[OldNorth] Thoughts on preparing your refrigerator for a possible power outage

[Joel McKinney]

Preparing your refrigerator for a possible power outage:

1. Fill a number of containers with water and place them in the  
Freezer and Refrigeration compartments of your refrigerator. To avoid  
ruptures, containers destined for the freezer should only be 2/3 to  
3/4 filled to allow for expansion of the water upon freezing.

The containers will hold a lot of cold to help the refrigerator and  
freezer stay cold longer in the event of a power outage as well as  
displacing air that would otherwise flow out of the box when the door  
is opened. This is the primary point of putting containers in the  
refrigerator compartment.

2. Turn the thermostat control on the refrigerator/freezer to a  
colder setting.  Don't forget to set this back to normal after the  
threat has passed. Beware, some items in the refrigerator section may  
freeze. I think that you can place susceptible items near the door as  
high up as possible.

3. refrain from opening the doors starting as soon as your containers  
are in place to give the refrigerator a head start on cooling  
everything down.