Sparkling clean and hygienic: cleaning the refrigerator regularly makes life hard for germs and bacteria.
Cleaning helps you to extend food’s shelf life and make it safer. How often should you clean the inside of your refrigerator and how can you do it thoroughly? We reveal how you can look forward to a sparkling clean refrigerator in a flash.
Makes food last longer, chills drinks, guarantees freshness: a refrigerator does many things in your home. However, inside it germs and bacteria also feel at home and happily multiply. They get into the refrigerator on your food, either through soil on fruit and vegetables or meat or fish that has been stored in an open display. This is why food lasts noticeably longer if the refrigerator is kept nice and clean.
Bacteria and mould spores multiply in your refrigerator at lightning speed. You can’t see it happening, but you’re sure to notice that food spoils more quickly and can start to smell bad. For sensitive individuals especially, germs in the refrigerator can even be dangerous – particularly when transferred from surfaces to your food.
Tip: when putting food away in the fridge make sure that everything is neat and tidy. Pack strong-smelling foods in storage boxes and vacuum-seal foods so that they keep for longer. Spilt liquids and stains are best removed immediately.
You can clean a refrigerator with relatively little effort and in around 30 minutes. Before you start, switch on the cleaning function and empty the refrigerator completely. Whilst you are cleaning, you should leave the door open to prevent unpleasant odours.
Tip: while you are cleaning, store your food somewhere as cool as possible, such as a cool box. In the colder seasons, balconies and patios make a great temporary storage space.
Fill a bucket with warm water and add a bit of washing-up liquid or pH-neutral multi-purpose cleaner. Alternatively, you can clean the refrigerator with home-made cleaning products: mix a dessert spoon of bicarbonate of soda with a litre of water. Bicarb binds odours and is antibacterial.
The BORA refrigeration and freezing systems are equipped with No Frost technology which prevent ice from building up. Just the BORA Cool refrigerator with 4-star freezer compartment needs to be defrosted from time to time. After that, you need to clean:
the glass shelves
the interior walls
the plastic shelves in the door
the Fresh zero trays for fruit and vegetables, as well as for meat, fish and dairy products
accessories like the multi-pad.
Did you know? BORA refrigeration systems come with a handy cleaning function: it turns on the light and switches off the cooling function, as well as the door alarm, for up to one hour. This gives you plenty of time for a thorough clean. You can switch off the function manually at any time. And as an added bonus, the cleaning mode has no effect on the freezer compartment.
BORA refrigeration and freezing systems are designed to be cleaned comfortably and easily. This is achieved by avoiding the use of trims. The following loose parts can be removed and washed by hand:
BORA Fresh zero trays and pull-out shelves
multi-tray incl. holding bars
bottle and tinned foods storage shelves
silicone mat and multi-pad
freezer compartment drawers
ice cube container
parting layers
accessories like storage boxes, sorting tubs and refrigerator storage trays
As a practical feature, the glass plates and the BORA ice cube tongs can be cleaned in the dishwasher at up to 60 degrees.
Wipe the telescopic rails with a damp cloth only to avoid removing the grease. Using a cotton bud, you can easily clean the refrigerator drain hole. Take care not to damage or remove the nameplate on the inside of the refrigerator. When cleaning, do not use abrasive sponges, steel wool or steam cleaning appliances.
Once a year – or when you see a message in the display – it’s time to change the BORA odour filter. This is located above the fan.
Once you’ve finished cleaning your refrigerator and its accessories, dry any areas that are still damp with a cotton cloth. Switch off the cleaning function and activate the Power Cool function so that you can store your chilled food optimally in next to no time. Once the refrigerator has reached the right temperature (approx. five degrees), you can tidy your food away again.
There is a separate program for cleaning the Ice Maker with the Tube Clean function, in addition to the option for manual cleaning. With the Tube Clean function, the drawer must be emptied and inserted. Activate the Ice Maker and the Tube Clean function (the maximum runtime is 60 minutes):
Stellen Sie den Eiswürfelbehälter ins Schubfach unter den IceMaker
Aktivieren Sie die Funktion Tube Clean
Entnehmen Sie die IceMaker-Schublade und den Eiswürfelbehälter
Reinigen Sie die IceMaker-Schublade und den Eiswürfelbehälter mit warmem Wasser und etwas Handspülmittel
Schieben Sie die IceMaker-Schublade mit Eiswürfelbehälter ein
Eiswürfelproduktion startet automatisch
Entsorgen Sie die Eiswürfel, die 24 Stunden nach der ersten Eiswürfelproduktion produziert werden
Clean the wooden BORA serving board with a soft sponge, warm water and mild detergent. Make sure that you wet both sides so that the board doesn’t warp. Wipe the serving board with a tea towel, place it upright and leave it to air dry.
Never clean the serving board in the dishwasher
Don’t use it for chopping food
Do not expose it to artificial heat sources
If the board has warped, it can be evened out again by storing it the other way round
Treat the board every two to three months with vegetable oil, ideally olive oil. This helps you to protect the wood in the long term
For fresh air in the refrigerator
BORA odour filters use activated charcoal to combat unpleasant odours in the refrigerator.
We recommend cleaning the refrigerator every four weeks or so.
When cleaning the refrigerator, use soft cleaning cloths, a pH-neutral all-purpose cleaner or household detergent and water. Cleaning concentrates, alcohol-based and abrasive agents, scouring pads and steel wool are taboo.
