Whether you’re operating a large refrigeration unit as part of your business or simply have one basic refrigerator in your home, knowing how to properly use and maintain your refrigerator can help you keep the food inside safe as well as save you money on your utility bills.
To show you how to do this, here are three tips for getting the most out of your refrigerator.
Give It Some Breathing Room
To start off, you’ll want to be careful with where you put your refrigerator in relation to other pieces or appliances that you’re using. Choosing the wrong place and configuration could mean the difference between a refrigerator that’s running efficiently and one that’s wasting both space and energy.
Ideally, Brittany Burke, a contributor to TheKitchn.com, recommends that you should keep the refrigerator at least a few inches away from the walls surrounding it. By doing this, you’ll allow air to circulate around the appliance so that the heat that the refrigerator produces isn’t trapped too close to it. Also, to help your fridge stay cool and be more efficient at keeping things cool inside of it, don’t place your fridge next to your oven, stove, or dishwasher, as these items create heat that can disrupt your fridge’s ability to maintain its cool temperature.
Clean The Inside And The Outside
While most people try to keep the inside of the fridge clean from any spills or messes, keeping the outside of your fridge clean is just as important.
According to Daniel Wroclawski, a contributor to Consumer Reports, you should regularly vacuum the condenser coils, clean the gaskets around the door, and keep items off of the top of the fridge. All of these things will help to ensure that your fridge is running as efficiently as it can be and that nothing is prohibiting it from keeping food cold.
Don’t Put Hot Food Straight Into The Fridge
Another way that people can run into issues with their fridges is by putting hot food into them.
While you might not think that this would be any kind of problem, Suzanne Raga, a contributor to MentalFloss.com, shares that when you put something hot into a cold fridge, that heat dissipates into all the other food that’s in the fridge, bringing the temperatures up. This can make the food unsafe to eat, as well as making your refrigerator work extra hard to get the cold temperature back to where it should be. So if at all possible, make sure you wait until food has gotten closer to room temperature before you stick it in the fridge.
If you’re wanting to run your refrigerator as efficiently as you can, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you do this.