Have you recently bought a new fridge and you are wondering after how long can it be used? It is always a tricky situation especially when you have to move food from your old fridge to a new one.
You should wait a minimum of 2 hours to put food in a new refrigerator. This time varies depending on the size of the fridge. Some fridges can take up to 24 hours to reach the desired temperature. Make sure to check that it’s cooled enough before starting to put food in the fridge.
Let’s take a look at some of the things you should keep in mind with your new fridge…
Why Can’t You Immediately Put Food In A New Fridge
A lot of people think that you can start putting in food as soon it has been plugged in. This is the worst mistake you can make, it is not only bad for your food but for your fridge as well. Let’s see what happens if you do put in food in the beginning.
Let’s say you have some room temperature food which you recently cooked, at this point it is still giving away a lot of smell which is not bad in itself but it can be if this smell gets stuck inside the fridge.
When the fridge isn’t cold enough, the food won’t start cooling, on the contrary the food will start heating up the fridge which will make the appliance take longer to properly cool.
This means that your food will remain warm for a longer period of time, this also means that the food will keep giving away a lot of scent for a longer time. Warmer food items give away more smell then cold items.
This fresh food smell can get stuck in the fridge because initially the air is being circulated a lot. Because of this circulation some of the smell can get stuck in the compressor which will turn into a spoilt smell soon enough.
Your food will also go bad the more time it spends warm or at room temperature. Filling the fridge with food items will also make it much harder for the fridge to cool.
It would be a much better idea to leave the food in open air for a bit and wait for the fridge to properly cool. Food can stay fresh in open air for quite some time, more than you think.
During this period even the food items will come to room temperature and the fridge will also get time to cool properly.
How To Figure Out The Cooling Time Of Your Fridge
From the outset I would recommend to check the user manual of your fridge once before starting to put food in. each company has a different cooling time which they recommend.
Even if two companies are making similar sized fridges, their cooling times may differ because of different components being used.
Even if you cannot find the exact recommended cooling time then there are some hacks which you can use to correctly determine the cooling time. If you have a fridge which shows the temperature then this is perfect, you simply have to check what the internal temperature is.
It should be around 40F, this is also the recommended temperature by the FDA. As for the freezing temperature it should be at least 0F.
If your fridge doesn’t show the temperature automatically then you will have to use a thermometer. A simple one will do the job, you can easily get one from amazon or any grocery or hardware store.
Most people don’t follow this guideline because it seems like a lot of work. They simply start putting in food when they feel the fridge is cold enough. But why take this unnecessary risk when it will hardly take you five minutes to find out the temperature.
Always keep this mind that on average a fridge takes anywhere from 2 to 9-24 hours to get cold enough. Let’s take a look at some of the factors which determines this time.
Factors That Determine Cooling Time
The cooling time is usually determined by some very basic factors. Things like the age of your fridge, its size, the average room temperature in your area, how often you open or close the door can all play very important roles for the cooling time.
For example, if your fridge is older then of course its cooling capacity is not going to be like a new one. Usually fridges last a long time so the technological leap between fridges can be a lot if you are buying a new one after 10 years or so.
A new fridge might have a newer technology which can cool in a shorter amount of time. But this is not always true, some of my older fridges can actually cool much faster than a new one.
The other factor which is arguably the most important one is the size of the fridge. Of course it goes without saying that a larger area will take longer to cool but again, the size of the compressor will also increase so arguably it should take the same amount of time to cool.
But this is not so, apparently an increase in compressor size is not enough to compensate for all the extra space. It ends up taking a longer time to cool.
A smaller fridge can cool in about 3-5 hours on average but some larger fridges take about 10 hours to fully cool. This is because all of the extra space leads to an excess of warm air which needs to be cooled. This takes a lot of time and power.
You can also speed up this cooling process by not opening the fridge doors too frequently. The more you open your door, the longer it will take to cool. As soon as you open the doors, all of the cold air inside the fridge gets replaced by outside warm air. This will greatly increase the fridge’s cooling time.
On similar grounds, if you live in a colder region it will take a shorter amount of time to cool. This is simply because the room temperature air is anyways going to be cooler so it will take less energy to make it colder.
If this is the case then even opening the doors will not have such a huge effect on the cooling time.
On the other hand if you live in a hotter region then it will end up taking a longer time.
After How Long Should You Plug In Your New Fridge
Usually people plug in their new fridges as soon as they arrive but this is not at all recommended. Once the fridge has been delivered and you move it to its position, wait at least for a couple of hours once it is upright before plugging it in.
There are a lot of fluids inside the fridge which are responsible for cooling, during the moving process all of this fluid gets moved a lot as well.
Therefore you should wait for a bit to let all of the internal fluids to settle down before plugging it in.
Conclusion…
I would never suggest anyone to start using their fridge as soon as it arrives.
I know it can be tempting and you can even be in a desperate situation, but trust me, it is never a good idea.
Your fridge needs time to rest and settle before it is plugged in, after this it will take time for it to get cold properly.
You have to let your fridge reach at least 40F before starting to put food in it. It’s always better to be patient.
Enjoyed this? Make sure to check these out next:
5 Refrigerator Brands To Avoid Like The Plague (And 3 We Are Obsessed With!)
Refrigerator Won’t Cool But Freezer Works (HOW TO FIX IT!)
How Long Does It Take A Refrigerator To Get Cold Once Plugged In?
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