How to Clean Condenser Coils On a Whirlpool Refrigerator

If you want your fridge to last you as long as possible, it’s essential that you perform regular maintenance on it. Part of this maintenance involves cleaning out your fridge’s condenser coils.

The condenser coils are an important component of your refrigerator; without them, the refrigerant that circulates inside the sealed system of your fridge can’t be cooled properly. Dirty condenser coils can lead to increased energy bills in the best case and spoiled food in the worst case.

In this article, we’ll be going over in greater detail what your condenser coils do and how to properly clean them. We’ll also be sharing with you some general tips about maintaining your fridge that you may wish to know if you want to get the most life out of it.

Let’s get into it!

In order to explain what exactly the condenser coils in your fridge do, it helps if you know what the other major components of your refrigerator are and how exactly they work together with the condenser coils to cool your fridge.

Aside from the condenser coils, the most important parts of your fridge are:

• The compressor
• The evaporator
• The capillary tube
• The thermostat

Refrigerators work by circulating refrigerant inside them. The cooling process involves changing the refrigerant from a liquid state to a gaseous state through evaporation. When the refrigerant evaporates, this removes heat from the air inside the fridge.

The thermostat is basically the switch for everything. It monitors the temperature inside your fridge and if the temperature starts getting too high, it lets the fridge know to start the cooling process.

Related: Samsung Fridge Not Cooling After Power Outage – How To RESET?

The cooling process begins with the compressor, which is what actually moves the refrigerant throughout the fridge. You can think of the compressor as being like a kind of pump.

The refrigerant is hot, high-pressure gas when it leaves the compressor, however, so it has to go through the condenser coils. The condenser coils condense the refrigerant, cooling it and turning it back into a liquid, although it retains its high pressure.

The refrigerant then passes from the condenser coils to the evaporator via the capillary tube. This reduces the pressure of the refrigerant, which in turn lowers its boiling point, meaning it evaporates at a lower temperature.

As the refrigerant makes its way through the evaporator, it absorbs any heat from the air inside the fridge. As it does so, it starts to evaporate. By the time the refrigerant makes it to the end of the evaporator, it’s a warm, low-pressure gas again. Then, the refrigerant flows from the evaporator into the compressor, and the cycle starts all over again. 

This is why the condenser coils in your fridge are such an important part. Without them, there would be no way to cool off the refrigerant after it has absorbed heat.

Not only will this leave your fridge unable to keep your food cool, but it’ll also cause you to waste energy since the thermostat will be telling the compressor to keep running due to the higher temperature inside the fridge.

Fortunately, if you do need to clean your fridge’s compressor coils the process of doing so is usually pretty easy. If you know what you’re doing, you can probably have the whole thing done in less than 20 minutes.

If you want your fridge to last you as long as possible, it’s essential that you perform regular maintenance on it. Part of this maintenance involves cleaning out your fridge’s condenser coils.

The condenser coils are an important component of your refrigerator; without them, the refrigerant that circulates inside the sealed system of your fridge can’t be cooled properly. Dirty condenser coils can lead to increased energy bills in the best case and spoiled food in the worst case.

In this article, we’ll be going over in greater detail what your condenser coils do and how to properly clean them. We’ll also be sharing with you some general tips about maintaining your fridge that you may wish to know if you want to get the most life out of it.

Let’s get into it!

In order to explain what exactly the condenser coils in your fridge do, it helps if you know what the other major components of your refrigerator are and how exactly they work together with the condenser coils to cool your fridge.

Aside from the condenser coils, the most important parts of your fridge are:

• The compressor
• The evaporator
• The capillary tube
• The thermostat

Refrigerators work by circulating refrigerant inside them. The cooling process involves changing the refrigerant from a liquid state to a gaseous state through evaporation. When the refrigerant evaporates, this removes heat from the air inside the fridge.

The thermostat is basically the switch for everything. It monitors the temperature inside your fridge and if the temperature starts getting too high, it lets the fridge know to start the cooling process.

Related: Samsung Fridge Not Cooling After Power Outage – How To RESET?

The cooling process begins with the compressor, which is what actually moves the refrigerant throughout the fridge. You can think of the compressor as being like a kind of pump.

The refrigerant is hot, high-pressure gas when it leaves the compressor, however, so it has to go through the condenser coils. The condenser coils condense the refrigerant, cooling it and turning it back into a liquid, although it retains its high pressure.

The refrigerant then passes from the condenser coils to the evaporator via the capillary tube. This reduces the pressure of the refrigerant, which in turn lowers its boiling point, meaning it evaporates at a lower temperature.

As the refrigerant makes its way through the evaporator, it absorbs any heat from the air inside the fridge. As it does so, it starts to evaporate. By the time the refrigerant makes it to the end of the evaporator, it’s a warm, low-pressure gas again. Then, the refrigerant flows from the evaporator into the compressor, and the cycle starts all over again. 

This is why the condenser coils in your fridge are such an important part. Without them, there would be no way to cool off the refrigerant after it has absorbed heat.

Not only will this leave your fridge unable to keep your food cool, but it’ll also cause you to waste energy since the thermostat will be telling the compressor to keep running due to the higher temperature inside the fridge.

Fortunately, if you do need to clean your fridge’s compressor coils the process of doing so is usually pretty easy. If you know what you’re doing, you can probably have the whole thing done in less than 20 minutes.