Here we’re going to talk about what kind of maintenance does a refrigerator need and how to extend the life of the refrigerator by doing simple things, such as cleaning the condenser coils underneath your refrigerator.
We are going to talk about how to properly locate where your condenser coils are on your refrigerator and explain how to clean them. What to look for and how quickly your condenser coils will clog up and why it’s really important to get those cleaned for the life of your refrigerator.
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Dirty Condenser Coils
The biggest reason condensers do need to be cleaned is they are an integral part of the refrigeration system.
With refrigerators, they remove heat. I know that sounds strange, but in reality refrigeration removes heat, it takes the heat from inside and transfers that heat down to your condenser coils underneath your refrigerator.
With those coils being warm and hot, we have fans moving air across those coils and also cooling down the compressor, so it’s really important those condenser coils are clean, because if not, the fan doesn’t have enough air to move across those coils to be able to remove the heat from those coils and then also blow cooler air across the compressor to keep your compressor running properly and keeping that cool.
When they stay dirty, the refrigerator doesn’t cool as efficiently as it should. It makes a refrigerator run longer, so your electricity bill goes up and it also reduces the life of your refrigerator.
Where Condenser Coils Are Located?
On most of the new refrigerators, your condenser coils are located on the very back of the unit, so you do have to pull your refrigerator out to access your condenser coils.
Often there is a panel and it has two sets of openings. One opening is the inlet for the air, the other is the outlet of the air.
Generally the outlet doesn’t get very clogged with dust and dirt, but the inlet definitely does get clogged with dust and dirt. So when you pull it out, you’re seeing all this junk and dust and dirt.
Especially if you have a harder surface floor or you have animals, like cats and dogs, the refrigerator is going to pull that air to the back getting air flow and it’s going to take and cover up these condenser coils with pet dander and hair and that’s also going to affect it and it will also affect the coils behind it as far as how dirty they get.
When you have animals and you had hard surface floors, generally you need to clean your condenser coils every three to six months.
Six months if you don’t have animals or a lot of dust. Closer to three months if you do have animals and a harder surface floor.
Tools You Will Need
When you’re cleaning your condenser coils on your refrigerator, you’ll need a few hand tools to take off the back cover to get access to the condenser itself.
You’ll need your vacuum with your upholstery brush and then also another good thing you can have is a condenser brush. This is just a brush, you can get in there and scrub off your condenser coils if they’re really dusty and dirty. And then you can vacuum off it. It makes cleaning a lot easier.
Before You Start
When you are going to clean your condenser coils, it is very important that you do unplug the refrigerator while you’re doing this process, so you don’t get harmed or hurt during the time you are cleaning it.
Because there is live power down there and a few other things, so please unplug your refrigerator.
Do your cleaning and then put your panel back on and then plug your refrigerator back in.
How It’s Done
When you remove the panel, you will a big metal tubing area, this is your condenser coils. You’ll just vacuum this off real good. Make sure that you don’t bend any tubing or anything during that time.
If you have air compressor or a can of air, something that doesn’t have a whole lot of pressure, you can also blow this off and make sure that this is all nice and clean.
There is also the condenser fan. This is what moves air across our condenser to remove the heat from it. It is also important to keep this clean so your refrigerator will last longer and not run as much during the cooling process.
Also make sure your fridge is not pushed back against the wall too far. It will not breathe very well if you do not give it some space from the wall and the refrigerator will not cool as well as it should be cooling.