Outdoor refrigerators are among the most important appliances for storing and preserving food. However, in order for them to work smoothly, you must keep them well-maintained at all times.
You can wash shelving, racks, and drawers with water and soap. Vinegar and baking soda are also great cleaning agents. While those solutions are good enough, for more stubborn cases, you may need something more heavy-duty.
Mold will be one of your worst enemies here. For outdoor fridges, especially, the gasket seals surrounding their doors can easily turn into a refuge for mold and mildew. The situation can get worse if you don’t destroy them early on.
Besides looking icky and unpleasant, mold could impose health risks like nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, migraines, and skin rashes. So, the worst-case scenario is that you will have to throw out all your food right away.
But thankfully, there are ways to get them off your beloved fridge.
In this post, we’ll go over some of the most effective ways to get mold off your outdoor refrigerator. But before we do, let’s first talk about these black invaders and how they form inside your refrigerator.
Where Does Refrigerator Mold Come From?
Mold is a type of fungus made of microscopic organisms found practically anywhere. They get their dusty, colorful look (ranging in black, white, orange, green, and purple) from the production of spores carrying fungal secondary metabolites.
Molds can thrive everywhere there is moisture to feed them. And they often form in your fridge from rotting food. Though you can safely discard the food, mold spreads through air and surface contact. Moldy cheese, for example, can spread its pores on the shelf it’s sitting on.
Also, keep in mind that refrigerators are dark all the time and molds love the darkness. This is why they can also form if you leave your unit for a long time.
For outdoor refrigerators, mold and mildew can grow on the gaskets around their doors due to the warmth from the outside air and moisture from their interiors. The frequent opening and closing of the fridge door can hasten their growth.
Is It Harmful?
The mold in your outdoor refrigerator, regardless of the mold types, will be a serious problem. It may seem harmless, but molds can induce allergic reactions. You may experience coughing, nausea, breathing difficulties, headaches, irritated eyes, skin rashes, and more.
Small children, pregnant women, elders and those with compromised immune systems are the most vulnerable. And if you and your family members are constantly exposed to molds, it can lead to more serious allergic reactions.
It is important that you mitigate such a problem as soon as possible instead of waiting for anyone in your household to get sick. Also, you’d want to save your food and keep these pesky molds from devouring them.
Here are the best methods you can do to clean mold off your outdoor fridge.
Ways To Get Mold off Your Outdoor Fridge
Molds are easy to get rid of. Before you start cleaning your fridge, make sure that it’s unplugged and emptied. Below are a few ways you can get mold off your outdoor refrigerator.
Use Hydrogen Peroxide
A full strength hydrogen peroxide will kill mold effectively on kitchen appliances such as outdoor refrigerators.
Things you need:
To start, get a cloth and spray bottle. Fill the spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide (not diluted) and you’re set to go.
Follow this removal process:
Step 1: The first thing you need to do is to wipe down the spots that you need to clean.
Step 2: Spray on the affected areas with the solution, completely soaking the moldy surface for a few minutes.
Step 3: Next, wipe the areas you sprayed clean with a cloth. For any visible stains, you can spray and wipe again until it’s completely clean.
Using Bleach
Bleach is an excellent cleaning solution to destroy mold.
However, we suggest that you resort to this solution only if your outdoor fridge has a severe case of mold invasion. It is especially important to take caution when cleaning your fridge’s gaskets. While it kills molds, it can also make the gasket dry (more on this later.)
Things you need:
To start, grab the bleach, a spray bottle, water, lubricant (if cleaning the gaskets – Vaseline will do), and paper towels. Make sure to dilute 1 part bleach with 2 parts of water in the spray bottle. Mix the solution thoroughly before applying it to the affected areas
Follow this removal process:
Step 1: First, take a clean cloth and wipe off the mold, removing as much debris as you can.
Step 2: Spray on the bleach solution and let it soak for several minutes.
Step 3: Using a clean damp cloth, carefully wipe away any excess bleach. Q-tips are great for hard to reach crevices.
Note: If you’re getting mold off your outdoor fridge’s gaskets, you can apply lubricants like Vaseline or olive oil. This will help reduce the friction that the gaskets suffer.
Using Before Using Bleach
Bleach has been renowned for killing bacteria and removing stains from any surface. They are great for clearing mold and mildew, but it’s extremely important to use them with caution. It’s a caustic chemical and may do more harm than good.
Chlorine bleach is corrosive and can damage the components in your outdoor refrigerator such as the gasket seal and plastic shelves. It kills mold, however, it does not enter porous materials like rubber. And this will resurface mold spores that have been buried deep within such materials.
WD-40
WD-40 is a lesser-known approach, but we love it. This is another effective method for clearing stains, particularly mold and mildew.
Things you need:
To get started, you need a WD-40, Qtips, a cloth, and a mild cleaning agent. Obviously, you won’t need to mix up anything here.
Follow this removal process:
Step 1: Wipe the moldy area in your fridge with a cloth first, removing what you can.
Step 2: Next, apply WD-40 on the affected areas and allow it to soak for a couple of minutes.
Step 3: Wipe it off with a clean, soft cloth. Use Qtips or something small to reach tighter areas.
Step 4: Clean with a regular cleaner to remove any remaining remains of the WD-40. If there are any remaining stains, you can repeat steps 2 to 4.
More Tips in Outdoor Fridge Cleaning
Do you know you can create a good cleaning solution with things you already have in your pantry? Vinegar mixture and baking soda paste are our favorites and one of the safest treatments. It may not be as effective as the solutions we’ve mentioned above, but it’s a great method for cleaning moldy gaskets.
White vinegar is also an excellent protective barrier to prevent any future mold growth. It has various chemical qualities that make it an effective cleaner and preservative. This means it can prevent mold from gathering and developing.
Making a paste with baking soda and warm water makes an excellent fungicide for dealing with mold.
Rub either of these solutions onto your fridge and wipe them clean with a towel.
Keeping Molds at Bay
Mold growth can happen. But there are ways to control them and keep them from thriving in your outdoor refrigerator. After all, prevention is definitely better than having to deal with those pesky stains all the time.
And since they form in damp conditions, the best way to keep them at bay is to keep your food dry. Make sure the storage containers are pushed out of any moisture. And if there are any spills on your refrigerator’s surfaces, you must wipe dry right away. Keeping them clean all the time is also very important.
You may also want to limit the frequency with which you open and close your refrigerator. The more warm air that enters your outdoor refrigerator, the faster mold will grow.
FAQs
How do you get mold off a rubber seal on a refrigerator?
Molds commonly grow on the rubber seal of your fridge. A quick way to remove mold is by scrubbing the gasket seal with a half-teaspoon of dishwashing soap in a cup of hot water. If there is any remaining mold, you can spot-clean it with a half-and-half solution of bleach and warm water. Then, rinse it off with warm water.
What is best to use to clean the outside of refrigerator?
Using a clean, soft cloth or microfiber cloth, clean your outdoor refrigerator with mild soapy water. But for molds, you can use heavy-duty solutions such as WD-40 or bleach.
Conclusion
We hope you find this guide helpful in performing effective and easy ways to clean mold off your outdoor refrigerator. In case of recurrence or a severe mold infestation, please seek the help of an expert.
