Introduction
The average lifespan of a refrigerator is just over a decade. However, your new refrigerator starts showing problems and breaking down after four or five years. A refrigerator, especially a modern one with advanced and smart features is an expensive investment and you want it to last for as long as possible. Before you search for “refrigerator repair near me”, let’s check out how you can make your refrigerator last longer:
Tips & Tricks
- Clean it regularly – You clean your refrigerator when you keep food for too long and it goes rancid emitting a foul smell or when you spill something inside your refrigerator. However, that’s not enough. You need to regularly clean your refrigerator to make it last for a long period. For your hygiene and safety, you must protect your food by keeping the inside of the refrigerator clean:
- The best way to do it is by wiping down the inner surfaces with warm soapy water at least once every month.
- If you’re having problems with a bad smell, mix lime and vinegar in a bowl and keep them in your refrigerator for a day to get rid of the odor.
You can’t ignore the exterior either:
- If you have greasy door seals, make sure to clean them with soapy water and wipe it down with a clean cloth.
- If you have a drip pan, get rid of the liquid every fortnight and clean the pan as well to prevent microbes from having a fun chill spot.
- Manually defrost your refrigerator if it doesn’t have the automatic defrost feature
You should also take care of other important components. Make sure to clean the coil at the back of the refrigerator thrice a year. When the coil gets dirty it can’t function efficiently and puts a heavy load on the compressor to maintain cooling. Don’t use any liquid since it may damage the component. Instead, use a powerful vacuum cleaner to get rid of the dirt and pet hair.
- Don’t allow it to overexert its cooling capacity – You need to let your refrigerator cool as efficiently as possible without any unnecessary stress. It’s good for the refrigerator, your monthly energy bill, and the environment. The compressor doesn’t need to overexert itself if you allow it to work smoothly. It’s one of the costliest components in your refrigerator and repairs or replacement can put you back by a chunky fraction of the original refrigerator cost. Moreover, if it overexerts itself, it uses more energy and contributes more toward climate change and your monthly energy bill.
When you have baked something fresh out of the oven or need something to cool down before it can be eaten, allow it to rest on the counter instead of shoving it into the refrigerator. Your refrigerator has to work more when it needs to cook something that’s at a high temperature and it adversely affects the lifespan of your appliance.
- Keep it away from the heat – Cooling appliances like air conditioners and refrigerators work similarly. An air conditioner requires good ventilation so that the air can circulate. Otherwise, you risk damaging it prematurely and sleep in the summer heat without proper cooling. Similarly, your refrigerator doesn’t like excess heat inside or outside.
If you keep your refrigerator beside the stove, the surrounding heat makes it difficult for your refrigerator to carry out efficient cooling. The same holds when you keep it beside the window under direct sunlight. Even the shiny paint job or brushed metal finish may get damaged. While it’s impractical to keep it outside the kitchen, you can certainly keep it away from the heat and sun.
- Don’t overfill your refrigerator or keep it empty – When your refrigerator is overfilled, it needs to do a lot of work, and all the food inside flights for attention. An overstuffed refrigerator doesn’t have enough room for proper air circulation. If cold air can’t reach most of your food the compressor has to work a lot more than it should. This can damage your refrigerator very quickly.
While leaving your refrigerator too full isn’t advised, you shouldn’t keep it scarcely filled either. When you have just two or three items in the refrigerator, your appliance is working too hard to cool a few things. Moreover, delicate items like kale or lettuce may freeze up due to excessive cooling. That’s why you shouldn’t keep your refrigerator empty. Before you go on a vacation, plan accordingly and clear out stock in the refrigerator. Make sure that nothing is left so that you can unplug the refrigerator and save it from damage and yourself from high energy bills.
- The top isn’t for storage – Most people are tempted by the free space at the top of the refrigerator and use it for storage. Boxes of cereals, to-do lists, toys, tools, and other things both normal and bizarre. This wouldn’t be a problem if most refrigerators didn’t get rid of hot air from the back and the top. When you cover the top, you block vents, and the hot air isn’t able to escape quickly to allow good cooling. That means your refrigerator gets overworked and its lifespan decreases gradually.
- Check for problems – Your fridge is designed to work efficiently and that means it cuts off power when not needed and turns on when it’s required. However, if you see your fridge cutting off power too often or running all day, there may be a problem. If your coil starts depositing ice, something major went wrong. Even small problems like the door seal not working properly can add up over time. Don’t ignore the minute problems and call for repair service as soon as possible. If you delay those problems, they may cause you major loss and more expensive damage in the future.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to make your refrigerator last longer you probably don’t have to search too often for “refrigerator repair near me” and make your refrigerator last for a long period.
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