Wednesday, November 14, 2012

How To Care For Your Refrigerator/Freezer


We often take our refrigerators for granted although the seemingly magic, cooling machine is a fairly recent invention. Less than a hundred years ago, we were still using ice boxes to cool our pickles and drinks. Additionally, up until 1990, refrigerators used the synthetic chemical Freon-12, but since Freon-12 damaged the Ozone, it was replaced with the less harmful chemical, R-134a. Enough with the history lesson, here are a few more tips to make your fridge do the most for you. See our previous post on fridge temperature for even more information.

1.      Use a Coil Cleaning Brush

We already talked about condenser coils, but here is some extra information on what they are and how to clean them. The condenser coils cool the refrigerant (the previously mentioned chemical, r-134a), which in turn cools the Fridge. The fan cools the condenser coils (not all fridges have a fan), so if any of these parts are dirty, than they will not release heat or function as well as they should. Using a coil brush, which you can buy for an economical $5, Scrub and vacuum the condenser coils. You may have to remove a grate or pull out your fridge to access the coils. Remember to unplug your Fridge before doing any kind of work, even if you are just brushing the dirty coils.

2.      Space Check

Freezers get crowded. Sometimes you just can’t eat the ice-cream as fast as you buy it. A full freezer is more effective at keeping cool than an empty one, but, when things get too cramped and crowded, the air circulation diminishes. When food starts to pile up around the vents, then the air return will become clogged and use more energy to achieve less. Try to find the right balance between overstuffed and under packed.

3.      Use an odor reducer

There are a few things that can help out with that old fridge smell. The better known one is to keep an open container of baking soda in the back of the fridge, but a few lesser known ones are a few charcoal briquettes, a bag of coffee grinds, which masks instead of removes the smell, or a tool such as the “Fridge-It,” which is made of activated charcoal (activated meaning it reacts more easily). You can find a pack of 6 for under $20.

4.       Check your Freezer Thermometer

We talked about the Refrigerator sweet spot between 35° and 38° Fahrenheit and but your Freezer also has a sweet spot between 0° and 10° Fahrenheit, so you should match your settings accordingly. You may have an air baffle in addition to your temperature controls. The air baffle helps control the temperature and will make the freezer colder if closed.

Is your refrigerator, freezer, or ice maker not working at all? If you cannot diagnose the problem you may need to have a repair technician come take a look. Choosing the Right Appliance Repair Technician is important to ensure your appliance gets back to running in tip-top shape.

Occasionally, refrigerators will need to have their control board replaced. If the refrigerator part is no longer available for purchase, try CoreCentric Solutions’ Return for Repair service to breathe new life back into your old appliance! Our fast turnaround time of 24-48 hours gets your appliance back working again in no time and saves you the hassle of purchasing a new refrigerator. Call 1866-737-2244 for more information on our Return for Repair service.