Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The Glamor Continues

Our refrigerator has been making some worrisome noises lately. It seems to be running an awful lot, and being unnecessarily loud about it, too. I noted this some time ago and, in the great tradition of the large flightless bird, decided to figuratively stick my head in the sand and ignore the problem.

Then the MiL brought home Martha Stewart's magazine. It was just sitting there by my chair, so I started flipping through it, zipping right past the craft stuff and idly skimming a section on how to make your home more efficient. Which is where I saw the little tip that your refrigerator's condenser coils are supposed to be cleaned twice a year. This gave me pause, as I considered the fact that our refrigerator is now almost five years old and, to the best of my knowledge, had never had its coils cleaned. Unless A. or the MiL snuck in there and did it when I wasn't looking. I think that is unlikely.

Although I knew this little bit of housekeeping scheduling already, it never occurred to me to actually do it. I mean, who does? Do you clean your refrigerator coils twice a year? (If you do, don't tell me.) But I thought maybe five years might be stretching the boundaries of acceptable slovenly housekeeping, and might also possibly be contributing to refrigerator distress. So I decided to clean the coils.

This required, of course, moving the refrigerator. Which then revealed the floor underneath the refrigerator. Which is, of course, something you never really want to have to face. Because it is disgusting. The filth on the back of the refrigerator and the wall behind it was also revealed. It was gross.

But never mind that for now! Let's get to the coils! Which are . . . where are the coils? Ah, cleverly concealed behind this crappy cardboard piece on the bottom of the refrigerator. The cardboard is, I must assume, meant to keep the innards of the refrigerator free of dirt and debris. If that is in fact its function, it fails. And yet, it is screwed into the refrigerator with tiny little bolts that must be removed. Which requires a trip out to the shop, where of course I will never be able to find the right sized wrench for those tiny bolts, so I had to use needle nose pliers. They are not the right tool for the job and kept slipping off, so it took twice as long to remove the bolts as it should.

Keep in mind, please, that I am now seven months pregnant and getting on and off the kitchen floor, as well as bending over to unscrew the bolts, means there is much undignified scrambling and heaving. Possibly also some very attractive grunting sounds. It wasn't a pretty sight. Also, it made my back hurt.

But soldiering on! To the coils! Which were, predictably, filthy, and yet so constructed that it is impossible to get them all clean. Without removing them, that is, and that would require getting a service person out and would probably cost $100, so I just had to do the best I could and hope that the dust that was left would just disappear on its own. Sure.

Then back on went the useless cardboard piece with its irritating tiny bolts that the needle nose pliers can't grip properly. Then I cleaned the wall, the floor, and the side of the refrigerator. Then I moved the refrigerator back into position and plugged it back in. Then I took to the couch to rest after my ordeal.

Twice a year? Really? I think not.

23 comments:

  1. I would never clean my refrigerator coils - and not just because I'm going to live in rentals for the next 13 years.

    I'm just lazy.

    And at 7 months pregnant?

    Hell no.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have never, ever heard this 'cleaning coils' horseshit. Bah. I will continue to ignore this in my own home.

    ReplyDelete
  3. In 25 years of housekeeping, I've never once cleaned the coils. Never even contemplated it. I did once move a piano from one room to the next when I was six months pregnant -- because that's what pregnant women do (just like cleaning coils).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Our old fridge had coils on the back of the fridge ... very easy to get to and vacuum the dust off. Not that I did that twice a year. Or even once a year.

    The new fridge has them underneath ... I do vacuum what I can reach occasionally. We have two dogs and the hair, well, you know.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I did it last year - when the fridge was PURRING (while normal for a cat, very abnormal for machinary) - and it worked. So it is now my catch all to cure the fridge. But pregnant? No. And there was much grunting while I did it too- without the excuse of Man-cub...

