Tenant's Fridge Died: What to Do While You Wait for Repair

When a tenant's refrigerator stops cooling, the first thing to do is tell them to keep both doors shut. A closed fridge keeps food safe for about four hours, and a full freezer for about two days. Then have the super rule out the simple causes, get a repair booked the same day, and offer a cooler or spare unit if it will take longer.

The rest of this is about the gap between "it's warm" and "it's fixed": what to check, what to lend, and what to say when the tenant asks who's paying for the groceries.

The food clock: what USDA says

Food safety sets the deadline here, not the tenant's patience. The USDA's guidance on keeping food safe during emergencies gives the numbers most people half remember:

USDA also says to throw out perishable food that has sat above 40°F for two hours or more, and that frozen food which still has ice crystals, or is at 40°F or below, can be refrozen. The same numbers appear on FoodSafety.gov.

Two practical points follow. Every time the tenant opens the door to check, the clock speeds up. And nobody can judge food safety by smell or taste; USDA's advice is never to taste food to decide. A thermometer reading of 40°F or below settles it. If not, the safe call on milk, meat, fish and leftovers that sat warm for hours is to throw them out.

We're not food-safety advisers, and you aren't either. Pass on the guidance with the link and let the tenant decide what to keep.

Quick checks before you dispatch

A super can clear the easy causes in about ten minutes. They won't fix a failed compressor, but they catch the calls that aren't repairs at all.

1. Power. Is the light on inside? If not, check that it's plugged in and that the outlet works (plug in a phone charger). Then check the breaker panel for a tripped circuit.
2. The temperature control. Dials get bumped during cleaning or when a tenant reloads shelves. Make sure it isn't set to off or to the warmest setting.
3. Airflow inside. An overpacked freezer can block the vent that feeds cold air down to the fridge section. If the freezer is cold and the fridge is warm, that's a common cause, along with a defrost problem that needs a tech.
4. The door seal. Look for a torn gasket or something stopping the door from closing all the way. A door left slightly open for a night can warm the whole box.
5. The coils and the fan. On many models the condenser coils sit at the bottom behind a front grille. If they're matted with dust, or the fan back there isn't running, the fridge struggles. Note what you see for the tech; cleaning coils won't bring back a fridge that's already warm.

If one of those turns out to be the problem, the fridge may need several hours to get back down to temperature. Have the tenant check again later before you call it solved.

If none of them is it, book the repair. Our refrigerator repair page covers what usually turns out to be wrong in apartment units, and our note on same-day repair timelines explains what to send with the request so the fix doesn't take two visits.

Stopgaps while you wait for repair

How much you offer depends on how long the wait looks. A fridge that will be fixed this afternoon needs nothing but closed doors. One waiting on an ordered part needs a plan.

A cooler and ice is the floor. Some buildings keep one or two in storage for exactly this. Bagged ice from a corner store is cheap and easy to top up. For longer gaps, USDA mentions dry ice or block ice for freezers; dry ice needs gloves and ventilation, so that's a call for the tenant to make with care.

A spare unit from storage is the better answer if you have one. Some buildings hold onto a working fridge from a renovation or a replacement. A compact or apartment-size unit in the living room isn't pretty, but it keeps a household running for a week. Plan for the move, though: a full-size fridge up four flights of a walk-up is a two-person job.

Some managers let the tenant use space in the super's fridge or a building staff fridge for medication. If the tenant mentions insulin or other medication that needs refrigeration, move that to the front of the line. That's a same-day issue whatever the food situation.

A note on timing: if the repair will run into days because of a part, tell the tenant early. A tenant who knows on day one that it'll be Friday makes a plan. One who finds out on Thursday makes a complaint.

When the tenant asks you to pay for spoiled food

There's no single rule for food-loss reimbursement, so handle it as a policy question, not a fresh negotiation every time. This is general information, not legal advice. What you owe, if anything, depends on the lease, the cause and local law, so check with the owner or counsel before you commit to a standard.

In practice, managers tend to look at a few things. Did the fridge belong to the building? Was the failure reported promptly, and how long did the repair take after that? Did something in the building cause it, like a power problem in the unit, or did the tenant do something, like leaving the door open or unplugging it? A tenant who reported a warm fridge on Monday and waited until Friday has a different case from one whose fridge died overnight and was fixed by noon.

Some owners choose to cover a modest, documented loss as goodwill, because it costs less than the complaint. Others decline and point the tenant to their own renters insurance, which may or may not include food-spoilage coverage; the tenant can check their policy. Either approach is defensible if it's applied the same way every time and written down.

Whatever you decide, ask for the same things each time: a short list of what was lost, photos if they have them, and the date and time they noticed the fridge was warm. Your own record of when the call came in and when the repair was scheduled matters just as much. Our tenant communication scripts include wording for the first reply that also starts that record.

Common questions

The freezer is still cold but the fridge is warm. Is food in the freezer fine? Probably, if it's still frozen solid or has ice crystals. USDA's guidance is that food at 40°F or below, or with ice crystals, can be refrozen. That pattern (cold freezer, warm fridge) usually points to an airflow or defrost problem, which a tech should see that day.

Should the tenant unplug it? Not while you're waiting, unless it smells hot or burnt. A tech often needs it running to diagnose the fault.

Can the tenant just buy a mini-fridge and send us the bill? Set the answer before it comes up. If you'd rather lend a building unit than reimburse a purchase, say so in your first reply.

Getting it fixed

Treat a warm refrigerator with food in it as a same-day call, and send the model number with the request. Open a work order with the building, the apartment and a photo of the rating plate inside the fridge; requests are scheduled within 24 hours, and the service call ($145 and up) covers the visit and the on-site diagnosis, with the repair quoted for your approval first.