as you can damage the appliance.

Change the water filter

If the refrigerator has an icemaker, it most likely has a water filter that you should replace. For best results, replace the filter every 6 months, or however often the manufacturer recommends. The purpose of doing this is to ensure that the ice made by the appliance is clean. Cleaning the filters also ensures that the appliance is functioning efficiently all the time.

Clean the appliance regularly

If you have a busy kitchen, the chances are that you don’t have enough time to properly get rid of food and beverage spills when they happen. When you go for a long time without properly cleaning the refrigerator, gunk is bound to develop.

To avoid this, make it a habit to clean the refrigerator surfaces at the end of every working day. When drips and splatters happen, clean them on time. When doing it, avoid using a ball of steel wool or other abrasives and chemicals such as bleach that can damage the finish of the appliance.

Remember, the longer you let a spill settle, the harder it will be to clean it without using a harmful cleaning agent. In addition to the uncleaned spills causing unpleasant odors, they significantly affect the quality of the refrigerator. Mold also tends to grow on the fridge jeopardizing the safety of the food.

Regularly inspect the seals and fix the leaks

When the seals or gaskets on the fridge doors are loose or ripped, air will escape. This results in the refrigerator working too hard; hence you have a high energy bill at the end of the month.

You can easily fix minor gasket leaks by yourself using silicone caulk. While you are at it, ensure that the refrigerator door hinges and latches are tightly secured.

Check the interior lights

Lights generate heat. In a properly functioning refrigerator, the lights should go off when you close the refrigerator door. Due to age and improper maintenance, the refrigerator lights might not be going off when you close the door. As a result, the lights heat the interior of the fridge, making the refrigerator work harder than it should.

To stop this, take the time to scrutinize the interior lights. If they don’t go off when you close the door, find out the reason and fix it.

Clean the condenser coils

The condenser coils allow the fridge or freezer to control its temperature, so you must keep them clean to ensure that the appliance is running efficiently and doesn’t overheat. When you go for a long time without cleaning the coils, dust, hair, and other grime build up on the coils.

To keep your appliance functioning efficiently, clean the coils regularly with a vacuum cleaner. For ideal results, do the cleaning at least once every three months. You can do the cleaning by yourself by following the owner’s manual or hire an appliance repair Alexandria professional to help you out.

When hiring a contractor, ensure the contractor is experienced enough. They also should be certified to work in your area.

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.

Refrigerator Repair Tips

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A refrigerator is a must-have unit in your restaurant. Unfortunately, it tends to develop a number of problems that you should fix for it to continue functioning optimally. Here are some of the most common refrigerator problems as given by refrigerator repair professionals:

The refrigerator makes only tiny ice cubes

This problem usually comes about when the water supply is partially or completely blocked. For you to fix the problem you need to remove the icemaker. This calls for you to remove the screws holding the icemaker in place. The purpose of removing the unit is to expose the water inlet tube.

After removing the appliance, check the water inlet tube for ice. The tube supplying water to the icemaker can get plugged with ice when the water pressure is low. The trickling water freezes and plugs the tube before getting to the icemaker. If the tube is blocked, you should unblock it.

You also should unblock the saddle valve. The most common problem with the valve is the clogging of the needle hole. If clogged, you don’t have to worry as it’s easy to unclog it. All you need to do is to put a needle through the hole.

If none of the above solves the problem, consider replacing the water inlet valve. All you need to do is to look at the back of the fridge. There should be a small electric “inlet valve” that turns the water supply to the ice maker. Before you replace the valve, ensure that the water is flowing into it.

If you have the skills you can replace the valve by yourself, but if you have never done it before, hire a professional to help you out.

The fridge produces puddles

You will experience this problem when the water supply lines serving the icemaker or water dispenser leak, making pools under the fridge. Even if your unit doesn’t have a water dispenser, it can still cause water pooling when its experiencing water fails.

Remember that every refrigerator produces water in the form of melting ice or condensation and when it’s not functioning properly, it’s bound to cause water pooling. Just like when the refrigerator is making ice cubes, you need to take a look at the different parts of the fridge to diagnose the problem.

The first place you should give attention to is the water supply line. If the fridge has an icemaker or water dispenser, pull out the fridge and try and find a leak. If there is a leak at the inlet valve, tighten the compression nuts. Is the plastic or rubber tube leaking? Replace it.

Sometimes the problem is as simple as tilting of the fridge. If this is the case with your unit, simply level it.

