How often should you clean your refrigerator coils?

We get asked a lot of questions about preventative maintenance and cleaning, but one that we hear over and over is, "How often should I clean my refrigerator coils?" The short answer is it depends.

If you're thinking to yourself, "I have no idea what coils you're talking about," don't worry, you're not alone. The coils are the condenser coils, and they serve an important function in keeping your refrigerator cooling. Most people think a refrigerator makes cold, but from a physics perspective, cold is just an absence of heat. Het is a form of energy, which according to the first law of thermodynamics means it cannot be created or destroyed, only changed. That all sounds a bit like science class, but the long and short of it is that a refrigerator doesn't make things cold, it removes the heat and puts it somewhere else.

So why is that important to the condenser coils? Great question! The answer is that the evaporator coils inside your refrigerator "catch" the heat and your condenser coils "let go" of that same heat, which allows the cooling effect inside the unit. If the coils on the outside cannot let go of that heat they will not work as effectively. When coils become covered in dust and other debris, it acts like a blanket and traps that heat by the coil, making it unable to function properly and causing your unit to work harder to make up for it.

Where are these coils? Well, that depends. On older top-mount freezer style refrigerators, they might be on the back. On most modern refrigerators, they're underneath the unit behind what's called the kick plate. The kick plate is a plastic strip that runs along the bottom of the refrigerator and covers up the rollers and adjusters to make the unit look nicer. sometimes they can simply be pulled off, but other times they have screws holding them in, but all of them should be fairly easy to remove.

How should you clean the coils? Typically a vacuum cleaner with a wand attachment is enough to remove most of the dust. They don't have to be spotless to work well, just not completely covered in dust. You can also use a soft brush, like a Swiffer to get some more of the dust off. Just be careful not to puncture the coils, as this could lead to a very costly repair. The coils are pretty hearty, but when in doubt, softer is better.

And we're back to the original question, how often should the coils be cleaned? It depends! For a single person with no pets that keeps a clean house and has an air purifier running 24/7, once a year should be fine. For a family of five with three golden retrievers that shed enough to coat the entire house in a carpet of fur daily, once a month may be more appropriate. If you're reading this and have never cleaned your coils, it's probably time, and if you're already asking the question, it's not a bad idea to grab the vacuum and take a look.

Cleaning the coils can help the refrigerator run more efficiently, save money on electric costs, and extend the life of the unit. If you're still not sure, we'd be happy to help you out. You can call us and we'd be happy to come out and clean the coils for you and show you how. We service Nashville, Chattanooga, Memphis. We also service Murfreesboro and almost all the surrounding area including Smyrna, Lebanon, Mt. Juliet, Antioch, Arrington, Columbia, Spring hill, Nolensville, Franklin, Brentwood, and many more. We also service Chattanooga and Memphis as well as the surrounding areas.

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