Your fridge is the one appliance in your home that never gets a day off. It hums along 24 hours a day, holds your groceries at a safe temperature and just sits in the kitchen, which is probably why most of us never think about it until the milk goes warm.
But the small things you do every day, from how you pack your refrigerator to where you put your leftovers, can have a real effect on the appliance’s longevity.
According to Ian Palmer-Smith, an appliance repair expert at Domestic & General, the average refrigerator should last about 10 to 15 years, but that number can drop to “eight or nine years if you don’t follow best practices”.
The good news is that almost all of those best practices are simple, and several of the worst habits that negatively impact fridges are easy to break.
We asked three repairmen about the mistakes they most often see when it comes to fridge upkeep and what to do instead.
English (US)