Reviewed by Jason Plante
Updated August 12, 2026 | Published April 2, 2014
A refrigerator (or fridge) is an appliance that keeps food and drinks cold to extend their shelf life. Refrigerators use refrigerants like isobutane or freon to absorb heat and keep their interiors around 2–5 °C.
This article explains how household refrigerators work, how to maintain and repair them, and how long you should expect them to last.
A refrigerator is a household appliance that keeps food and drinks cool. They function by pushing a liquid refrigerant through a sealed system, which causes it to vaporize, and draw heat out of the fridge. The vaporized refrigerant then is passed through coils outside the fridge (at the back or the bottom). This warms up the vapour, and changes it back into a liquid.
Refrigerators extend the shelf life of food. Food that might spoil in a couple hours on the counter will last a couple weeks in the fridge, reducing the risk of food borne diseases. Lowering the temperature slows down the growth of bacteria significantly. When something is frozen, bacteria growth stops entirely.
Refrigerators work like humans sweating to stay cool. Sweat evaporates, pulling heat away with it and causing your body temperature to drop. The same thing happens with a refrigerator, except that when the liquid evaporates, the vapor is trapped and re-condensed into a liquid.
The refrigerant begins as a liquid. It’s pumped, by means of a motorized compressor, through tubes inside the fridge. This compresses the refrigerant and turns it into a vapor, pulling the warm air out of the fridge, leaving cold air in its wake. The vapor then passes through the condenser coils outside the fridge, where it sheds warm air and condenses back into a liquid. You’ll often feel heat coming from behind or beneath the fridge. The whole cycle is continuously repeated.
When the fridge reaches the desired cold temperature, the compressor shuts off. When the fridge warms up again, you’ll hear the compressor come back on.
There are many different types of refrigerator:
And there are many different sizes to choose from. Compact fridges can be very small, like 1.7 cubic feet or 40 litres, while side by side or French door fridges can be huge, for instance 30 cubic feet or 849 litres. The size of fridge you buy could be limited by the space in your kitchen, but most experts say you probably should have 4 to 6 cubic feet per adult in your home.
There are many features available on modern refrigerators:
Smart fridges can monitor the energy they use and forward the information to your smartphone. You can adjust the temperature from your phone as well. Smart fridges have screens where you can access your calendar, photos, get recipes or weather reports from the internet, and much more.
If you find a serious problem with your refrigerator, like leaking water, call a specialist rather than trying to complete the repair yourself. The most common problems with fridges include:
Frost can appear if the freezer door was left open, allowing warm air and moisture to get into the freezer. Or it could be that the seals around the freezer door are worn and need replacing. If warm, humid air enters the freezer over a period of time, it will cause the freezer to frost up. You may need to remove the food, and unplug and defrost the freezer. Then, you could try lifting the front of the refrigerator a bit, by turning the front levelling legs. This will help the door swing shut using gravity, so it won’t get left open again.
As fridges get older, they gradually get a bit noisier. But a sudden new and strange noise could be the fan at the back of the fridge. Unplug the fridge, remove the back panel, and take a look at the fan. It may be that something is blocking it, such as insulation, wires, or vermin. Be very careful, and make sure there are no wires that have been cut, frayed, or chewed.
Water pooling underneath the vegetable crisper could be the result of a blocked defrost drain. It may be blocked by ice, which can be fixed simply by defrosting the fridge. To find out, unplug the fridge, and remove the back wall of the freezer compartment. Look for anything that might be plugging the hole at the bottom of the evaporator coils, such as ice, bits of food, or pieces of plastic.
If your fridge isn’t getting cold enough, check the back wall of the freezer compartment. If there is a buildup of frost, then you probably just need to defrost the fridge. If there’s no buildup of frost, and things are not staying cold, you may need to replace your fridge.
Unplug the fridge, empty everything out, and discard any expired food. Clean the entire fridge with a baking soda and water solution. Some things that will absorb bad smells in the fridge: baking soda, white vinegar, bowl of oats, charcoal, fresh dry coffee grounds, unscented kitty litter.
ready for an online quote? Your time matters, and so does your stuff. Get a personalized home insurance quote in 5 minutes. That’s less time than it takes to wait in line for coffee.
Before you start, please review our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Here are some tips to properly maintain your fridge:
Sticky food can get on the seals around your fridge door. If the door sticks shut, and you pull it open, the seals can actually tear. Wipe down the seals every few months with a solution of warm water and baking soda, on a sponge or a toothbrush. This is a simple fix for a common problem.
Dusty condenser coils reduce the efficiency of the fridge. Clean them with the brush attachment on your vacuum cleaner. Depending on the type of fridge you have, the coils are either at the back of the fridge, in which case you’ll need to pull your fridge away from the wall, or at the bottom front of the fridge behind a snap off cover.
