3gb33087.fm Page 20 Wednesday, February 11, 2004 5:47 PM
VACATION
Short vacation There is no need to disconnect the refrigerator from the power supply if you will be away for less than three weeks. Use up perishable food, freeze other food. If your appliance has an automatic ice maker: 1.Turn it off; 2.shut off the water supply to the ice maker; 3.empty the ice bucket. Long vacation Remove all the food if you are going away for three weeks or more. If your appliance has an automatic ice maker, turn off the water supply to the ice maker at least a day before and as soon as the last batch of ice cubes is produced, turn off the ice maker and empty the ice bucket. Unplug the refrigerator and clean it, rinse and dry. Fix some wooden or plastic wedges to the upper part of both doors with adhesive tape and leave the doors open enough for air to circulate inside both compartments. This will prevent odour and mould from setting in. Moving � Take out all removable parts, wrap them well, and fix them together with adhesive tape so that they do not bang together or get lost. � Tighten the front levelling screws. � Close and fix both doors with adhesive tape and, again using adhesive tape, fix the power cable to the appliance. Power failure In the event of a power failure, call the local office of your Electricity Company and ask how long it is going to last. 1.In the event of a power cut for maximum 24 hours, both doors of the appliance must be kept closed. This will allow the stored food to stay cold as long as possible. 2.Should the power failure last more than 24 hours, remove all frozen food and put it in a portable freezer with a key lock. If this type of freezer is not available and, likewise, no artificial ice packs are available, try to use up the food which is more easily perishable. 3.Bear in mind that a full freezer compartment will stay cold longer than a partially filled one. Empty the ice bucket. Furthermore, a freezer full of frozen meat will stay cold longer than a freezer filled with pre-cooked food. If ice crystals are still visible on the food, it may be frozen again without running any risk, although flavour and aroma are likely to be affected. If the condition of the food has deteriorated to the point that refreezing it may be it risky, throw it away.
