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Having a functioning refrigerator is important for a wide variety of reasons, ranging from having dinner ready in time to ensuring the health and wellbeing of your household. After all, a refrigerator malfunction could imperil the longevity of your food and lead to a myriad of health problems if you end up consuming something that wasn’t consistently kept at its appropriate temperature.
Nevertheless, many homeowners pay little to no attention to the maintenance of their refrigerator, usually only noticing things are amiss when it breaks down entirely. Here’s an exploration of how to maintain your refrigerator, why regular maintenance check ups are so important, and what to know about keeping your fridge clean as well as functional.
In This Post:
Keeping Things Cool
How do you ensure that your refrigerator is functioning appropriately? First and foremost, you need to examine the various parts of your fridge that ensure that it’s keeping things cool in the way that it’s supposed to be. For example, the seals on your fridge door help trap the cold inside while keeping the warmth out, which means that lackluster seals or those which are beginning to fall off could become a serious problem. If you don’t pay attention to the quality of the seals on your fridge, you’re not only imperiling your food but likely running up your energy bill, too. This is because insufficient sealing makes your fridge less efficient, which in turn means it needs more energy just to meet its basic objective.
Always begin by examining the seals around your fridge. Some people prefer the “dollar bill test,” which is as simple as placing a dollar between the seal and fridge door before closing it. Next, try to pull the dollar bill out. If you feel tension as you do so, and the dollar bill is “gripped” by the fridge and hard to pull out, your sealing is fairly solid. If it immediately pulls out without any resistance, your sealing is likely in bad shape. Whenever you have serious concerns, contact a certified repairman to attend to your sealing, as amateur repair efforts could worsen its condition. Don’t forget to clean your seals once or twice a year at least, either!
If your fridge has a water filter, check your owner’s manual to determine when and if it needs to be replaced. Most filters should be replaced every six months or so, at the very least, but some specialty filters may vary in their maintenance needs. This is also a good moment to check your refrigerator clearance – does it have enough space in front, behind, and on either side of it to ensure adequate ventilation?
Not everybody loves shelling out the big bucks for a good appliance repair in oakville, but the truth of the matter is that amateur repair efforts could destroy your refrigerator’s functionality. This, in turn, will require an expensive purchase to make up for your now-defunct fridge. Avoid that by relying on certified professionals.
Clean Out Your Icebox
Next, be sure that your icebox isn’t filled with age-old ice that’s been sitting there for some time. Regularly using your icebox will help prevent this, but even regularly used fridges sometimes accumulate ice. Solid blocks of ice can form and block out certain portions of your fridge, so ensure that at least once a month you check in on the status of your icebox.
This is a great time to do a fridge-wide cleanse that sees you clean out the entire refrigerator. If you’re not properly cleaning your fridge in tandem to properly maintaining it, you could be exposing yourself or your household to germ risks. Foodborne illnesses aren’t only serious but also incredibly uncomfortable to endure, so regularly cleaning out your fridge with safe cleaning materials is imperative for long-term health.
This is also an ideal time to ensure that your gaskets are clean and not disrupting the sealing of your fridge. Inspect door gaskets to ensure that the magnets keeping your parts in place are still strong. Of course, you’ll also want to thoroughly clean out your condenser coils.
Repairing and cleaning your condenser coils can be a bit more challenging than other aspects of maintaining your refrigerator. Often located in the back, underneath, or on top of the fridge, these coils can be hard for some individuals to reach. It’s nevertheless very important to ensure you’re cleaning them, as these coils help guarantee your fridge is cold enough. Pet owners in particular should be advised that pet hair can get caught up in these coils. As always, don’t imperil your own health by trying to conduct extensive repairs on complicated devices you lack familiarity with, but instead solicit nearby professional assistance when the going gets rough.
If you follow these tips, your refrigerator will endure for much longer than usual. Proper maintenance is usually the key to success when it comes to getting the most out of your household appliances, so never fret that you’re going overboard when it comes to maintaining your refrigerator.