While it might not be the most fun task, cleaning your refrigerator’s coils is an important piece of home maintenance that can save you money and energy. This is because dirty coils make your refrigerator work harder, which uses more energy and puts strain on the appliance. In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps of how to clean coils on refrigerator so you can keep your fridge in top shape for years to come.
Unplug the refrigerator for cleaning freezer coils
- Unplug the refrigerator.
- Make sure that the power is turned off.
- Unplug the refrigerator from its wall socket, and disconnect it from any water supply.
Pull the refrigerator away from the wall to clean your refrigerator coils
The first step to clean the coils is to pull the refrigerator away from the wall. This will allow you to access them through an access panel and clean back of fridge, which is usually located on the backside of the unit. If you can’t find this panel, check inside an appliance store for a helpful employee who may be able to point it out.
Locate the fridge condenser coils
If you’re unsure of where to find the coils, look for a sticker on your fridge that indicates the model number. This should have information about the location of the coils.
Look for a sticker somewhere on your fridge that indicates its model number, which will usually be located at or near eye level on one side of the refrigerator. The model number is generally printed in white letters against a black background.
You may need to move some items out of your way before finding it; most models are located in roughly similar locations at around eye level on each side of the unit, but they vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer.
Start vacuuming to clean dirty coils on refrigerator
- Vacuum the coils with the vacuum attachment, which should come with your vacuum or be available for purchase separately. This will ensure that all of the dust and dirt is removed from dirty coils on refrigerator.
- Brush out any dust that you find by using the brush attachment on your vacuum. This will help make sure that nothing is left behind after vacuuming, which could cause future problems with airflow in your fridge.
- Get into those corners that are hard to reach using the crevice tool on your vacuum’s extension wand. It’s perfect for getting into tight spaces where you wouldn’t want to use a regular brush or bristle brush due to damage being caused by them being too big and/or stiff!
- Remove larger debris with an upholstery attachment like this one: [link]
Use the paintbrush to remove any stubborn bits of dirt
Use the paintbrush to remove any stubborn bits of dirt. If there are still some stubborn bits of food or dust, use a vacuum to clean compressor coils in fridge.
Vacuum up all the dirt you knocked loose onto the floor
Now that you’ve dislodged all the dirt from the coils and loosened up what was left, it’s time to clean up. Take your vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment and run it over the coils (both sides). If there are any stubborn bits of dirt left on the outer surface of the coils, use a paintbrush to remove them.
If your coils came off the bottom, replace the front plate
If your coils are on the bottom of your fridge, you will need to replace the front plate. If they are inside the box and not removable, there is no need to replace anything.
If your coils came off the bottom, replacing them is simple:
- Remove any wires that are connected to the previous coil by unscrewing them with a regular screwdriver or an adjustable wrench (see image above) and set aside.
Conclusion
We have discussed above about several ideas about how do you clean fridge coils. If you’ve vacuumed the coils and they still feel dirty, you can use a damp cloth with soap to wipe them down.
How often to clean fridge coils is depends on the placement of your fridge. It’s important not to get the coils too wet, because that can make it harder for your fridge to cool properly. Once you’re finished vacuuming or wiping down both sets of coils, put everything back together and plug your fridge in again. You should be good as new!
