The refrigerator is one of the most essential appliances in any kitchen. To take the best care of it, you need to make sure it defrosts regularly. How often to do it to maximize the life of the equipment?
It is worth knowing that a refrigerator that has accumulated too much ice consumes much more electricity than usual. This can be seen quite quickly in higher than usual electricity bills. This type of situation can be prevented by regular defrosting of the equipment. We will suggest what to do to defrost the refrigerator was not too tedious and time-consuming.
How to start defrosting the fridge? First of all, use up food supplies or prepare a place on the balcony (if it is winter) or thermal bags. Then set the temperature control knob in the refrigerator to 0. Then disconnect the equipment from the power source and remember that the cables are not near the water – above all, take care of your safety!
Rinse the containers and shelves thoroughly with warm water (you can add vinegar to it – then the mixture also has antiviral and antibacterial properties). Containers need to dry thoroughly before you put them back in
Also, remember to wash the outside of the fridge – you can wash stains and spots with the aforementioned water/vinegar mixture. Don’t close the refrigerator door before it’s completely dry.
There are several safe ways to speed up the defrosting process of your refrigerator. The simplest is to place a bowl or pot of boiling water inside. To defrost the inside even faster, change the boiling water every so often.
Another way is to remove ice and frost with a blunt instrument. In this case, you must be very careful not to damage the back wall of the refrigerator. It should be done sensitively, aiming at the already disturbed parts of the frost sheet.
Some refrigerators are equipped with an automatic defrosting system. Thanks to it, frost does not form on the back wall – instead, drops accumulated inside flow into a special container, and then are released outside in the form of water vapor. This is a very convenient system, however, even such a refrigerator at least once a year you need to properly clean.
There are many preparations on the market with which you can safely clean the inside of the fridge. They contain lactic acid and sodium to prevent odours and bacterial growth. These preparations are also very efficient. They usually have a capacity of about 500 ml, which is enough to clean the fridge for a year.
As for how often to defrost the refrigerator – opinions are divided. In principle, the best answer in this case is: when you see that there is such a need or “by the way”, when, for example, you want to wash the shelves in the refrigerator. The optimum period here is three months, but if you see that frost on the back of the fridge collects much faster, you can of course do it more often.
For new appliances, manufacturers recommend defrosting every six months or so, unless the fridge has a self-defrosting function. If you take care of the maintenance of the refrigerator, the equipment will certainly serve without fail for a very long time.
Can the refrigerator be cleaned too often? Rather not. Exaggeration in this direction is usually not possible, but given the time-consuming nature of this process and the need to organize space for food storage, it is worth considering whether it is really not enough to clean once every few months. Some refrigerators are equipped with a silver coating that covers the inner walls of the device. This protects against bacteria, so you don’t have to clean the fridge as often as you would with appliances that don’t have this coating.
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