A commercial refrigerator is a key part of any business that uses one. When one fails it can often cause great difficulty for a business due to the resulting loss of stock, and it can cost a great deal of time and money to fix. Below are five tips to help you keep your refrigerator in top condition. Remember, before starting any refrigerator maintenance task, you should ensure that it is switched off and unplugged from the power supply.

Condenser Coil

Once a month, you should clean any dirt, dust or lint from the condenser coil by vacuuming it. Any dirt which is left to build up can reduce the air flow over the condenser coil, which reduces the coil's ability to absorb heat from your refrigerator. You should also brush the condenser fins, using a fin comb to straighten them out.

Motor and Fan Blades

During your monthly clean, you should also run a cloth over the fan blades and motor. If this doesn't remove enough dirt from the blades, you should cover the motor with a cloth to prevent damage and use a damp cloth to wipe the blades down.

The Door Gasket

To ensure that the door seals properly when closed, you should insert a dollar note between the door frame and the gasket. When you close the door, the dollar note should show some resistance when you attempt to pull it out. If it slides out with ease, this shows that the refrigerator door is not closing properly and that the gasket needs replacing. Once a week you should remove the door gaskets and soak them in soapy water for around thirty minutes. You can then dry the gaskets and reattach them to the refrigerator.

Interior Lights

By checking that all interior lights within the refrigerator are working, you can ensure that your staff can safety identify items in the unit. Lighting also reduces the amount of time that the refrigerator door needs to be open. When replacing bulbs, you should make sure you use the correct wattage and size. Lower wattage bulbs do not work very well at low temperatures.

Servicing

Having your commercial refrigerator periodically serviced by a professional technician can help to extend the lifetime of the equipment.

By carrying out these simple maintenance and servicing tasks you can help to keep your commercial refrigerator running at peak performance by catching any issues before they before more serious and costly to your business.

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