Do you cover walls of fridge/freezer before Pesach?

amother

Wed, Apr 30 2014, 7:21 pm

Lady Godiva wrote:

Why in the world would I cover the walls of my fridge or freezer?
Don't you people clean the interiors of your appliances?

of course we do. This is what we saw at home. Scrub fridge clean until it sparkles like new. Cover every surface. Use for pesach.
Insanity! Glad I don't do it anymore.

amother

Wed, Apr 30 2014, 8:54 pm

We only line the shelves, but ended up removing the lining because the fridge thermometer was reading 56.
We'd cleaned well, and the fridge is cold. The Rav had no problem, he didn't want anyone to get food poisoning!!

Our second fridge seemed to handle the shelves being lined (but dh spent ages making sure that the lining allowed air flow throughout).

seeker

Wed, Apr 30 2014, 11:28 pm

Never heard of this until today. All halacha guidelines I ever read said to clean as well as possible, spray with something that would render any chometz inedible, and dry it. Done. I used to cover the racks but this year read that that isn't necessary. I cover the shelf on bottom because I leave the cover on all year and it makes it super easy to clean next pesach - peel up and replace. Lots of drips and crumbs land there, it would be gross to clean otherwise.

sky

Thu, May 01 2014, 9:50 am

Do people who think it is nuts to cover the fridge cover their counters (non-granite)? What is the difference? If you wash well and spray why bother covering the counters? What about the counter back splash - Do you cover that? is it so different then the fridge walls? [I understand not everyone does it and that is fine, I'm just pointing out that covering the fridge isn't that different then covering the counters and backsplash or even covering your table. I don't put food straight down on my table any more then I do in my fridge. ]

oliveoil

Thu, May 01 2014, 10:55 am

seeker wrote:

I cover the shelf on bottom because I leave the cover on all year and it makes it super easy to clean next pesach - peel up and replace. Lots of drips and crumbs land there, it would be gross to clean otherwise.

If you cleaned it more than once a year it wouldn't be gross! Wink

MaBelleVie

Thu, May 01 2014, 11:04 am

sky wrote:

No, I don't cover my counters because I kasher them. (I don't get those people who kasher and cover- do you also line a pot with foil after you kasher it??) I don't do anything to my backsplash besides clean it- my food isn't coming in contact with it anyway.

seeker

Thu, May 01 2014, 11:18 am

Generally, a fridge is just used to store things that are usually in some sort of container or wrapper. I keep my vegetables in bags but even if you do put tomatoes and peppers straight in, you're hopefully washing them before you eat them anyway.

A table or counter is different. Even if you don't generally eat straight off the table, odds are something is going to fall there and get picked up and put back. You're going to be leaning your hands on it and using them to prepare food. Your kids or guests might not be as disciplined as you are regarding not eating straight from the table.

amother

Thu, May 01 2014, 11:27 am

OP here. Can I ask a huge favor of those who have good memories?

Please please please post this thread next year one and a half weeks before Pesach IYH, and bump it up multiple times daily until Pesach, so that no one will miss it, to remind me and others not to go nuts every year if its not necessary! Whoever does this will have a HUGE Mitzvah!

To those who want to continue to do it, just ignore this thread, and may you get a special Schar, together with those who have done it until now, for their extra efforts.

Thanks so much for clarifying! 10000000+

dee's mommy

Fri, May 02 2014, 1:08 am

I answered yes, but that was before I realized you meant the inside of the refrigerator. I don't actually do that.

I was referring to one side of my refrigerator, because it is right next to the stove. WE just cover one side with tin foil that is next to the stove on the outside.

Miri1

Fri, May 02 2014, 1:29 am

sky wrote:

A big difference is that the fridge is cold. The counters have had hot chametz food at some point, whether a hot pot, or hot food that has fallen or splashed on them. And likewise on Pesach, hot pots or food will likely end up there. It's not the same at all.

Happy2B1

Fri, May 02 2014, 2:09 am

I cover my fridge, the walls, my counters and everything possible, and I'm proud to do it. Yes I know its not halacha, and is just a chumra, but I'm proud to serve Hashem that way.
This is something that had been bothering me about this site, so I will say it now and I hope it's not taken in the wrong way. This forum is for people of many different hashkafic backgrounds.
It really makes me sad when I see people bashing or making fun (even subtly) other people's chUmros.
Cam Ladies please answer a question without saying I don't understand why they do it, it doesn't make sense, etc, eTc
Let's be accepting of every type of person, even those that might do more than basic halacha
thank you

amother

Fri, May 02 2014, 1:42 pm

In the olden days when refrigerators had racks, we would cover w foil but poke many holes so air could circulate. Not the sides.

Although if I put in hot food, I generally put down a towel first, which I'm not sure if it helps, for milchig vs fleishig, for example. Although I don't think I've ever put in hot milchig. It's more the Shabbos food (ask me how late I stayed up last night bec DD though she would just make the chicken & leave it in the oven until morning...but I decided to stay up til it cooled a bit & put it away.)

But, getting back to Pesach. Nowadays, they really don't make fridges like they used to! Literally. They're so busy making them energy saving that they don't work well. Recently we heard from an appliance store that there is no decent fridge under $1500 or so. The mfrs are busy with the high end models & just make one or two cheapos that don't work well....

Oh yes, getting back to Pesach. Now my shelves are glass so there is nothing circulating there, and I can cover them with a fridge liner, no tape, doesn't tear. I don't think it ought to affect the cooling to cover sides because the cold air comes down from the freezer, as long as you don't cover the vents you should be okay. If anything, the foil should insulate. But if you found otherwise, of course you must act accordingly.

Now my stove, that's another matter. Somehow DS covered it much too well (I poked a bunch of holes when I realized) and the electronic panel is slightly melted (but still usable. Unlike my other stove where we covered the top before we kashered the oven one year& the panel is gone!)