Is 30 min­utes of your time worth thou­sands of dol­lars?  It could be.

Clean­ing the coils of your homes refrig­er­a­tor every 6 months could save you hun­dreds, if not thou­sands, of dollars!!!

Every day refrig­er­a­tors fail pre­ma­turely due to the effects of hav­ing dirty con­denser coils.  A bro­ken refrig­er­a­tor leads to food loss, ser­vice call fees, stress and loss of your valu­able time and even a new refrig­er­a­tor pur­chase.  In this “Idler’s Appli­ances How To:” arti­cle, you will learn the sim­ple steps of clean­ing your refrigerator’s con­denser coils and pos­si­bly save big $$$ in the process.

Here are 6 Easy Steps for clean­ing your refrigerator’s con­denser coils.

 

1) Turn off the power to the refrigerator.

You can do this by rolling the refrig­er­a­tor away from the wall and unplug­ging it or by shut­ting off the breaker to the refrig­er­a­tor.  Some refrig­er­a­tors, like built-ins or units with­out wheels, should not be moved (unless it’s moved by a professional).

 

 

2) Find your refrigerator’s con­denser coils.

Most new free­stand­ing mod­els locate the con­denser coil at the bot­tom of the unit.  Remove the front toe kick (screws or clips) and use a flash­light to find the coils. If there is a drip tray in the way, remove it (Be care­ful not to pull too hard as some are taped in place and also to avoid spilling water).

If not found behind the toe kick, the free­stand­ing refrig­er­a­tor will have to be slid away from the wall to access the coils from the back. Shut off and dis­con­nect the water sup­ply line if it’s too short to allow enough room to work. Remove the panel. The con­denser coil may be flat, but will likely be cylin­dri­cal in shape when located here.

Other loca­tions for the coils are on the back of the unit (usu­ally smaller or older-style free­stand­ing refrig­er­a­tors) or, if you have a “built-in” style refrig­er­a­tor, the coils can be on top of the unit.

 

 

3) Use a coil brush and vac­uum to clear out the dust buildup.

Be care­ful not to dam­age or bend the fins on the coils.

If you can see the fan, be sure to clean the blades of the fan as well.

 

 

4) Replace the drip tray and cover/toe kick, plug in the refrig­er­a­tor and push the refrig­er­a­tor back in place.

If dis­con­nected, make sure to recon­nect and turn on the water to the ice maker. Be sure to test for leaks!!!

 

5) Set your refrigerator’s tem­per­a­ture to fac­tory rec­om­mended settings.

 

 

6) Clean any left­over debris and dou­ble check for kinked hoses and leaks.