Close the door, then measure before you throw anything out. Whether the food is safe depends on how warm it actually got, not on how long the door was open. Perishables that sat above 40°F for more than 2 hours should go, but a door that was only cracked may have kept everything cold.
Do this first
- Close the door firmly and make sure nothing is blocking it. Bins, tall bottles or an overfilled door shelf are the usual reasons doors fail to seal.
- Check the temperature right away. Use an appliance thermometer, or put a food thermometer into a glass of water from the middle shelf. The FDA says to keep the refrigerator at or below 40°F and the freezer at 0°F (FDA).
- Sort the perishables by that reading. If the fridge is at 40°F or below, the food is fine. If it's above 40°F, USDA FSIS says to discard perishable foods such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and leftovers that have been above 40°F for 2 hours (USDA FSIS). If you don't know how long it was above 40°F, treat it as more than 2 hours.
- For the freezer, check the food itself. Food that still contains ice crystals or is at 40°F or below can be refrozen. Quality may drop, but it's safe.
In the next few hours
- Let the fridge recover with the door shut. It will run hard for a while. Most refrigerators should be back to normal within several hours if nothing else is wrong.
- Look for frost. Warm, humid air rushing in overnight leaves frost on the freezer walls and, more importantly, on the hidden evaporator coil. Heavy frost can block airflow so the fresh-food side stays warm even after the door is closed.
- Wipe up condensation on shelves and the floor of the fridge so it doesn't refreeze or drip.
- Don't overload it while it recovers. The FDA advises not crowding the refrigerator or freezer so tightly that air can't circulate.
- Recheck at the four-to-six-hour mark. If the fridge is still above 40°F, or the freezer still isn't hard-freezing, something more than the open door is wrong.
Before the technician arrives
Note:
- The model and serial number. Look for a sticker on an inside wall of the fresh-food section, on its ceiling, or behind the crisper drawers.
- Temperature readings with times, starting from when you found the door open.
- Whether you see frost on the freezer back wall or around the vents, and whether air is blowing from the vents.
- Any alerts, beeps or error codes, and whether the door alarm sounded at all. A silent alarm on a fridge that has one is worth mentioning.
- What kept the door from closing, if you found something.
What not to do:
- Don't turn the controls to the coldest setting and leave them there. It rarely speeds recovery and can freeze food in the fresh-food section.
- Don't chip or scrape frost with metal tools.
- Don't taste food to decide whether it's safe. FSIS and FoodSafety.gov are clear that you can't judge safety that way.
- Don't keep opening the door to check progress. Use the thermometer.
How to keep it from happening again
- Keep an appliance thermometer in both compartments. FSIS recommends keeping them in the refrigerator and freezer at all times.
- Check that the doors swing closed on their own from halfway open. If they don't, the fridge may need leveling or the hinges adjusted.
- Inspect the door gaskets for tears or flattened spots, and clean sticky residue that keeps them from sealing.
- Don't overload the door shelves or drawers. Heavy bins can sag and hold a door slightly open.
- Turn on the door alarm if your model has one, and consider a plug-in temperature alarm for a garage fridge.
A freezer full of meat calls for a few extra steps, covered in what to do when a freezer stops working with meat inside. If the fridge won't recover, our refrigerator service page has the next steps.
Sources
Keep in mind: A fridge that's still warm hours after the door was closed usually has a frosted coil or another fault, not just leftover warm air.
Call ProFix Dallas at (469) 886-1122 if your refrigerator hasn't recovered by the end of the day.