If you are looking to move a refrigerator, you must have heard that you shouldn’t lay it down. If this is the first time you are doing it, you must be thinking, why can’t you lay a refrigerator down? Well, there are plenty of reasons you shouldn’t do it as given by appliance repair professionals.
The theory is that the fluid in the fridge can cause air (gas) lock that prevents the fluid from moving around the system, and the lack of fluid damages the compressor. The fluid gets into the compressor in a liquid state and causes a hydraulic lock in some cases.
Even without considering the inner workings of the fridge, there are simple reasons why you shouldn’t lay the refrigerator down on its back. Even if you have already removed all the food and drinks inside, there is still the issue of drawers, shelves, and doors.
Most of the refrigerator shelves are made of glass, which can easily break due to shifting when moving it.
Refrigerator doors are built with a slight vacuum seal, which isn’t enough to keep the doors closed during the move. This increases the risk of the door opening and getting damaged.
How to move a fridge
To avoid damaging your fridge during the move, plan to move the refrigerator properly. How do you do it? Here is how to go about it:
Unplug the refrigerator
Begin with unplugging the fridge so that it doesn’t hurt you. After unplugging, fold the plug properly, so it doesn’t drag on when transporting it. Folding the plug also prevents it from getting damaged or damaging the other parts of the fridge.
Keep the fridge empty.
The other thing you should do is remove all the items from the refrigerator. Besides adding weight to the fridge, the food items will most likely get spoilt before getting to your destination, so you should remove them.
Don’t stop at removing the food items—also remove other items such as bottles and cans so that the fridge is as light as possible.
Defrost the fridge
Removing all the items in the fridge isn’t enough—you also need to defrost it so that no water spills out during the move.
To defrost the appliance, you need to unplug it from the power source and let it stay that way for hours until there is no frost left.
Defrosting takes time, so you should give your appliance enough time. To ensure that you aren’t in a hurry and all the water drains out before moving, unplug the fridge a day or hours before making a move.
After it has completed defrosting, clean all the leftover food particles, water, and other stuff from the insides of the fridge. This is to prevent the items from reaching areas where they shouldn’t.
Move the shelves out.
When you transport the fridge with the shelves in place, there is the risk of them moving and causing damage. You don’t want this, do you? Remove them from the fridge and carry them separately to ensure that it doesn’t happen. If you don’t want to remove them or feel safer in the refrigerator, use tape to secure them to their respective positions.
Keep the door shut
Since you can’t stand next to the fridge to ensure that the fridge door remains shut the entire time, you should use tape to hold it securely in one place.
Load the fridge properly
Now that everything is securely held in place, the next thing to do is load it in the truck. You might try to load it on your own as it’s empty, but don’t, as chances are it’s already too heavy for you. A good way to go about it is to ask a friend to help you in loading.
To avoid the complications mentioned above, try to keep the fridge as vertical as possible.
Secure the fridge
Finally, once the unit is on the truck, secure it. To prevent it from coming into contact with the truck, refrigerator repair Fairfax professionals recommend you place a sizeable blanket over the fridge. This will protect the refrigerator from dings and dents that could deface the appliance.