Help my fridge is broken!

So here we are in summer finally. Boy that was a long wet spring wasn't it? Now the sun is shining...the birds are singing...and appliances everywhere are getting more use than ever. We're seeing more fridge problems now for various reasons and that's normal at Nova Appliance.

No seriously, your fridge gets opened many more times per day in the summer than the winter. Why you ask? Well, seeking a cool drink is the number 2 reason, and having the kids home from school is #1. Ahh yes, kids..those fridge window shoppers. I often wonder how much power I'd save if I had a clear glass door that they could look through and make their choice before opening the door. Instead they stand there enjoying the cool breeze whilst deciding exactly what it is they want and let out all my cool air. This makes the compressor turn on and re-cool the fridge as we all know. Now it's not as bad as it seems because the temp. inside the goodies stored inside the fridge retain a great deal of their coolness so you're just re-cooling the air again. Not too bad.

But what do you do if your milk goes bad? I mean, you bought it 5 days ago, it shouldn't expire for over a week yet, and it's already curdled. You thought it was just that particular jug but then it happened again.

Your number one culprit is your fridge. How? Remember what I said about your goodies maintaining their cool temperature? If your fridge quits running, they still remain cold because your fridge is a big insulated box. At least for a few days. But milk goes bad quickly and will start to sour at lower temperatures than most other foods so even if your fridge still feels coolish and is say 7 degrees, your milk will go bad.

Or say your fridge seems to be getting warmer yet your icecream in the freezer compartment is frozen as solid as a brick. How does that work? The cold air from your freezer circulates through the fridge keeping it cool. If the damper is having a problem it limits the cold air flow and frosts up your freezer. There are a few other things that will do this as well.

Tip. Have an accurate thermometre handy and pop it in the fridge/freezer. Leave it in the middle of the fridge, not on the door, and check the temp. every few hours to see what's going on. Don't read it for at least 2 hours after putting it in though to allow the internal temp. of the fridge to stabilize. This really helps an appliance technician know what your fridge is doing in it's normal operating cycle.

To prevent spoilage of your food you should call an appliance repair person as soon as you suspect a problem. Leave the fridge plugged in. Some problems can be fixed right away but many require parts to be ordered so the sooner you get on it the sooner you'll be back up and running.

For appliance repair and service in the Oceanside BC area just call or e-mail novaappliance.com and you'll get fast, knowledgeable technical advice with guaranteed estimates and a warranty on service and parts.

Elizabeth