Home · Cleaning · Best practice · The two parts of a fridge nobody cleans
Cleaning best practice
The short answer
Dusty condenser coils make a fridge work harder, and a soiled door seal lets warm air in; both take minutes and are almost always skipped.
Interior shelves get cleaned regularly. The two components that actually affect how the appliance performs are at the back and around the door.
How it is done
- Unplug, then vacuum the condenser coils at the back or underneath.
- Wash the door gasket, including inside its folds, and dry it.
- Clear the drain channel at the back of the cabinet.
- Pull the unit out and clean the floor beneath it while you are there.
Why it matters
In a Dubai kitchen the fridge is fighting ambient heat all year. Dust on the coils is a direct, measurable increase in how hard the compressor runs.
questions
Asked about this
Twice a year is ample in most homes, more where there are pets shedding hair.
Condensation collects in the gasket folds and is rarely dried. Washing and drying the fold, rather than wiping the flat face, solves it.
references
Background reading
- Refrigerator — Wikipedia
- Gasket — Wikipedia
External encyclopaedia entries for the underlying concepts. They explain the science; the practice above is how we apply it in UAE properties.