How to deep clean your fridge – Cleaning and Maintenance tips
The fridge is one of the most used appliances in the home and it often gets neglected due to lack of time. If your fridge It can be difficult to figure out the best way to go about your fridge, but if you are looking to get your fridge cleaned and tidied up, then this guid
e is just for you.
Obviously there are few different options of how to clean your fridge property, but here are some points that you can start with to help you out. This guide will give you some tips on how to deep clean your fridge without so much effort and using fewer chemicals.
Preparation and cleaning:
One of the first and biggest steps is to remove everything from the fridge or to store it in another fridge/freezer until you clean this one. For this reason it is best to wait until you have fewer items in the fridge to ease the cleaning process and to have less items to worry about leaving out for longer period of time. Obviously it is not going to take that long to remove everything out and put it back in.
Remove whatever you can
Once everything is out of the fridge you will need to take out all the shelves, drawers and other detachable parts, so that they can be cleaned separately and put back in. This way it will be much easier to clean the fridge without these items in there. Many of the shelves and drawers sometimes even fit in the kitchen sink. Once you remove all items which can be removed, you can start with the actual cleaning. Here is a tip: You can use a mixture of water and baking soda and wipe down all the surfaces on the inside. Afterwards you can use a wet rag or paper towel to wipe any residues that might have remained. At this point you can start putting things back together. Sometimes you might have to deal with unpleasant odors if the fridge has been neglected for too long. If this is the case, you need to follow the same cleaning instructions as above, but you will need to store all the food somewhere else for 24 hours. As this is completed, you will need to unplug the fridge and leave it over night so the smell can be removed by leaving all the doors open. In the morning you will be able to put all food back in the fridge and you will notice that the odors are gone.
Washing of the removable parts
By using hot soapy water you can wash all the drawers and shelves that you removed in the previous step. In case there are some stubborn stains and sticky marks you can leave them to soak up in the sink before scrubbing them properly. Alternatively, you can use a cleaning solution made of one part bleach to four parts water to have a proper clean and disinfect all of removable part.
What happens if that doesn't work?
In case you have tried all of the above steps and you still have to deal with stubborn odors, it might be something else that is in the fridge or freezer that you might not be able to see and cannot access easily. In such an event, you will need to access the back panel of the appliance to see if there are any build -up evaporator coils or anything else that might be causing the stubborn odor. To do this, you need to unplug the fridge and make sure that any wires are unplugged as well.
Once you have seen where the coils are at, you need to spray on them with hot, soapy water and wipe them with microfiber cloth. Afterwards you need to allow the coils to dry for some time before replacing the panel and putting the wiring back as well. You might also want to check the drip pan that can be located under the fridge. To do this you will need to remove the grille that covers the front of the fridge at the base and then you will see the pan itself. The pan might be full of water so you might need to soak it up before removing.
Speaking of drip pans, some can be removed and cleaned in the sink, others however may be attached to the appliance, which means that you might need to use a long brush or someone with smaller hands. Whatever the case is, cleaning of this part can remove the mold and other odors from your fridge.
Please note that it is important to always unplug the appliances when you are cleaning them or removing the access panels, in order to protect yourself from possible electric shock and to protect the appliance from damage.
The key is maintenance
The best way to ensure that you don't have to deep clean your fridge very often is to keep it clean on a daily basis. If you wipe it regularly and bin all the food before it spoils you can decrease the chance of odors and having to deep clean your fridge all the time. In case you need a thorough deep cleaning guide for your fridge, the tips above should help you out. All you need to do is to make sure that you disinfect the fridge so that it continues to be a safe place to store your food.
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