Dull Men's Club @lemmy.world FabledAepitaph @lemmy.world 3d ago

Cleaned the refrigerator vent on schedule

Doing this at least once or twice a year is sure to maximize the life expectancy of your refrigeration appliances.

37 comments

Installing a soft starter to smooth out the huge momentary rush in power the compressor motor experiences as it starts up. Thats by far the most impactful thing you can do to increase fridge lifespan to the point fridge manufacturers factor it in rush current in planned obsolescence calculations.

The problem is that soft starter kits are expensive and you need to be competent enough with electricity to wire it in.
- You have my attention, do you know where I can find more information about it ?
  
  Sure im happy to point you in the right direction. The most popular place they get discussed about and practically implemented is over on the DIY solar fourm website.
  
  The offgrid renewables crowd with smaller battery supply who can just barely afford to put out enough wattage to run a fridge or AC are the ones who benefit most from soft starting. Then there are the nerds who like watching graphs that get off on maximizing system efficency and lifespan of their appliances.
  
  The users of that fourm often go into technicals that I myself am unfamiliar with. Differences between motors and compressors of different phase and voltages. Its interesting to see how some people think about things.
  
  I recommend just going through some different fourm post there related and read through what people say and what their situation and reasonings are if you want to learn more.
  
  Here's a post I thought a had good info.
  
  Theres plenty of YouTube videos on the topic too.
  
  Its one of those really niche electrically technical things that not many people have the schooling to to fully understand the theory of. The few people that have a genuine good reason to go out of their way to do it have different understanding and implementations.
  
  I don't mind answering questions if you wanted clarification as to how it works on a conceptual level.
I've had refrigerators all my life and never heard of cleaning their vent. How do I do this?
- It's more the fan in the compressor/condenser in the back, hah. I just said vent because it was simpler for a title.
  
  Understandable.
- First, get some headlight fluid from Home Depot.
  
  Damn, they only had blinker fluid.
Damn, that reminds me I need to change the HVAC filter!
- Is there a good way to see if the current filter is running less efficiently, or do you just change it every 6 - 12 months regardless?
  
  I get the extra thicc accordion style and I replace them at the manufacturer-suggested 6 months. The duct cleaners told me it should be done every 4 months, but he also said our duct weren't too bad and I hadn't had it done in like 6 years, so...
  
  Every 6 months. But I slacked this year and didn't change them out before summer. So I'm going to start fresh now, and then change at the beginning of summer, and then again next year around Thanksgiving.
- Uh oh, me too. I hate doing it! Plus, filters are expensive if you get the good ones.
  
  You dont need the good ones. In fact, sometimes the good ones can damage your HVAC system. If you use 3M filters, use the red label, not the purple label.
wait, no one told me about the schedule!
- No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

37 comments