Clean the refrigerator coils
Annual · typically August
Why it matters
Your refrigerator doesn't make cold — it moves heat out, through a set of coils that need airflow to work. When those coils wear a sweater of dust and pet hair, the compressor compensates by running harder, and compressors are the one component whose replacement cost flirts with the price of a new fridge.
August is the slot on purpose: it's when ambient heat is peaking and the fridge needs every advantage.
What skipping it costs
$250–$2,800
Dusty coils can't shed heat, so the compressor runs longer and hotter on every cycle — that's $50–$100 a year in extra electricity, and it's the classic way compressors die years early. A compressor job runs $250–$450 when it's repairable; when it isn't, you're buying a $1,500–$2,800 refrigerator because of dust.
Two ways to get it done
Do it yourself
You'll need: Coil brush (~$10) or vacuum with crevice tool, Flashlight.
- Find the coils: on most modern fridges, behind the snap-off grille at the bottom front, or accessed from a panel at the back bottom. Older units: exposed on the back.
- Unplug the fridge. (Everything survives 20 minutes unplugged; don't skip this.)
- Work the coil brush through and along the coils, then vacuum what it frees up. Get the condenser fan blades too if you can see them.
- For under-fridge coils, go in from both front and back — the mat forms on the far side you can't see.
- Grille back on, plug in, done. While you're there: check that the doors seal by closing them on a dollar bill — if it slides out with no drag, the gasket's tired.
Hire it out
$90–$160National fair range — local labor moves this number.
An appliance tech will do this as part of a $90–$160 maintenance visit, and it's a fair add-on if someone's already coming for another repair — but as a standalone call it's paying trip-charge money for a vacuum pass. The upsell that lives here is the "sealed system" scare: if a tech says your refrigerant is low and quotes a recharge, understand that fridges are closed systems — low means leaking, recharges without fixing the leak are temporary by design, and sealed-system repairs on ordinary fridges rarely beat replacement math. That conversation should end with numbers on paper, not a same-day authorization.
Ask the tech
- Where are the coils on this model — underneath or on the back?
- How were the door gaskets and the condenser fan?
Red flags you're being upsold
- A 'sealed system recharge' pitch off a coil-cleaning visit — refrigerant in a fridge doesn't get used up; low refrigerant means a leak, and on most fridges a sealed-system repair costs more than the appliance is worth.
- Replace-don't-repair pressure on a fridge under 8 years old that's still cooling.
Second opinion time: Any repair quote over $400 — at that number you're deciding between repair and replacement, and the shop quoting has a horse in the race.
The call
DIY, once a year, thirty minutes. It's the highest-value half hour in the kitchen — there's nothing behind that grille you can break.