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Know your refrigerator to minimize cost of repairs

Virginia Refrigerators Repair

A refrigerator is the only electrical appliance that runs continuously day and night to keep your food cold. But sometimes on rare occasions, your refrigerator stops working and puts you in a situation where you need to pay high repair bill and in few cases the cost of the replacement of fridge. So, it’s better to follow refrigerator repair tips to prevent the high cost of repairs on your refrigerator. The reality is that some of the repairs are so easy and require simple knowledge about the appliance and patience to fix the problem at home.

Why Hire a Refrigerator Repair Company

Before fixing any problem, you must know about the internal arrangement of your refrigerator. All type of freezers and refrigerators consists of two components. One is a condenser coil and another is evaporator coil. A liquid coolant passes through both these coils with the help of a compressor and the electric motor. The liquid present in the refrigerator then cools down inside the condenser and passes to the evaporator. The amount of air present in the unit gets cooled off after developing a connection with the liquid-filled coil. Condenser coil is placed outside the unit while evaporator coil inside the unit and the coolant circulates through the entire system with the help of a compressor.

These days, refrigerators are frost free and heater gets turned on automatically as per the timer and melt the frost present inside the refrigerator. When melting of the frost completes then the thermostat resort to a cooling cycle to preserve the standard temperature of freezing. This automatic process rules out building up of frost.

A capacity type motor runs the compressor system and leads the coolant to pass through the coil system. Other parts used for cooling or defrosting system include thermostats, heaters, condensers and fans. If you want to fix the problem in any of these components then you must know the internal functioning of all these parts of the refrigerator and freezers. A DIY(Do it yourself)helps to save money on repair but there are exceptions and best to contact a professional refrigerator repair company to fix the problem and follow refrigerator repair tips to minimize the amount of repairs.

Before starting any repair on your refrigerator or freezer, make sure to unplug it. After unplugging, check the presence of a motor/compressor with a capacitor. Capacitors store electricity and supplies power even after power is off. So, ensure to discharge the capacitor before starting any DIY repairs to prevent a severe shock.

Why Is My Fridge Consuming Too Much Electricity?

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The refrigerator is meant to keep the food cold and fresh, and this task is accomplished with the help of fans, an evaporator, a condenser, thermostats, and timers. While this is the case, the unit shouldn’t consume too much electricity that you spend more than you should.

If you have noticed that your fridge is consuming a lot of energy, you might be wondering why this is the case, right? According to refrigerator repair professionals, this can be brought about by several factors. Here are these factors and what you can do to solve them and prevent a similar issue from resulting in the future:

You have faulty gaskets

The gaskets between the door and housing wear out over time, and the adhesive holding them in place sometimes wears out too. The gasket rubber also sometimes loses its elasticity.

As the door gaskets fail, the fridge loses cool air, and the refrigerator has to work harder to maintain cool air inside. As you can guess, this means the appliance consumes more electricity than it should.

To prevent the appliance from doing this, make it a habit to inspect the gaskets as you are doing the cleaning. If you notice them worn out, replace them.

You have a faulty thermostat.

The thermostat is a switch that is usually open. The switch closes when the temperature gets too high, causing the fan to force cooler air into the freezer and fridge.

Sometimes, the thermostat fails and sticks in the closed position. This means that the fan forcing the cold air into the freezer and fridge works continuously, which triggers the refrigerator to draw more energy than usual.

Like with the gaskets, regularly inspect the thermostats (especially if you have an older refrigerator) and fix them if faulty.

You place hot food in the fridge.

You might argue that when you put hot food in the fridge, the food cools down faster. While this might be true, you should know that doing it increases the temperature inside, forcing the refrigerator to work hard to maintain low temperatures.

When you place hot food directly from the stove into the fridge, experts observe that it takes up to 2 hours for the refrigerator to bring the temperatures to normal levels. This means your fridge will be in working mode for two hours, consuming power nonstop for this long.

To save energy, don’t put food directly into the fridge. Let it cool first, then only put it there once it has fully cooled down. This way, you don’t increase the temperature in the fridge hence the unit doesn’t overwork to maintain the low temperatures.

You have compressor problems.

The compressor creates cold air for the fridge and connects to the heat-exchanging pipe coils outside the refrigerator.

An expansion valve at the end of the pipe system allows the refrigerant to exit as fine mist. Another set of heat-exchanging pipes winds through the inner walls of the fridge.

In the event the coils or expansion valve get blocked, the compressor keeps running, which triggers it to use excessive energy, even if there is no cool air reaching the fridge.

To prevent this from happening, regularly inspect your fridge and replace it if the compressor is faulty or too old.

If you have had your fridge for over a decade and it’s constantly bringing problems, you will save money and have peace of mind by buying a new unit.

Your fridge is too close to the wall.

Like any other heat-producing appliance, when you place your fridge too close to the wall, heat gets trapped between the wall and the refrigerator, leading to the appliance overworking and consuming a lot of energy.

Ensure a 30 cm gap between the wall and your appliance to stay on the safe side.

If you have a large house, appliance repair Fairfax professionals recommend that you avoid keeping your fridge in the kitchen, as the room temperatures are high here.

You also should avoid keeping the heater, microwave oven, or any other heat-producing appliance close to your fridge.

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.