Your refrigerator and freezer could be wasting a significant amount of your electricity, but there are ways to boost these appliance’s efficiencies. In comparison to upright freezers, chest freezers are between 10 to 25 percent more efficient. Also, if you have an Energy Star refrigerator, you’re saving at least 10 percent of your electricity. But if you have an old freezer and refrigerator that is working fine, following the tips below to make it more efficient from an energy standpoint.

Over time the seals around the doors of your refrigerator and freezer will deteriorate. If they no longer work effectively, the cold air is seeping right out of your appliance. Depending on the price to replace the seals, you might have to weigh buying new appliances and purchasing new seals. You can check the seals by seeing if they firmly hold a dollar bill. Or you can turn a flashlight on and place it inside the appliance; if you can see the light coming through when the door is shut, then you know the seal is broke.

Check the temperature of your appliances with thermometer. The average temperature for a refrigerator is between 36 and 38 degrees Fahrenheit, and for a freezer, it’s between 0 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit. If you set the thermostat for 10 degrees Fahrenheit lower, you can save about 25 percent of your energy usage.

Some other ways to improve the efficiency are to move the appliances to a cooler location, turn off the exterior heater if there isn’t any condensation and defrost regularly if you live in humid climates. Also, did you know that a full freezer is more efficient than an empty one? So stock up on food or fill containers with water and freeze them. The frozen containers of water might seem pointless, but they fill up your freezer, and if you have a power outage, they will help keep the food frozen.

Buying new, more energy efficient appliances might be the ideal situation. However, a new refrigerator and freezer are expensive. First, try to increase your current appliance’s lifespan by boosting their efficiency then assess whether buying new is the best option.