I left my fridge door open all day

[astral]

Just came home tonite and found it was like 2" open, light shining and everything. Turns out my coffee grinder cord fell down as I was closing the fridge and somehow I didn't even notice.

What now? Will my fridge croak? Will all my stuff in the fridge be deemed poisonous? (Well, that may have already occurred beforehand . . .)

Will my landlord's electric bill go sky-high for the day?

[Suich]

1. Unless the fridge is really old, it should be ok.

So should the stuff inside if it still felt cold when you got home. I don't know how your electric rates are, but if it happened to me, I probably wouldn't notice much of a difference. Does your landlord check the meter every day?

Does the fridge sound ok now or is it making strange noises?

[LostInAnomie]

2. Shut the door!

If your fridge is still running, and not making and strange noises, you should be ok. Shut the door for a couple of hours. Then, go check if it feels cold inside. If it's cold, everything should be fine.

I'd be sure to check any dairy or meat products before I eat them though.

[KG]

3. the refrig was running all day? bet it was tired!

:rofl:

some days i crack myself up!

[Gormy Cuss]

4. A lot of the food is probably of questionable quality now.

Even if it remained cool to the touch the temperature was much higher than it should have been especially for items on the door and at the front of the shelves. It was probably in the 50 degreee range and spoilage will happen faster than if it the temperature had been correct.
Raw food like vegetables and fruit should be fine as should pickles, olives, and condiments heavy in acid ingredients like mustard.

Use the USDA food safety guidelines as a guide for everything else:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/index.asp

Your refrigerator should be fine unless it's very old.

[Symarip]

5. Enter Symarip, ex appliance repairman

First, if your fridge is newer, it probably shuts off on its own if the door is left open.

Even then, your bill isn't going to shoot through the roof. It's no big of a deal if it was your large compartment area that stayed open because your cool air comes from the freezer. You probably won't even see a spike in your bill.

Throw away anything that might be of questionable freshness. Your unit should be working fine.

[Kali]

6. electric will be lower

it wasn't running, just the light bulb - lots less electric than the fridge

no it shouldn't have hurt the fridge at all. if food got hot then toss it. I defrost by leaving mine open for a day - I only move meat, milk and the more highly perishables to the other fridge or a cooler. Most things like mustard/ketchup/pickles don't even need refrigerating