    ReplyDelete
  6. We live in an apartment and the maintenance staff hasn't been here in four years to do that! I figure if a hired maintenance isn't required to do it, I'm not either.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yeah. Our fridge is five years old and has never lifted its skirt to have its coils cleaned either. Not that I'm going to do it now though. I prefer to wait until it's belching fumes and we have to scream to be heard over its rattling. I'm lazy like that. Congrats on being the only 7 mth prego to fix a fridge. You're unnecessarily incredible.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Okay, I'll be the odd duck. We don't do it twice a year, but always once per year, usually in the spring when I go on a cleaning kick. Then the cleaning urge gets out of my system and I try to ignore it all. We've always tried to get to the coils once a year...with pets, I just looked at it as a necessity -- lots of hair gets caught up in there and yes, it does contribute to a poor running fridge if it gets all gunked up. Which means it runs harder, which means your electricity bill is higher than need be.
    Now when I say "we", please bear in mind that I don't really mean "me".
    :-)
    That's what husbands are for.....

    ReplyDelete
  9. Now , you must get down on the floor in front of the frig, remove the louvered thingy from the grasp of it's clamps by pulling mightily and vacuum the coils from the front, hence getting rid of more dust. Then smoosh the louvered jobbie back into it's clamps and voila . It cuts back on dust in the rest of the house too. I always know I need to do it when the house gets overly dusty . Ours was doing the same , running a prolonged period, yes , you will be glad to know it now does not. So , it WILL be worth all the effort. And if you do it twice a year it won't get so grungy behind and under it. I have a small socket set that has a screwdriver type handle with a socket just the right size to handle the screws. I also use it to take the window air unit apart to clean and oil it yearly.

    word verification 'sciad'

    an govt. agency ....going undercover using consenants

    ReplyDelete
  10. Are your coils vacuum-able? could that get the other bits of dust out? That's what the vacuum repair guy did when he came to fix my refrigerator.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I must say that I love your post! Being in a similar position, I applaud you for even attempting to move the fridge! I've been through two pregnancies now and I have noticed that there are things in the house that would never get done if it weren't for me "nesting." So, happy nesting from one pregnant countrified city girl to the next!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I had heard about cleaning the fridge coils, but never actually considered it. UNTIL... our fridge got very hot in places that shouldn't get hot. Namely the divider between the fridge and freezer and the sides of the doors. After scratching our heads and "careful consideration" we decided to move the fridge (gross) and clean the coils (gross). It did the trick, so from now on I'll try to clean them every now and then.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I just vaccuum underneath my fridge, that's where they keep the coils in mine. It's not easy but it does not require the fridge to be moved - thank goodness. Ours can get pretty hairy because of the 3 cats and 1 dog in residence.

    Cleaning under the stove on the other hand - only when it gets replaced :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. You never said whether the frig was running quieter after this cleaning adventure!? I certainly hope so!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hey, look on the bright side. Your baby's gonna be born on Feb. 22 and just might be named X!!!

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow, thanks for confirming I need never clean my coils. Apparently Martha just thinks we're bored and need extra things to do.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I don't think it made a significant difference in the noise level. This made me distinctly unhappy.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Unfortunately, I do clean the refrigerator coils about twice a year. I did not know about this little housecleaning job until I married and moved into my own house. Our brand-new fridge started running more than normal and the food was not as cold as it should be. My mom let me in on this little secret and behold, it worked! I never LIKE to do it, but I do!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yes,I do believe the nesting has commenced.You have two months in which to clean things that may never again have the chance to be cleaned or organized.
    Word verification,grate.Do you ahve any of those,they probably need a cleaning.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Dude, YOU MOVED THE FRIDGE? TWICE? Isn't "lifting heavy things" on the list of Things That 7-Month Prego Women Are Not Supposed To Do?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Where I work, we make and serve lunch every day for 35 or so people, so we have several refrigerators. We have a regular monthly task to clean all of our fridge coils. We also check/change the three furnace filters monthly.

    Oh, did I mention that where I work is a program that helps adults with mental illness by giving them the opportunity to do work, including the kind of productive tasks like the two above?

    Am I saying that you need to be crazy to regularly clean your fridge coils or furnace filters? Certainly not - that kind of terminology is disrespectful and stigmatizing for people with mental illness.

    I'm just saying that being crazy helps.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Calm down, RLS. I didn't LIFT the refrigerator. It slides. A. slid it out for me, and I slid it back. And the man-cub cheered us on.

    ReplyDelete