Decorating Your Home for Spring

Picking up used appliances can save you quite a bit of cash over the years. Instead of paying full prices at the stores, you can pick up a used appliance for much less and give it a little makeover. Here, you'll find a few tips that can help you makeover your used refrigerator to make it look and perform as good as new.

Seals and Coil Cleaning

One of the first things you should always do when you pick up a used refrigerator is to give it a good cleaning – don't forget the rubber seals around the door and the condenser coil on the back or bottom.

When the seals get packed old food, mold and other gook, they won't work to keep the cool air inside the fridge as well. Use a bleach and water mixture to clean the seals to be sure that you've killed all of the mold spores and bacteria growing in there. If the seals are cracked, order a replacement and get rid of the old one. You will lose a lot of energy out of the seal if it is bad.

The condenser coil should be vacuumed very well to remove all built up dirt and debris. This will keep the unit working much more efficiently.

Remove Dents

Something as simple as a chair falling over in the kitchen can put a dent in the front of your refrigerator. There's lots of easy ways to get dents out of appliances, such as:

Heat and Cold – Warm the surface up with a heat gun or hair dryer. Then, immediately cool the area down with a can of compressed air. As the metal rapidly cools, the dent should pop right out.

Auto Dent Puller – Pick up a dent puller kit at your local auto supply store. These typically use small suction cups to pull the dent out.

Dry Ice – It's doubtful that you have any dry ice on hand, but if you do, you can use it to pop the dent right out of the fridge. Put on insulated gloves and hold the dry ice over the dent. You'll soon hear the dent pop.

Painting

You can paint the refrigerator to match your existing appliances or just to improve the look. The key to successfully painting appliances is preparation. If you don't prep the unit properly, the paint-job will look awful when you're done.

• Sand the surface with 320 grit sandpaper.
• Tape off the seals and handles.
• Apply appliance primer and paint.
• Let dry.

Talk with a business like Sub-Zero Affordable Repair if you need further assistance getting your new used refrigerator running and looking great.