Cleaning your refrigerator coils is an essential maintenance task that can help your fridge run more efficiently and save on energy costs. Follow this easy, step-by-step guide to get the job done quickly!
I’m on a mission to help homeowners tackle essential home maintenance tasks. And let’s be honest, some of these chores are not exactly the most glamorous. Today’s post is definitely one of those. But is it important? Oh, absolutely!
We’re diving into cleaning the coils on your fridge. Now, confession time: I had never done this before. Yep, not great for someone who considers herself a home maintenance expert! And let me tell you, when I finally peeked at my fridge, I was completely HORRIFIED. The gunk and dust I found? Unreal.
Stick with me, and I guarantee you’ll be running to clean your fridge coils after seeing just how gross they can get!
What Are Refrigerator Coils?
First, let’s talk refrigerator coils (or refrigerator condenser coils, if you want to get fancy). These are the behind-the-scenes heroes of your fridge’s cooling system. Their main job? Getting rid of the heat your fridge generates while doing its thing. You’ll typically find them hiding out at the bottom or back of your refrigerator, or in my case, they’re at the bottom front of the refrigerator.
Why Clean Them?
Now, here’s where things can get messy—literally. If you want your fridge to keep running smoothly, you’ve got to keep those coils clean. Over time, dust and grime can build up on the coils, and instead of releasing heat, like they’re supposed to, that dirt acts like a blanket, trapping it in. That means your fridge has to work overtime to stay cool, which is bad news for your energy bill and your food.
When your fridge struggles to stay at the right temperature, your food might spoil faster. Even worse, if the coils are too clogged, your fridge could eventually overheat and break down completely. Yikes! So, keeping those coils clean is key to a happy, healthy fridge.
Project At A Glance
| Difficulty: ⭐️ of 5 | Time: 10 minutes |
| Supplies needed: Coil Brush Microfiber Cloth |
Tools needed: Flathead Screwdriver Handheld Vacuum |
My Best Tips To Clean Your Fridge Coils
Luckily, this is a very easy task to tackle and you can get it done quickly. Let’s dive into the simple steps that will improve the efficiency of your appliance.
Unplug Your Unit
The first step is to unplug your unit. You don’t want any electricity running through the appliance when you’re working on it. Once that’s done, you can safely get cleaning.
Locate Your Coils
In older models, the refrigerator’s condenser coils are typically found on the back of the refrigerator, beneath a panel. You’ll need to carefully pull the fridge away from the wall to access them.
Newer models tend to have them on the front bottom of the refrigerator. They’re often located beneath a kick plate. That’s where I found mine!
If you don’t want to start a hunt for your coils, just whip out your owner’s manual and take a peek before you get started.
Unscrew The Panel
Once you find the coils, remove the panel or kickplate. I needed a flathead screwdriver for this step. And once I removed the panel, I was horrified at what I found…
My Dirty AF Coils
Get ready for this next image. It’s pretty scary…
Guys, I swear we are clean people in our house. But, wow, our coils were covered in dust! And we don’t even have any pets, yet the coils looked like they were covered in pet hair!
Our fridge is four years old and I’ve never cleaned the coils before, so this was long overdue. Don’t be like me and end up with super dirty coils!
Get In There With A Brush
I started by vacuuming up as much dust and dirt from the coils as I could. However, most of it was really stuck on the coils and not budging. For that, I used this coil cleaning brush, and it worked wonders! This really helps loosen any stubborn dirt and buildup. Heck, you may even want to wear a dust mask if yours is as bad as mine was.
You can also use a little crevice tool to get any crumbs that have accumulated near the bottom of the fridge on the kitchen floor. It was crumb city up in ours!
Vacuum Up The Loose Dust
Things got filthy pretty fast, so I had my vacuum on standby to suck things up as they came off the coils. I have a Dyson V8 that we use every single day. It comes with multiple attachments and I used the brush attachment to really get in there and suck up any debris still on the coils.
Hose Down The Panel
Before you attach the panel, give it a good clean too! I took my toekick to the sink and rinsed it down with some soap and water to give it a thorough cleaning.
Re-Attach The Panel
Once it dried, I used my flathead screwdriver to secure it back on. Pretty easy, right?!
Repeat In 6 Months
As I mentioned a few minutes ago, I had never done this task and you saw how filthy my coils were. Yuck. It’s a good idea to perform regular cleaning on those coils – every six months or so. Don’t let all of that dust pile up like I did! Your fridge will thank you!
Stay On Track
If you’re likely to forget to do this task every six months, don’t fret. That’s exactly why I created my digital guide, Your Home Playbook. It tells you exactly when to do each of these home maintenance tasks and it will link to this tutorial so you have all of the steps right in front of you.
You can learn more about Your Home Playbook right here!
Are You Ready For Some Deep Cleaning?
I hope the horrible sight of my dirty refrigerator coils has motivated you to give your fridge some love. It won’t take long and you’ll be extending the life of your refrigerator!
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