Fridge And Freezer Temperatures
While food safety law doesn t specifically state the required temperature of freezers industry best practice is 18 Âșc or lower.
Fridge and freezer temperatures. The recommended freezer temperature to keep your food safe is at or below 0 f 18 c but your freezer may need to be set higher or lower depending on its environment and other factors. Because there are many different makes and models of refrigerator the way you set the temperature in one fridge won t be the same as the way you set it in another. French door refrigerators that open without opening the freezer will need to have the temperature set differently than a one. Energy star ratings on fridges are a helpful indicator of how much the appliance is expected to add to your energy bills.
It also ensures that every part of the fridge remains at an acceptable temperature. Choosing setting 5 will make your fridge the coldest. As in the refrigerator chilled air has to be able to circulate evenly around the food in the compartment to work efficiently and keep food frozen. How to set the temperature in your fridge and freezer.
Fridge temperature for energy efficiency. More on refrigerators cr s refrigerator ratings buying guide. Freezers need proper air flow to maintain the proper temperature and keep every zone of the freezer equally chilled. The same is true for your freezer.
The typical freezer factory setting on whirlpool refrigerators is a great starting point at the recommended 0 f 18 c. The same rules apply to the fridge by the way. The perfect temperature range for a freezer is at or slightly below 0 f and never more than 2 f. The refrigerator temperature can stay cooler longer and keep foods cooled best if the shelves and drawers are mostly full.
However to maximise energy efficiency don t keep your fridge or freezer below the recommended temperature as it will make the fridge work harder and in turn add to your electricity bill. In the event of power loss keep the freezer door closed as much as possible. Do not overload the freezer. We do the same thing in the freezer experimenting until we get the freezer temperature to between 1 f and 1 f.
Just be sure you don t overcrowd the space and cut down on air flow. Adjust the freezer settings as necessary to get the temperature in a safe range after making adjustments to either the freezer or refrigerator check the thermometer s temperature readout after five hours repeating the adjustment process until the reading is in the ideal range. A full fridge is a happy fridge. That can make moving cooled air difficult and increase the risk of warm pockets of air.
In order to measure the temperature accurately keep a thermometer on the middle shelf of the fridge or check out these other ways to measure fridge temperature. Therefore the higher the setting the cooler the fridge will be.