Finally, take a look at the drain pipe. In most cases, its usually clogged and you have to clear it. For you to unplug it you have to remove the cover panel then using a hair dryer, melt the ice that might have buildup.

Failure of the freezer to cool

If you have had your fridge for a long time you must have come across this problem. This problem can be brought about by many reasons. The most common reasons include: loss of electricity, wrong setting of the thermostat, and malfunctioned thermostat.

For you to fix the problem you need to pay attention to the thermostat and vents. Ensure that the thermostat is turned all the way down. also, ensure that the vents in the fridge and freezer compartments aren’t blocked by food containers.

You also should check the condition of the coils. Are they dirty? If they are, you should clean them.

The refrigerator making a lot of noise

Refrigerator noise comes from the compressor under the fridge, the evaporator fan motor inside the freezer, or the condenser fan motor under the fridge. To diagnose the source of the noise you should open the freezer door while the fridge is running. If the noise doesn’t get louder, it might be coming from the condenser or evaporator.

After you have found the source of the noise, you should go ahead and fix it. If you don’t have the skills, you will have to hire an appliance repair Springfield to help you with the work.

All About DIY Refrigerator Repairs

Refrigerators Repair

The American home shields network reports that three in every five service calls are to fix bad DIY refrigerator repairs. The reasons why the calls are too high is because most of the homeowners don’t understand refrigerator problems.

What are the common refrigerator problems?

Just like other units in the kitchen, refrigerators develop a wide range of problems that come about due to many reasons. The most common problems are:

Failure of the refrigerator to cool properly: The refrigerator is supposed to cool food at the temperature that you set it at. If it isn’t, you have a reason to worry. The fridge will fail to cool food as expected due to a problem with the freezer setting, obstruction of the vents, malfunctioning door seals, or failure of the internal components.

Water leaking from the fridge: A properly function fridge shouldn’t leak; therefore, when you see water leaking, there is something wrong with the unit. Water will leak from the unit due to dirty drain pan and tube, improperly alignment of the fridge, or ill-fitted water filters.

Failure of the ice maker to make ice: The purpose of the ice maker is to make ice; therefore, when it’s not making the ice, it isn’t doing its work. The ice maker will fail to make ice when the freezer temperature is too high, you have a faulty inlet valve, the icemaker is improperly assembled, or the icemaker module has failed.

Over freezing of the freezer: In some cases, you will find the freezer over freezing to the extent that there is frost collection. This happens when you have a malfunctioning gasket, bad thermostat, or sensor failure.

DIY solutions for refrigerator owners

You don’t have to open up the refrigerator and try to fix the freezer problems as you will most likely cause more problems. What you can do as a refrigerator owner is to keep the fridge in great shape. Some of the things you can do include:

Cleaning the fridge regularly: A dirty refrigerator is not only unsightly to look at, it also works harder than it should due to an accumulation of dust. For you to keep the unit in a good working condition you should regularly clean it.

At least once a week, take time to get rid of dust, pet hair, and debris that might be on your unit. You should note that you may have to remove a few screws at the back so that you can give the unit a thorough cleaning. You should use a vacuum or stiff brush to do the cleaning.

Avoid overloading the unit: Most people have the impression that they save energy when they stock all of their groceries in the fridge. Instead of saving money, you will be damaging your unit when you do this. Overstocking the fridge damages the fridge doors as they don’t close as well as they are supposed to.

When the refrigerator is full, air circulation is poor thus the unit doesn’t cool the food as well as you would want it to. Your role as the owner is to ensure that you never put more food in the unit than it can handle.

When should you hire a refrigerator repair professional?

You should hire a repair expert every time you notice a problem with your unit. If you don’t have the repair skills, don’t attempt fixing the appliance regardless of how minor you think the problem is.

You should contact an experienced refrigerator technician to diagnose and repair the unit.

If your refrigerator is more than ten years old, has been consuming a lot of energy, and developing problems more frequently than normal, chances are that it’s too old and it’s time to get a new one. When buying a new appliance, buy one with a high energy rating. It will be pricier to purchase but it will save you a lot of money in the long run.

What can you do to lessen the cost of refrigerator repair?

The reason why home and restaurant owners attempt to fix the appliances by themselves is to save money they would have spent hiring an expert. Instead of doing this, you should include your refrigerator in your home or business warranty. This will protect you against unexpected, but inevitable high appliance repair Alexandria or replacement costs.