When many homeowners are having issues with their refrigerators, they rush to hire refrigerator repair professionals to help them with the repair of the broken units. What most of these homeowners don’t know is that they can fix the units by themselves.

Common refrigerator problems you can fix by yourself

Failure of the door light to come on: Most of the homeowners panic when they open their refrigerator doors and the door light doesn’t come on. This is usually a minor problem caused by a blown fuse. The refrigerator might also be unplugged.

When you are having this problem, the first thing you should do is to check whether the refrigerator is plugged. If it is, check the fuse as its most likely blown. If it has blown, simply replace it.

Failure of the refrigerator to cool: It’s frustrating having this problem. The refrigerator light might be coming on, the unit is on, but it doesn’t cool. You should start by checking the temperature control dial. The kids might have bumped or pushed it by accident.

In some cases, the vents might be blocked by containers. All you need to do is to remove the containers.

Refrigerator cycling too much: A refrigerator that is running constantly is not only noisy, it also tends to consume a lot of energy; therefore, digging a dent in your wallet. Your refrigerator will keep on cycling due to the accumulation of dirt around the condenser coils.

The coils are located at the bottom of the refrigerator and you can access them from the back or front. You should remove the grill and using a vacuum cleaner, get rid of any buildup that might be there.

Leaking water: The refrigerator isn’t supposed to leak water. If it is, you have a problem that you should try and fix as soon as possible. The leakage problem comes about due to a blocked defrost drain.

The pipe will block when the food particles and other debris clog up the drain hose, resulting to the buildup of ice. Eventually, water leaks out of the freezer and refrigerator.

To fix this problem, flush the drain from the inside of the freezer using warm water. You can use a small funnel or turkey baster to do it. If this doesn’t fix the problem, manually remove the debris that might be clogging the check valve at the end of the drain hose.

Dangers of DIY refrigerator repair

While DIY refrigerator repair saves you money and helps you understand your unit better, it comes with its fair share of negatives. They include:

Safety: If you have never repaired the unit before, you might hurt yourself in the process. The main safety issue is electrocution that results when you try repairing the appliance before disconnecting the appliance from the power source.

The repair might be inefficient: let us be honest, while you can diagnose the problem with your unit and fix it, you might not give it the same service that an appliance repair professional might give it.

In some cases, you might fix the unit the wrong way thus putting it at the risk of developing more problems. The unit might also develop issues that put your life and that of your loved ones at risk.

Hiring a refrigerator expert

If you feel that you don’t have the skills to repair the appliance or you don’t have the time to repair the unit, you should hire a commercial appliance repair Northern VA professional or any other professional to help you out.

For you to get the most from the expert, ensure that he/she is highly experienced. The professional should also be certified to work in your local area. The last thing you want is the service provider damaging your unit and later learn that he/she isn’t certified.

While it might seem as of no importance, it is. Work with a contractor with a great personality. You don’t want someone whom you can’t maintain a conversation with.

While it will cost you money to hire a contractor, it will be for your own good as the contractor will eliminate the risk of you hurting yourself trying to fix the unit. Since the contractor is experienced, he/she will most likely give you a better service.