Being
appliance technician at D&V appliance repair, I am often asked by people how long they should expect
refrigerator to last. It depends on a lot of factors. But for this article I
would like to take to the point the most important factor which is maintenance.
Yes, the maintenance is the secret to adding years of life to your refrigerator.
Don’t be nervous that maintenance is something difficult and not possible to
DIY.
Basically,
you just need to keep your refrigerator clean wherever it’s possible. And the
most important it to keep a condenser of your refrigerator clean. The condenser is the bunch of black tubing
that is sometimes located on the back of the product, but more often underneath
it. The condenser must be kept free of dust, lint, animal hair and other
debris.
When the
condenser is logged, the compressor becomes so hot that I could fry an egg on
top of it. When that happens, the wattage draw is so high that it sometimes blows
a fuse. The fan motor and defrost timer are hurting from all the excessive heat
load. The life of the refrigerator is being slowly drained from it because of
the dirty condenser. Cleaning the condenser will save you from having costly
repair, save on the cost of running the appliance and save the appliance for
more year of use.
Here is how
to clean that condenser. Every three months pull the plug on the refrigerator
and pull the refrigerator away from the wall. Take the lower card board over
off of the backside. Use a brush with a long handle to shake loose all the dirt
you see on the condenser, then vacuum the debris. Replace the cardboard back.
Then, remove the front toe plate and do the same there. Use care around the fan
motor blades – don’t bend them. Clean the blades tenderly with a toothbrush. By
doing this regularly your energy bill will stay where it should be, the
refrigerator’s operational noise level will no longer sound like a runaway
train. And you appliance will do a better job of food preservation.
The average
life expectancy of major appliance today is much less than products built more
than ten years ago, so it is in our best interest to do what we can to prolong
its life. Condenser cleaning can save you hundreds of dollars on refrigerator repairs.