Our refrigerators are one of the most important appliances in our homes. They are tasked with keeping our food from going bad, making sure our water and drinks are cold, and our ice creams from melting. The word refrigerate is defined as keeping an object cold to preserve it for later use.
When refrigerators first came out, they did the job but at a great environmental cost. They used chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) to cool your food and when this went into the atmosphere, it wreaked havoc. However, those days are long gone and refrigerators are now more environmentally friendly than they have ever been. But at the end of the day, it still needs to be maintained so it can stay in optimum running conditions
Maintaining Your Double Door Refrigerator
This article is going to talk about the 4 best ways to ensure that your refrigerator is working to the best of its abilities. You don’t want it to be leaking, making noise, not cooling properly, and so on.
The Right Temperature
Since the entire premise of owning a refrigerator is to keep things cold, you need to choose the right temperature. You don’t want it to be too low so as to not do the job and you don’t want it too cold, that’s the freezer’s job. In the freezer, you want things to be frozen but not to the point where it takes you an eternity to thaw them.
The ideal temperature for a refrigerator hovers around 36 to 41 degrees Fahrenheit. For your freezer, it should be a flat zero. Almost all foods contain some amount of water and it will freeze at zero so you shouldn’t need to go any lower than that.
By keeping it at these temperatures, you won’t be under or over-working your refrigerator. It will be running at optimum capacity and this will ensure its longevity.
The Door Seals
The way a refrigerator works is that when the door is closed, it will cool the inside until it reaches the set temperature and then lower its power consumption. Every time we open the door, it restarts this process all over again but because we don’t open the fridge hundreds of times a day, it doesn’t take too much effort. However, if there is a hole in the seal or it is loose, the cool air inside leaks out.
As a result, the fridge will continuously try to keep the inside cold resulting in it working harder than it should be. This will run up your electricity bill as well as affect the life of your refrigerator. For starters, make sure there is no food residue on the seals. Using a toothbrush, clean it thoroughly once a month to make sure there is nothing wrong with it. Another way to check if the seals need fixing is by using the dollar-bill test. Close the dollar bill in your fridge door so that half of it is inside and the other half is outside. Next, gently pull it out and if it slides out easily, the seals are gone and need to be replaced.
The Condenser Coils
In a refrigerator, the condenser coils are tasked with cooling the refrigerant and condensing. These coils may get dust and dirt clogged in them which drastically reduces their ability to do their job. If a fridge won’t cool, what good is it?
By keeping the condenser coils clean, you are allowing your refrigerator to keep your food preserved for longer, your drinks colder, your favorite meats frozen, and your ice ready for your favorite drink. Every two or three months, take a peek at your condenser coils to see what condition they are in. if they need a clean, disconnect the refrigerator, take a vacuum or washcloth and clean the coils. Make sure you don’t leave any dirt or dust on it and the surface is as clean as possible.
The Content
It is important to know how to manage the contents of the refrigerator
Keep It Full
Not many people know this but one of the best ways to keep your fridge in the best possible condition is by filling it up with food and drinks. A refrigerator must have a ‘thermal mass’ inside it to absorb any warm air that might enter. By doing so, the fridge doesn’t need to put in any extra effort to keep it cool and this will help to maintain its life.
There is no specific content to fill it with. Whether it’s ingredients, home-cooked food, or take-out, just make sure your fridge is never allowed to stay empty. If you don’t have enough of these to fill it up with or your fridge is too large, fill it with bottles of water. From afar, this might seem to be incredibly inconvenient but if you wish to maintain your fridge the right way, this is important.
Keep it Covered
Furthermore, make sure you never leave any food or drink uncovered. When you put uncovered food in the fridge, moisture begins to build up along with the smell of the food or drink spreading throughout. When the door is left shut for several hours, this smell can evolve into a pungent and repulsive odor.
In Order Of Importance
Finally, make sure you arrange the contents correctly in terms of importance. Keep your most frequently used food and drinks at the front. This will ensure that you have what you need right in front of you and as a result, you won’t spend too much time with the fridge door open. This will preserve the cooling inside.
Final Thoughts
Having a refrigerator isn’t a choice, it is a necessity. You can’t use every food and drink item all at the same time, you need somewhere to store it and keep it for later. A refrigerator is an appliance i.e. a machine. It needs to be taken care of because it can’t do that on its own. Maintaining your refrigerator is a very simple process and requires no training or experience.
Follow the steps in this article and your fridge will live long and prosper!
