Refrigerators | How They Work, Types, Repairs and More | Square One (2024)

What can you do to maintain your refrigerator?

Here are some tips to properly maintain your fridge:

Clean the door seals

It’s easy for jelly, and other sticky stuff to get on the seals around your fridge door. If the door sticks shut, and you pull it open, the seals can actually tear. Wipe down the seals every few months with a solution of warm water and baking soda, on a sponge or a toothbrush. This is a simple fix for a common problem.

Clean the condenser coils

Dusty condenser coils can wreak havoc with the efficiency of your fridge. Depending on the type of fridge you have, the coils will either be at the back of the fridge, in which case you’ll need to pull your fridge away from the wall, or at the bottom front of the fridge behind a snap off cover. An easy way to clean these is to use the brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner.

Check the temperature

Most experts recommend the fridge should be set between 3 and 5 Celsius, and the freezer at about -18. You can buy a fridge thermometer if you want to check the temperature. If you make any adjustments to the thermostat, give it about 24 hours to adjust. To check the temperature in the fridge, stand the thermometer in a glass of water at night before bed. This way you can be sure (unless you’re a midnight snacker) that the fridge door will be closed for 8 hours. In the freezer, just stand the thermometer up between some frozen items, and leave it for 8 hours as well.

Clean the freezer vents

There are little vents at the top and bottom of the freezer section of your fridge, which can easily get plugged by bits of food, plastic, or twist ties. Keep these clean, so air can circulate properly.

Fill up your fridge

Your fridge should be about three quarters full to operate properly. When you open the door, the cold foods inside will help absorb some of the warm air you’re letting in. If you just can’t seem to keep it full, you can always put a few bottles of water in the fridge.

What is the life expectancy?

As with just about everything, proper maintenance will extend the life expectancy. Most experts agree that the average life expectancy of a refrigerator ranges from 14 to 17 years, with compact fridges being significantly less, around 5 years.

6 tips to increase the life of your fridge

1. Coddle the coils

Care for the condenser coils – the parts responsible for removing heat from your appliance – by cleaning them twice a year. When dirt and dust build up on these radiator-like parts — found behind or beneath your unit – your refrigerator/freezer finds it harder to remove heat and uses more energy to do so.

Over the long term, dirty coils can do damage to the unit, so break out your vacuum cleaner and a long-handled bristle brush for cleaning, unplug your refrigerator and clean according to the instructions in your owner’s manual.

2. Create clearance

When placing the refrigerator/freezer in your kitchen, make sure there is enough space for air to circulate around the coils. If they are located at the back of the unit, leave 2.5 centimeters of space between coils and wall. If they are beneath the unit, space is not an issue.

3. Get those gaskets

The gaskets are the rubber seals that circle your refrigerator/freezer doors. Their job is to keep warm air from entering your unit. Clean them periodically with an all-purpose cleaner. They do weaken over time and don’t seal properly, but are generally easy and inexpensive to replace, so keep an eye on them.

If they aren’t sealing well, your unit will consume more energy and your bills will increase.

4. Do defrost

If your freezer isn’t a self-defrosting unit, you’ll need to get rid of the frost buildup yourself or the freezer won’t cool your food as efficiently and will require more energy as it makes the attempt. When a half-centimetre of frost builds up on the interior, unplug the unit or turn off the thermostat, remove the food and allow the frost to melt.

Wipe away the puddles, restart the unit and wait until it returns to its usual temperature before replacing the food.

If you have a self-defrosting unit, its cooling coils heat up every six to eight hours to melt frost accumulating on the coils. Although the water evaporates, you’ll still need to clean the pan beneath the refrigerator with a bit of detergent to prevent odors and bacteria from accumulating.

On many models, you can remove the lower grill and slide the pan out; check your manual.

5. Load, but don’t overload

Freezers work best when they’re full, but not so full that air can’t circulate. Frozen items keep each other cold and help maintain a cool freezer temperature. If your freezer has free space, don’t run out and purchase food that you don’t need.

Simply fill some empty milk containers, pop bottles or other storage containers – but not to the brim, since freezing water expands – and use them to take up space.

Overloading the refrigerator, however, isn’t cool (pun intended). If you load the refrigerator to capacity, you may block the freezer vents and require the motor and condenser to work harder than they should; damage may result – the strain can cause the motor to burn out.

Extra strain can also lead to higher energy bills since the unit will be working harder to cool its contents. In addition, if there is inadequate space for air to circulate, the items in your refrigerator won’t cool properly. This could damage the food you have stored, making it unsafe to eat.

6. Walk, don’t run

Just as running too frequently may hurt your knees, running constantly is a sign that your refrigerator may not be working properly. Check all of the obvious potential problems before calling a repair shop: space for proper airflow between coils and the wall and a proper gasket seal. Don’t ignore it – you’ll use more electricity than you should.

What will your home insurance provider want to know?

When you’re insuring your home, the fridge will be considered part of your “personal property“. When calculating the replacement cost of all of your belongings, be sure you include the cost of your refrigerator. The replacement cost can be very high, especially if you own one of the new “Smart” fridges. If you’ve purchased a new condo, appliances may have been included. However, in the event of a loss, these appliances are generally not covered by the condominium association’s policy, but instead, need to be insured by your own condo policy.

Your home insurance provider needs an accurate figure of the value of your possessions in order to make sure you’ve got the coverage you need. So if you’ve got an expensive fridge, let your insurer know.

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