As far as common everyday household items that are vastly under appreciated are concerned, the humble kitchen refrigerator is one of the best possible examples. Every single day we use our fridges, and yet we take them for granted a great deal, as we always expect them to work. Each month we spend hundreds upon hundreds on buying fresh food and drink, which we then store in the fridge to help keep cool and fresh. As you know, food tends to turn rotten and go off in warm temperatures, which is why fridge repair services are currently in such high demand, due largely to the fact that it is essential that we look after our fridges at all times.
If your fridge were to break down, the temperature inside would begin to rise, and the food inside would begin to turn rotten much quicker that it should. However, if your fridge still worked, but did not work as efficiently as it should, the temperature inside could still be too high and could not only make the food and drink more likely to go off, but it could also put your health at risk as bacteria could form on the foods. Ensuring your fridge runs as efficiently as it possibly can is absolutely essential, which is again why you should seriously consider hiring a fridge repair service to give your fridge a once over. If you would prefer to handle things yourself however, take a look at these handy tips on how to make your fridge more efficient.
Cover all foods – If you have foods that are already vacuum packed and sealed, until you actually open them, you don’t need to worry. If however, you have open foods and packages, you should remove everything that is not vacuum sealed, and take the time to use kitchen wrap to seal the foods as tight as possible. So, say for example, you have a bowl full of leftovers that you plan on having for lunch the next day, instead of just leaving them in the bowl, wrap them tightly with kitchen wrap. There are two reasons for this. The first reason is to help keep the food fresh, because the less oxygen that can get to it, the less chance it has of turning rotten, whereas the second reason is to prevent moisture from escaping. Why is moisture bad for fridges? Because when moisture leeches into the air in the fridge, the compressor of the device will have to work harder than usual to try and remove it. As it is working harder than usual, obviously this will eventually make it less efficient.
Never put warm food into a fridge – If you have leftovers that need putting into the fridge, it can be tempting to just put them directly into the fridge when they’re still warm, but this is one of the worst things that you can do. Putting warm foods into a fridge will again mean that the fridge has to work twice as hard to cool down the food and remove the moisture, whereas if the food was cool and sealed, there would be no issue. On top of that, bacteria can thrive on lukewarm food being placed into a fridge, which is obviously not what you want, unless you happen to be partial to a spot of food poisoning of course.
Make sure the door seal is air tight – Refrigerators should be air tight, or at least, as close to air tight as they can possibly be, so a fridge with a faulty door seal, is something you should get rectified ASAP by people specialising in fridge repair. To check whether the seal on your fridge door is actually efficient and working correctly, you should take a thin piece of paper, hold it directly next to the seal of the door, and see whether or not it moves or if it stays still. It if does flutter as if somebody is blowing air onto it, sadly, your fridge door seal is losing air, which is the last thing you want. One great tip provided by fridge repair experts, is that, even though your seal may be losing air, rather than replacing your entire fridge, it would instead be much easier and much cheaper, to simply change the seal on the door instead.
Clean behind your fridge – Unless your refrigerator is built into the wall, every so often you should take the time to carefully pull your fridge out and vacuum behind it. The reason for this is that all sorts of dirt, dust, and debris in general, can accumulate behind the fridge, which can eventually cover the condenser coils. If you have furry pets, you should definitely vacuum behind your fridge regularly as pet hair and condenser coils just do not mix. After you remove this debris, the heat from the fridge can be carried away and removed much easier, which can then allow the cycles to run for a much shorter duration of time.
