Maintaining your refrigerator is critical to keeping your kitchen clean and your utility bills low. A fridge that is not properly maintained will consume more electricity than necessary. According to refrigerator repair professionals, preventative maintenance lets you detect a problem before it grows or worsens to the point where it can no longer be repaired.

You also risk not maintaining appropriate temperatures within the fridge, allowing food to degrade faster. Suboptimal temperatures can also cause mold to grow in various compartments and waterlines.

To keep your fridge in top shape, you have to be strategic in organizing your maintenance schedule. To help you out, here is how to go about it:

Tasks you should do every month

You don’t have to be a skilled repair professional for efficient preventive maintenance. There are simple actions you can complete once a month to protect your most vital kitchen appliance. These tasks include:

Deep clean the fridge

Many people keep putting it off, but deep cleaning the refrigerator does not take as long as you think. Usually, you don’t even need to keep anything in a cooler. Remove everything from your refrigerator and arrange it on the counter in a single stack.

Make sure you remove and clean all of the shelves. Use an all-surface cleanser or a vinegar-based solution to remove organic residue from spills and seepage. Next, clean the fridge’s walls, the top and bottom of each shelf, and the inside of the drawers.

Get rid of the spoiled food.

Pay attention to what goes into the refrigerator as you refill it. As a rule of thumb, discard any food, beverages, or containers that have been there for at least a month or that you do not recall putting in the first place.

Check expiration dates regularly to avoid storing ruined food. This way, you can prevent mistakenly consuming or drinking something you shouldn’t. This strategy can also assist in avoiding unattractive and harmful mold development and contamination.

Ensure the vents are clear and open

No containers or bags should obstruct the vents between the freezer and refrigerator. This is where the chilly air comes from, so these sections require adequate ventilation.

Things to do every few months

You should strive to go through these processes at least twice a year if not more. These steps are crucial for keeping your fridge in peak condition for an extended period.

Test your door seals.

Check the seals on your refrigerator and freezer doors every two to three months. First, take a few minutes to clean the seals and remove debris. After cleaning, check the seals for wear and tear or breakage.

A simple solution is to close the fridge door with a $1 bill. After you close the door, try to remove the bill without opening it. If you can remove it, you may need to repair your door seals in poor condition.

Swap out the water filters.

You should replace these filters every three to nine months, depending on how much water or ice you use. A good rule of thumb is to update your water filter every six months.

Clean the coils

The coils on the rear of your refrigerator are responsible for heat removal. You’ll need to relocate your refrigerator to access the coils, and you should disconnect it before cleaning them. Then, use a vacuum cleaner or a soft brush to remove the dust.

Clear out the drain pan

To eliminate condensation, your refrigerator employs a drain hole and a drip pan. Your owner’s manual should include instructions for removing mineral deposits from the drain hole. You’ll also need to empty the drip pan and remove any debris.

What to do once a year

Defrost the freezer

When your freezer or refrigerator has accumulated frost, empty it. A small amount of ice on the walls of your freezer is acceptable. However, if there is enough ice to block away space for food, you may encounter difficulty. Defrost the refrigerator entirely, using glasses of warm water to speed up the process.

Wipe off the defrosted walls with vinegar and consider changing your fridge settings to reduce frost buildup in the long run. If the buildup occurs quickly (over a few days or weeks), you may need to have the entire defrost system serviced.

Confirm the fridge is on level.

Use a bubble level to test the top of the refrigerator from all four corners. If the fridge isn’t level, move the feet in or out until they are. This movement enhances food storage and cooling efficiency, preventing the door from swinging open or closing.

Be on the lookout for common problems.

Even when undertaking preventative maintenance, you should be alert for any issues. Numerous warning indicators indicate that your refrigerator is malfunctioning. Recognizing these early warning signs allows you to address a problem before it worsens.

These signs include:

Excessive condensation: Too much condensation indicates your refrigerator isn’t cooling correctly. If condensation accumulates in or around the fridge, call a repairman to keep your food from rotting.

Cold spots: Certain areas of the refrigerator may be colder than others. For example, the top shelf may be frozen while the bottom is warm, or vice versa. Cold spots in your refrigerator can ruin food or cause extra thawing during dinner preparation.

Food spoiling too quickly: Your food may decay considerably faster than the expiration date suggests. Fast spoiling indicates that your refrigerator is not maintaining the proper temperature to preserve and keep items fresh.

Overheating motor: Overheating from the engine indicates that the refrigerator is working harder than necessary. Excessive heat in the condenser might cost hundreds of dollars in electricity.

Excessive condensation: Too much condensation usually indicates that your refrigerator isn’t cooling correctly. If condensation accumulates in or around the fridge, call an experienced appliance repair Alexandria professional to keep your food from rotting.

