Top tips for cleaning and organizing your refrigerator.

Good health is guaranteed by quality nutrition. Foods used for food must be fresh and kept clean to maintain their beneficial properties. This is why you need to clean your refrigerator to maintain hygiene and avoid the growth of microorganisms. In this article, we will share with you tips on how to easily and effectively clean the refrigerator using the tools at hand.

From time to time, various contaminants inevitably appear in each refrigerator: it can be a jam stain on one of the shelves or traces of spilled juice or milk. The appearance of dirt is a signal for you: it is time to clean the refrigerator.

To put the refrigerator in order, you do not need special knowledge, expensive cleaning, and disinfecting agents. Lukewarm water and a little liquid detergent are enough.

A little about prevention.

How often should the refrigerator be washed? In addition to daily revisions of products and wiping the walls of the chamber, larger-scale cleaning should be carried out periodically.

It is optimal to carry out routine maintenance of the refrigerator without defrosting once a week – you need to wipe it from the outside and from the inside, including the rubber seal, throw out everything that has accumulated over the course of the week.

Ideally, it is better to thoroughly clean the refrigerator with defrosting once a month, then ice does not form in the freezer, which reduces the efficiency of work, and unpleasant odors will not appear in the refrigerator.

However, if you are not a perfectionist, and your refrigerator is working properly and even has a know-frost function, then one cleaning per quarter will be enough.

Preparing to clean the refrigerator.

1. Take care of the temporary storage of food.

The first thing to think about is where you will store food while cleaning the refrigerator. All that stale and spoiled – throw it away, and put perishable and frozen food in a container, and then put it in a cool and dark place or in a bowl of cold water and ice. You can move their balcony (when the outside temperature is below 0 °), place them in a thermal bag, or ask your neighbor to temporarily place your food in his refrigerator. Banks and food in packages that you also want to wipe are taken to the side of the sink.

2. Turn off the refrigerator and unplug it.

Remember to always unplug your refrigerator before cleaning for safety reasons. Because who knows what can happen, at least you are going to work with water where there is electricity.

3. Clean the condenser grid from dust.

If you have a freestanding refrigerator, move it away from the wall and use a vacuum cleaner to remove dust from the condenser grill on the back of the refrigerator.

Cleaning the fittings.

After you have taken care of the storage of food and prepared the refrigerator for cleaning, you need to remove and take out all moving parts: shelves, drawers, or sections. Wash the accessories in the sink with warm water and a little PH-neutral detergent. Wipe the telescopic rails with a damp cloth. Please note that when cleaning the guides, do not wash off the grease, as it is needed for the smooth movement of the containers. Use a cotton towel to dry the parts.

Cleaning the interior of the refrigerator.

To clean the interior, we recommend using a microfiber cloth, warm water, and a small amount of neutral detergent. After cleaning the refrigerator, wipe it down with a dry cloth.

Attention! Do not use vinegar, concentrated detergents, or abrasive sponges when cleaning the interior of the refrigerator.

Follow these guidelines when cleaning your refrigerator:

1. Do not use steam cleaners,
2. Don’t use concentrated detergents,
3. Do not use scouring pads or abrasive sponges,
4. Don’t use harsh, powdery, or sand, chlorine, chemical, or acidic cleaners,
5. Do not remove the nameplate (it is necessary when contacting the service center. After deleting the table, you lose the warranty for the refrigerator),
6. Do not let the water and cleaning liquid used for cleaning enter the drain channels, ventilation grills, and electrical components,
7. Only use food-safe cleaning agents inside the device.
8. Before starting to clean, be sure that your kitchen is clean.
9. If necessary, call the cleaning service. The professional cleaners will help you with your refrigerator and kitchen cleaning. They will arrange a deep clean.

Cleaning the case.

When choosing a means for cleaning the outer casing of the refrigerator, it is necessary to take into account the material from which it is made.

Please note that improperly selected cleaning agents can damage the surface.

In the case of plastic cases, you can clean the plastic housing with warm water and liquid detergent.

Stainless steel sidewalls.

If it is necessary to clean the stainless steel side walls, use a special cleaner. Apply the product to a soft cotton towel and wipe the surface in the direction of sanding.

8 popular ways to get rid of refrigerator odors.

To eliminate the unpleasant smell in the refrigerator, you can buy a ready-made odor absorber that is sold at any household chemical store or make a similar product at home. To remove extraneous odors of mold, stale fish, meat, onions, etc., you need:

1. Wash the camera with a solution of wine vinegar and water (the method is suitable for removing strong odors);
2. Cut brown bread into slices, arrange on the shelves and close the refrigerator for a day;
3. Put a saucer with activated charcoal tablets on the shelf (you can tie it in a gauze bag);
4.  2 sliced ​​lemon halves in the refrigerator;
5. A gauze bag with sugar or rice in the chamber;
6. Arrange tea bags or gauze bags with loose black tea on the shelves;
7. Pour soda into a glass and put it on the refrigerator shelf;
8. To quickly remove an unpleasant smell in the refrigerator, you need to pour the vanilla extract into a glass or saucer and refrigerate.

Prohibited refrigerator cleaners.

1. Any abrasive compounds that can scratch plastic and steel surfaces;
2. Low and high pH acid-based detergents (acidic, alkaline);
3. Preparations that contain chlorine or bleach – are capable of breaking down polymers.

To decontaminate the outside of the refrigerator, you need a regular solution of warm water and baking soda.

Traditional methods: pros and cons

Products tested over the years can help disinfect and clean the surface of the refrigerator if there are no special products at hand. The most popular ones are:

1. Soda – returns whiteness to plastic parts, fights against unpleasant odors, removes many impurities, but it is necessary to dissolve it well in warm water so that no hard particles remain that can harm the surface;
2. A mixture made from laundry soap is perfect for removing dirt from rubber seals and other places where it is difficult to reach, do not forget that the solution will need to be left for a while and only then washed off;
3. Toothpaste – returns shine to plastic elements and removes dried dirt, but it will not cope with very old stains;
4. Ammonia – removes yellowness, mold fungi, food debris, but it has a strong odor and this must be remembered.

Although many are trying to get rid of the problem with folk remedies, experts do not recommend using them, since they are not as effective, and sometimes harmful. It is better to purchase in advance special preparations and accessories that have been designed to clean all parts of the refrigerator.

For example, if foreign odors appear, you should use a refrigerator odor remedy, not freshen the furniture/room. These can be ionizers, granules with gel inside, dispensary neutralizers. Determine in advance what could be causing the odor.

After cleaning.

After all the components have been washed and dried, you can connect the device to the network. If necessary, turn on SuperFrost so that the required temperature in the freezer compartment is quickly established. Then you can place food in the refrigerator. Now you can be confident in the safety of your products.