Know the Telltale Signs of a Dying Fridge
“Is your refrigerator running,” asks the oldest joke in home appliances and a book titled “Jokes for 8-Year-Olds.”
“Yes. Why do you ask,” you respond, humoring your aspiring comedian.
“Then you better go catch it.”
Jokes aside, refrigerators are so reliable as the sun rising each morning, we naturally take them for granted. They seemingly run themselves and are more low maintenance than a goldfish, storing our food at a cool, refreshing and healthy 40 degrees.
“The refrigerator plays a critical role in our lives, and it’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t have this essential kitchen appliance,” Angi’s List’s C.E. Larusso writes. “Refrigerators provide us with convenience by allowing us to store food for longer periods, saving us time, money, and energy.
But ignoring a refrigerator, or any appliance, displaying end of life signs is a bad-tasting recipe for disaster in more ways than one. You don’t want to know what’s happening to your dairy products if your refrigerator dies when you’re away from the house for a week on spring break vacation.
“As a central component of modern living, a malfunctioning refrigerator can disrupt daily routines,” Sears Home Services’ Eric Wood writes.
That’s just for starters. This cornerstone of modern living and food storage convenience won’t send up any alarms when it feels the junkyard reaper calling its name. But how can you tell the striking performance difference between a sick or dying refrigerator?
Here are nice clear signs of a deteriorating fridge that is no longer giving your food the chills and needs to be decommissioned from service:
- Premature Food Spoilage: Food perishing before its label expiration date is the most telling sign of a fridge on the permanent fritz.
- It’s Colder than Northern Canada in January: Defrosting sensors or cracked door seals can allow warm air to enter and force your fridge to work harder to maintain its temperature. This risks food spoilage and leads to increased power consumption.
- Ice Build Up in Freezer: While some frost accumulation is usual, a thick layer of ice can indicate your fridge’s defrost system isn’t working as it should.
- Excessive Condensation: If your fridge is sweating as if it’s working outside in the sun on the Fourth of July, investigate STAT. Excessive condensation can be the result of a faulty door gasket, inadequate insulation or an overworked cooling system.
- Water Leakage: If your fridge is doing a pretty good impression of your sink with pools of water forming around its exterior, it could be suffering from a serious leak. Leaking fridges often result from defrost drains, damaged water supply lines, or a malfunctioning water heater.
- Interior or Exterior Cracks: This is not just cosmetic damage on an aging fridge whose showroom days are long gone. They are a strong sign that your fridge is no longer fit for duty. Exterior cracks produce temperature inconsistencies and decreased energy efficiency. Interior cracks impact food storage integrity, and can lead to contamination and spoilage.
- It Sounds Like It’s Haunted: If your fridge is making creaking or howling sounds straight out of a horror movie, it’s likely haunted with the knowledge that it’s running on borrowed time. Grinding, creaking, scraping and rattling sounds are all trademark calls of a dying fridge.
- It’s Running Hotter than Your Furnace: If you inspect the back of your fridge and it feels like you’re touching a hot stove, it’s got an excess heat problem. This could be due to faulty condenser coils, filters or fans.
- It’s Over 10 Years Old: Nothing runs forever. If your fridge is over 10 years, it could be nearing the end of its warranty life. Most fridges come with 10-20 warranties. For fridges over 10 years old, the cost of repairs will likely outweigh replacement costs.
Knowing how old your fridge is the smartest way to know when it’s time to invest in a new one. Familiarize yourself with your fridge’s care manual and clean it regularly. Experts recommend fully deep cleaning your unit every 3-4 months.
Remember, the smelly, pricy fallout of ignoring the signs of an injured refrigerator will likely mean you will have to replace your fridge entirely. Catch the trouble before everything in your fridge goes to rot.
“Know the lifespan you can expect from your refrigerator and what you can do to extend it,” Yahoo’s Nafeesah Allen writes.
For a dying fridge is the last place this side of a bathroom for where you want to store your family’s food.
