If you have had a refrigerator or a freezer for longer than a couple of months, chances are its condenser coils need to be cleaned. Nobody really wants to think about pulling out a huge appliance to clean off the dusty, dirty refrigerator coils, but knowing how to clean your refrigerator condenser coils is an extremely important part of annual maintenance.

Benefits of Cleaning Your Refrigerator Condenser Coils

When your refrigerator coils are clean, your refrigerator runs much better. It actually does the job it is supposed to! Here are some of the problems you will prevent after you clean your refrigerator condenser coils:

• Refrigerator isn’t cooling
• Refrigerator makes loud noise
• Refrigerator runs constantly
• Food spoils in refrigerator too fast

The Dirtiest Refrigerator Coils We’ve Ever Seen!

What Happens if I Don’t Clean My Refrigerator Coils?

Dirt is actually responsible for most of the refrigerator breakdowns that happen. At first, dirty refrigerator coils just make the refrigerator work extra hard to keep your food cold, and energy efficiency goes down. Then the internal temperature starts to rise and your food spoils faster. The motor works harder, and at the same time it starts to get clogged with dirt as the whole apparatus gets dirty. The motor may give out, you may have problems with sections freezing over because of uneven temperature distribution, and many other things may go wrong.

You can prevent most refrigerator problems simply by keeping your coils and motor fan clean.

Steps for How to Clean Your Refrigerator Coils

There are a few simple steps necessary to properly clean your refrigerator condenser coils.

1. Find where your refrigerator coils are located. Some are on the top, some are on the back, and some are on the bottom.
2. Unplug your refrigerator. If the power cable isn’t accessible, turn off power at your home fuse box.
3. Move the refrigerator and remove protective coverings as necessary to access the coils. With a bottom-coil refrigerator, you will have to remove the front protective grille. With a back-coil refrigerator, you will just have to move the refrigerator from the wall. With a top-coil refrigerator, you will have to remove the top protective covering carefully, being careful not to cut yourself on any sharp parts.
4. Use a refrigerator coil brush to loosen any dust and dirt from the refrigerator hose.
5. Use a vacuum hose attachment to vacuum up the dirt and to pick up any debris that might have fallen on the floor.
6. See if you can find and access the fan. Use the refrigerator coil brush to remove dust and dirt from the fan blades. Use the vacuum attachments to suck up the dirt.
7. Re-attach any protective coverings, move the refrigerator back to its place, and plug it back in.

Refrigerator condenser coils function by pulling heated liquid or gas through hollow tubes, where it cools to temperatures below freezing. The cooled liquid or gas is then sent inside the refrigerator to cool it down. Regularly clean your refrigerator condenser coils and your refrigerator should work great for years to come!