1) NEEDS TO BE EMPTIED:   

A) Refrigerators are heavy enough even while empty

B) Messy things happen when full refrigerators are tilted during moving.  Items will melt and leak out.  One time, workers moved a refrigerator with Vanilla Ice Cream inside.  By the time, the refrigerator was being unloaded, the ice cream was melting.  The customer likes the smell of Vanilla Ice Cream, but not on her new rug.

C) If the truck breaks down and is idle for hours or days, then the items in the refrigerator will melt and leak throughout the truck—potentially contaminating the whole load.

EMPTY THE REFRIGERATOR

2)  The Water Line:  if the Refrigerator has an ice-maker, then it has a water line attached to it at the bottom of the refrigerator back.  The water line needs to be turned off.  If the house is relatively new, then you will probably be lucky and the turnoff valve may be right there at the wall.  If the house is older, then it could be Hunt and Seek for the turnoff valve—often down below the house hopefully in a basement, or worse—in a crawl space.  Follow the water line from the refrigerator and see where it goes.  It may just go under the sink, but it will probably go through the floor to whatever is below.  If it is a crawl space, then you may need a flashlight, your dirty clothes, and the will to climb through the dark and muck.  When you find the T-valve, turn it so it is crosswise to the water line.  This should turn it off, but IMPORTANT: also tighten the bolt immediately above!  Many have failed to do this and even with the T-valve turned—water has dripped into the house, and those drips add up!

For more technical information about refrigerators,  see the link under “Vendors’ in the column to the right to “The Fridge Doctor.”