5 Tips to Make Your Refrigerator More Efficient

We recently talked about reasons to run your dishwasher at night to help save money. Today, we're looking at ways to make your refrigerator run a little more effectively in order to keep those bills down. These are simple tips that should help any home!

1. Vacuum the Back: The idea of pulling your refrigerator away from the wall isn't exactly at the top of anyone's to do list, but it can help so much. So much dust and dirt gets trapped behind your refrigerator (especially if you have pets) and this collects on the condenser coils. Once you've cleaned them off, the heat from your refrigerator will be able to be carried away without as much resistance, making your cycles run for a shorter period of time.

2. Check the Door Seal: Use a thin piece of paper or dollar bill to check whether your seal is losing air. Hold it up next to the closed refrigerator door and see if it flutters at all. The rubber or plastic door seal on your refrigerator can be easily replaced and although it might seem like a pain, we promise it's not. No one wants to pay to refrigerate their entire kitchen, especially when it's only a few bucks for a new gasket!

3. Cover Everything: Unless you're keeping crackers in your fridge, most foods in there contain moisture. When left uncovered, foods will leach this moisture into the air and the compressor in your refrigerator will have to work twice as hard to remove it. (Plus, most foods will suck up smells of other foods and that just gets weird.)

4. Let Your Food Cool Before Putting it Aaway: So you made a big batch of soup and you're really tired. Sleep needs to happen ASAP, and you just don't want to wait up any longer. Sure, you can toss it in the fridge, but your refrigerator will have to pull double duty to cool it down. Try to let foods sit as long as possible (without bacteria cooties growing) before putting them in the chill chest. (Or use this DIY ice paddle trick.)

5. Fill Empty Space with Water: Using empty soda bottles, juice containers, or even store bought water jugs can help keep your fridge full when you aren't packing it to the gills. It helps keep things cold so your refrigerator doesn't have to work as hard. As an added bonus you will always have water for the zombie apocalypse.

Have you found any other ways to keep your fridge running efficiently?

(Image: Sarah Rae Trover)

Comments (20)

This is great - but what I need is a guide to organizing my fridge. We always lose things in the back...and then find them too late.

The one caveat to keeping your fridge full is that you don't want it so packed that air can't circulate or your food will be kept unevenly cool.

@mamagigi I find it helpful to regularly clean out the fridge (at least every two weeks) and to keep a list of perishable items on the door. If you keep up with it it doesn't take much time and can prevent loss of forgotten food.

Also, if it's so full that it takes 10 minutes of shuffling things around to find the item you want, you'll lose more energy having the door open every time than you'll save.

We're fortunate enough that nights here are fairly cool, even in summer, so we often put things outside to start the cooldown process before chucking them in the fridge. (vs. the DIY ice paddle, but in the event of a super warm evening, I'm definitely going to give that a try.)

My keys to organization is to keep like things together. Any leftovers all go in the same area. Same with any veggies/fruit that might be in there. I check for food I've no intention of eating and toss it the night before garbage day.

We have cold winters where I live. I take 2L pop bottles full of water and leave them outside to freeze. Once frozen, I place them in the fridge. It then takes less energy for the fridge to cool it self down. Try to have a rotation of bottles going too.

I haven't done a scientific experiment but I made this observation: if you have central air conditioning, leave it running around 78-80 during the day even if you are away during the day. I used to shut it off during the day when I was out or on the weekend when I was away and my electric bill was through the roof. Could it be that the refrigerator had to work that much harder to keep things cool in a 90 degree apartment?

This summer I decided to try out a different approach and leave the AC running at a warmer temp (as opposed to off)when I was out. It made a huge difference on my electric bill.

Kudos for mentioning the zombie apocalypse :D

When my husband worked in a restaurant I learned another tip for cooling things quickly--fill your sink with cold water and add some ice. Place the pot or container of hot food in the sink so water comes about halfway up the sides. Stir it frequently and it will cool down fairly quickly.

I'm not a stickler about bacteria and food safety temps, but I know many who are. And anyone on top of that will have a big problem with you saying leave food out til it cools more to put it away. The warmer it is when you fridge it, the safer it is I always understood. (I say that but I'm good for leaving a pot of soup on the counter til bed then tossing it in the fridge. Ha like I said- not a big priority of mine)

heypielady, the difference in bills is probably not due to the refrigerator. When you turn off your AC during the day and your house gets up to 85 or higher, and then you come home and set it for 75, your AC has to work very hard and for a longer period of time to cool down the house, versus it just needing to come on for short periods to maintain the 78-80 degrees. A home inspector talked to me about this for both the AC and the heater, and it really did make a difference.

Make sure your fridge isn't located right next to your stove, oven or dishwasher if you can help it. Seems logical but you'd be surprised how many apartments get this wrong and you end up paying for it in your electric bill.

My relatively recent (less than 5 years old) fridge doesn't have exposed condenser coils. I went through the trouble of pulling it out to vacuum as you suggest, and I was most disappointed. Thinking they might have been on the bottom I checked there too, but no. I suspect this may be true for many modern refrigerators. Next time I'm at a home improvement store I think I'll look to see if I just got lucky or if they've just come up with more efficient designs.

Just a tip for left over food. I came up with this idea...I use a small office label perhaps smaller than a stamp, sold at Office Depot, Walmart, etc. (you can also use a post it note) my left overs are in plastic containers so I put the label on top of the lid with the date (i.e. 8/25, Thur.) I clean out my fridge twice a week when the garbage man comes. I have 3 kids with sports and activities so I'm busy, it is one less thing I have to think about. And this way I know how long it is in the fridge. It works great!

This is an FYI for anyone buying a fridge.Remember that it is the only appliances that runs constantly.It does not have an on and off switch.

Some are lemons from day one.Choose wisely or you won't realize any savings in the long term.

Great list.
I've always been told to clean your fridge the day before you refill. So, if you shop on Saturday, clean it on Friday and let it dry before adding new (warmer) foods.

I've started lining my fridge drawers (and some shelves) with towels. It helps with spills and keeping the fridge clean. Does anyone else do this?

I really wish they made a refrigerator with a better layout. It seems like they're all for people who eat junk food/soda. USDA nutritional guidelines say that 1/2 our plate should be fruit and veg. You wouldn't know it by looking at how a refrigerator is layed out.

I'm not just saying this to complain--I'd really like to know if there's a better refrigerator out there!

With the cooling food before putting in fridge thing: As long as you keep your food covered while it's cooling there will be fewer germs in your food. And many of the nastier germs can survive boiling, chilling and even freezing if there are enough nutrients. So the extra 30 minutes aren't going to make that big a difference, unless you have a really contaminated kitchen.