The fridge should be set between 3 and 5 °C, and the freezer at about -18 °C. If you make any adjustments to the thermostat, give it about 24 hours to adjust. Buy a fridge thermometer to check the temperature. Stand the thermometer in a glass of water at night before bed. This way you can be sure that the fridge door will be closed for 8 hours. In the freezer, just stand the thermometer up between some frozen items, and leave it for 8 hours.
There are little vents at the top and bottom of the freezer section of your fridge, which can easily get plugged by bits of food, plastic, or twist ties. Keep these clean, so air can circulate properly.
Your fridge should be about three-quarters full to operate properly. When you open the door, the cold foods inside will help absorb some of the warm air you’re letting in. If your fridge is too empty, put a few bottles of water inside.
The average life expectancy of a refrigerator ranges from 14 to 17 years, with compact fridges being significantly less, around 5 years. Proper cleaning and maintenance will prolong the lifespan.
Clean the condenser coils twice a year. When dirt and dust build up on the coils, your refrigerator finds it harder to remove heat and uses more energy to do so.
Over the long term, dirty coils can damage the unit, so break out your vacuum cleaner and a long-handled bristle brush for cleaning. Unplug your refrigerator and clean it according to the instructions in your owner’s manual.
When placing the refrigerator/freezer in your kitchen, make sure there is enough space for air to circulate around the coils. If they are located at the back of the unit, leave 2.5 centimeters of space between coils and wall. If they are beneath the unit, space is not an issue.
The gaskets are the rubber seals that circle your refrigerator and freezer doors. They keep warm air from entering the unit. Clean them periodically with an all-purpose cleaner. Gaskets do weaken over time and don’t seal properly, but are generally easy and inexpensive to replace, so keep an eye on them.
If they aren’t sealing well, your unit will consume more energy and your bills will increase.
If your freezer isn’t a self-defrosting unit, you’ll need to get rid of the frost buildup yourself or the freezer won’t cool your food as efficiently and will use more energy. When a half-centimetre of frost builds up on the interior, unplug the unit or turn off the thermostat, remove the food and allow the frost to melt.
Wipe away the puddles, restart the unit and wait until it returns to its usual temperature before replacing the food.
If you have a self-defrosting unit, its cooling coils heat up every six to eight hours to melt frost accumulating on the coils. Although the water evaporates, you’ll still need to clean the pan beneath the refrigerator with a bit of detergent to prevent odors and bacteria from accumulating.
On many models, you can remove the lower grill and slide the pan out.
Keep your fridge and freezer about three-quarters full. They work best when they’re full, but not so full that air can’t circulate. Cold items keep each other cold and help maintain a steady temperature.
If your fridge or freezer has too much empty space, use large water bottles to fill in the gaps. If you freeze water bottles, ensure that they aren’t completely full so the ice has room to expand.
If you load the refrigerator to capacity, you may block the vents and require the motor and condenser to work harder than they should. This can result in damage, including a burnt-out motor.
Extra strain can also lead to higher energy bills since the unit will be working harder to cool its contents. In addition, if there is inadequate space for air to circulate, the items in your refrigerator won’t cool properly. This could damage the food you have stored, making it unsafe to eat.
Constant running is a sign that your refrigerator may not be working properly. Check all of the obvious potential problems before calling a repair shop: space for proper airflow between coils and the wall and a proper gasket seal. Don’t ignore it – you’ll use more electricity than you should and eventually burn out the motor.
When you’re insuring your home, the fridge will be part of your personal property. When calculating the replacement cost of all of your belongings, be sure you include the cost of your refrigerator. The replacement cost can be high — remember, it’s the cost of buying a new, similar fridge in present-day dollars. If you’ve purchased a new condo, appliances may have been included. However, in the event of a loss, these appliances are generally not covered by the condominium association’s policy, but instead, need to be insured by your own condo policy.
Your home insurance provider needs an accurate figure of the value of your possessions in order to make sure you’ve got the coverage you need. So if you’ve got an expensive fridge, let your insurer know.
Want to learn more? Visit our Getting to Know Your Home resource centre for the complete rundown on all your home's systems and features. Or, get an online quote in under 5 minutes and find out how affordable personalized home insurance can be.
About the expert: Jason Plante
Jason Plante is the Operations Manager for Priority Appliance Service Ltd. Jason manages a team of dedicated staff and technicians. Prior to joining Priority, Jason Plante spent many years in logistics, process improvement, and data analytics, and helped build a successful financial technology company from 18 to over 200 employees, before being acquired by PayPal.
Check out these related articles:
Get a personalized online home insurance quote in just 5 minutes and see how much money you can save by switching to Square One.
Even when you take precautions, accidents can happen. Home insurance is one way to protect your family against financial losses from accidents. And, home insurance can start from as little as $15/month.