The post The Ultimate Refrigerator Maintenance Checklist first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair

Refrigerators are a household necessity, but they are quite expensive. They can cost a lot of money, depending on the refrigerator brand and features desired. Because the fridge costs a lot of money, it’s important to take proper care of it so it lasts as long as possible. A refrigerator’s usual lifespan is 10 to 15 years; however, according to refrigerator repair professionals, it can survive up to 20 years if properly maintained.

Knowing how you may be limiting the life of your fridge allows you to avoid bad behaviors and make your well-spent bucks go further. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of ways you could shorten the life of your refrigerator. These things include:

Failing to clean the fridge

Debris, foodstuff, sticky spills, and other frequent culinary mishaps that remain on the refrigerator door gasket for an extended period can tear or destroy the seals of your unit. This can result in a leak, enabling cool air to escape. You don’t want this.

To keep your fridge in good condition for as long as possible, wipe down the door edges on a regular basis. While you’re wiping down your fridge, check to see if you’ve properly organized it to keep ingredients fresh and prevent food diseases.

While you are at it, also remember to clean your fridge’s coils. For a great experience, make it a habit to clean them once a year. If you have pets, do it twice a year.

Remember that debris on the coils can prevent your refrigerator from effectively releasing heat, causing your compressor to work harder and longer than it was designed to. This increases the amount of energy used by your refrigerator and reduces its longevity.

Running the fridge full at all times

As much as you want to store as much food as possible in your fridge, you should be cautious when stockpiling and storing. While this is not a major issue with modern models, certain older versions have fan blades that are not as well shielded. In such a case, you can even see the fan blades in your freezer or refrigerator.

If you have an older unit, cramming your food into it and the freezer to the point of putting too much pressure on it can cause a break.

Ineffective refrigerators are often overworked, which tend to fail eventually. To avoid overfilling your fridge, perform a deep clean of the contents now and then and remove any debris that might be there. Not sure where to begin? Look for the things that you haven’t used in a while and get rid of them.

Running your unit in the wrong temperature

The incorrect freezer temperature might shorten the life of your ice maker and compromise the safety of the food you’ll be consuming. A temperature above 15 degrees Fahrenheit might potentially cause the defrost thermostat to fail, overloading your refrigerator and shortening its life.

You should make it a habit to check the temperature of the cooling system in your refrigerator and freezer on a regular basis.

The refrigerator’s internal temperature should be between -4 and 0℃. You should note that this temperature may vary from time to time, which is normal; however, you must ensure that it does not interfere with the refrigerator’s operation.

If you believe your refrigerator is not maintaining the proper temperature, you can reset the thermostat setting, which should resolve the issue.

If resetting it doesn’t solve the problem, you should contact a professional refrigerator repair service provider to help you out.

Failing to inspect the fridge

Most people will run their units without paying attention to them, which is wrong.

If your gasket does not seal properly, cold air might escape, causing the unit to work harder and consume more energy to maintain the desired temperature.

This is not only bad for your refrigerator, but it will also increase your energy bill. As a result, you must check for symptoms of wear and tear on an ongoing basis.

If you notice cracking or degrading sounds, you must replace them to avoid significant refrigerator issues. As part of your regular refrigerator maintenance practice, clean the gasket with warm, soapy water to prevent crumbs and spills from damaging the seal.

If you discover that your refrigerator is constantly running or is running louder than usual, take action immediately. Some repairs are simple enough for you to handle yourself or are inexpensive for a professional, but even if that’s not the case, letting a fridge work harder than it should is an excellent way to shorten its lifespan.

Depending on the age of your refrigerator, you may decide not to repair it and instead invest in a new, more energy- and cost-efficient model.

Failing to close the door after using the fridge

Your mother may have always had to yell if you failed to close the refrigerator door. As much as you might have hated it, she was correct. Keeping the fridge door closed is one of the most effective strategies to maintain proper fridge upkeep.

This is because the fridge has to work harder to maintain the proper temperature when the door is regularly opened.

To be safe, you should always consider what you need from the refrigerator before opening the door and take everything at once. When you’re finished, make sure to close the door tightly. This will keep the cold air from escaping from the refrigerator.

When you spend minutes on the fridge door deciding what you want, you should note that you allow hot air into the fridge, which causes it to work harder than it should. As you can guess, this causes the unit to have a shorter lifespan. You don’t want this, do you? So, always ensure that you keep your fridge door closed at all times.

As mentioned above, to minimize the amount of time you spend in the fridge, ensure that you know what you want before you head to the refrigerator.

Parting shot

These are some of the ways you are shortening the life of your fridge. To be on the safe side, take good care of your unit and be ultra-cautious about how you handle it. If you notice any issue with it, always move with haste and even consider hiring an appliance repair Springfield professional to fix any problems that might be too complex for you.

The post What Shortens The Life of a Refrigerator? first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair