Tips and Tricks to Maximize Your Refrigerator

Your parents probably taught you that an open box of baking soda in the fridge keeps it smelling fresh and helps contain odors. The tricks you can use to make your refrigerator work better go much further than that. These let you reduce food waste, conserve energy and save money.

A Colder Fridge

The first tip helps the fridge stay colder longer, even in a power outage or if you or the kids leave the door ajar. That means less food goes bad, saving you time and money because you avoid an extra trip to the grocery store.

Fill a couple of one- or two-liter bottles with very icy water. Place them in empty spots in the fridge. Icy water takes longer to warm. It holds its temperature based on its surrounding environment. The bottles of freezing water stay cold even if the power goes out and they help keep the surrounding food cold. You can also freeze a couple of bottles of water and place them in the fridge and the freezer for an even colder effect. If you need more room for food, just take a bottle out and use it around the house to drink or water the plants. When you free up room, add another bottle. This works great especially in hurricane season when thunderstorms and tropical storms cause power outages. A full freezer or full refrigerator gets colder and stays cold longer.

Let Your Fridge Breathe

Pull the refrigerator away from the wall about two inches. It needs room to breathe. This isn’t some new Internet of Things (IoT) thing. It’s a pretty old school truth that the refrigerator works best when the coils on its rear receive proper airflow. When a fridge rests against a wall, it has to work harder to stay cold because the coils get blocked. Those two inches of breathing room increase efficiency and reduce wear and tear. That means you’ll need to call us less often.

Clean the Outside of the Fridge

When you think of cleaning the fridge, you probably think of defrosting it. Scrubbing the inside to clean up spills. You need to clean the outside, too. Vacuum the rear coils weekly if you have pets, monthly if not. Use the hose attachment of the vacuum cleaner. Dust and pet hair on the coils blocks airflow to the coils. Regular coil cleaning reducing your device’s energy use and saves on wear and tear.

Reduce Open Door Time

Here’s an energy saver if it’s common in your household for the children or your spouse to stand around with the door open trying to decide what to eat. Buy a shelf organizer and stock it with quick to grab snacks. Pick their favorites and place this in its own permanent spot in the refrigerator. You can even mark this “Snack Corner” with a little sign. You make it quick and easy for them to find their favorites and grab them from the very front.

These tips should help keep your refrigerator working great. When it does have a problem, call CS Appliance Service at (781) 953-9600 for repair help in the greater Boston metro. We’ll fix it, so you can keep your household running smoothly. Visit our Facebook to learn more about our commercial and residential appliance repair services based in Charlestown, MA and see how we’ve helped folks in the Boston metro.