Author Topic: Leaning Fridge Door  (Read 1874 times)

zygote

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Leaning Fridge Door
« on: April 25, 2019, 08:52:43 AM »
Over time, our fridge door has slowly started dropping down on the side that opens, leaving a small gap (see picture). It still works fine and the food stays cool, so I’ve ignored it. But our electric bill is quite high for a small apartment ($100 in the winter, $400 in the summer), and I suspect the fridge is a lot of that. I’d like to take care of it to see if it helps.

I tried to take the doors off the hinges as per this YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_fJSxFdw34), but I couldn’t get the fridge door disconnected. The middle hinge (also pictured) was an issue. The main pin going into the door is permanently attached to the hinge itself, and I can’t get a ratchet in to unscrew the screw on the right to take the whole hinge off. The fridge is old and the screws are hard to work with in general. I tried hitting the bottom hinge to adjust it with the fridge door still attached, but I’m either too weak or the door was too in the way. It did nothing.

I don’t want to go crazy since we rent and it’s not our fridge.* Don’t want to break it. Now I’m thinking about going to the hardware store and finding something to put on top of the gasket to cover up the gap. Not ideal, but might be better than nothing.

Is this a crazy idea? Any tips on what I should use to cover the gap most effectively to get a good seal? Any other ideas for how to realign the door? Our fridge is this one, if it helps: https://products.geappliances.com/appliance/gea-specs/HTR16ABSRWW

*I’m aware this should really be my landlord’s problem, but my super and landlord are totally useless unless it’s an emergency. If I actually want it fixed I need to do it myself.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2019, 08:55:38 AM by zygote »

Papa bear

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2019, 01:41:28 PM »
Is the fridge level? How much weight do you have on the door?  Make sure those 2 things are taken care of too.


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zygote

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2019, 09:26:01 PM »
Hmmm, that’s interesting. I just checked and the door is level but the fridge itself tilts 1 degree to the right. It definitely explains why the door wanted to tilt back down to the left to level itself. I doubt leveling the fridge would totally fix the problem, but it can’t hurt. Now I have to figure out how to level the fridge...

As for weight in the door, guilty. I don’t really know what to do about that because the fridge is small and it’s hard to fit everything as it is.

middo

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2019, 10:01:33 PM »
I understand it is not your fridge, but have you considered getting a newer one yourself and turning this one off or returning it to the owner of the apartment.  Newer fridges tend to be much more efficient than older ones, as well having thinner walls, so more inside for the same outside.  It would probably pay for itself over a few months, if you get a <5 year old one second hand.

However, given the issues you have shown, I would be looking at sealing the gap if the door cannot be loosened properly.  I don't know what is available, but anything that would add a few millimetres to the top of the seal would help a lot.

Papa bear

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2019, 10:35:10 PM »
Hmmm, that’s interesting. I just checked and the door is level but the fridge itself tilts 1 degree to the right. It definitely explains why the door wanted to tilt back down to the left to level itself. I doubt leveling the fridge would totally fix the problem, but it can’t hurt. Now I have to figure out how to level the fridge...

As for weight in the door, guilty. I don’t really know what to do about that because the fridge is small and it’s hard to fit everything as it is.
The fridge usually has leveler “feet” that you can adjust by turning.  Or just buy a pack of shims and stick them under until level. That should make a difference.

As for the weight - put light stuff on the door, like lettuce, half bottles of things and put the heavy stuff on shelves. 


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APowers

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2019, 06:34:29 AM »
Looks like a regular box/open end wrench will get in there to loosen those screws just fine. It also looks like you don't need to remove them to get the hinge piece off, as long as they're loose, the hinge piece looks like it should slide over and out.

Although.....once you have the freezer door off....why can't you get a socket/nut driver on them to take them out?

zygote

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2019, 08:31:17 AM »
@APowers The way the hinge is shaped, it blocks the screw on the right. There's not much space at all to get anything in. It's hard to see in the picture because the freezer door is blocking it. But I can try a side on approach with an open end wrench. I didn't think to borrow one from work when I tried the other night. (I have basically no tools beyond a hammer and a normal screwdriver. I borrowed the ratchet set from work too.)

@Papa bear You're right. Based on the manual, there should be leveling legs. I also have some leftover shims from when I needed to level a bookcase recently if necessary.

I'll give it another shot this weekend. Maybe if I level it first, try to adjust the hinges again with more tools, and rearrange the fridge with the weight of the door in mind, I can get it fixed. If not, I'll try to seal the gap somehow. Fingers crossed it works.

If none of that helps our energy bill, I might consider a new fridge as @middo suggested for the long-term energy savings. But that would be a last resort, and I'd probably at least run it by my super/landlord to see if they'd do anything.

At any rate, thanks so much for all your suggestions! I was pretty stuck the other night and now I have some more things to try.

Just Joe

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2019, 12:49:36 PM »
That bottom hinge looks loose - tighten the bolts.

If you need tools, buy a cheap set from Harbor Freight. And HF passes out 25% off coupons regularly.

Dave1442397

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2019, 03:07:25 PM »
If leveling doesn't help, how about a strip of magnetic tape to cover the gap? The door will probably seal to it pretty well.

https://www.amazon.com/XFasten-Flexible-Magnetic-1-Inch-10-Foot/dp/B01HR3J3CI

APowers

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2019, 07:43:41 PM »
@APowers The way the hinge is shaped, it blocks the screw on the right. There's not much space at all to get anything in. It's hard to see in the picture because the freezer door is blocking it. But I can try a side on approach with an open end wrench. I didn't think to borrow one from work when I tried the other night. (I have basically no tools beyond a hammer and a normal screwdriver. I borrowed the ratchet set from work too.)

Sounds like you need to pick up a basic toolset from Harbor Freight. Having a small toolbag handy makes these random fixit projects inordinately less inconvenient.

zygote

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2019, 09:45:27 AM »
Update: I started off by leveling the fridge. Turns out our floor is not very level, so I had to turn the leveler foot all the way up and also use a shim. Then I got the door off and adjusted the very bottom hinge as much as I could. Finally, I took all the glass bottles of hot sauce out of the door and put them in a box on a shelf. Verdict is that it helped, but there is still a gap. It's smaller, though.

I'm going to try out the magnetic tape idea (thanks @Dave1442397 !) or perhaps a strip of insulating foam for window air conditioners. I'll see what the electric bill looks like after a month or two of that and go from there.

zygote

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Re: Leaning Fridge Door
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2019, 07:45:43 AM »
Joke's on me for spending all this effort, because this fridge died sometime Monday night. Power still worked, but it wouldn't cool. Turning down the temperature just resulted in hot air. I also tried cleaning the dust behind the fridge, unplugging/replugging, etc. We started to get water on the floor from the freezer defrost (minor - there had been no obvious ice build up). Luckily we just came back from a trip so it was relatively empty.

As further proof that my landlord is useless, we still don't have the replacement fridge they said they would deliver yesterday. Miraculously, the old fridge randomly turned back on sometime yesterday so we might be able to save some of the less perishable food. We haven't told the landlord the fridge started working again because we still want the new one. This has happened before for shorter periods of time, and we keep enough food in the fridge we need to be able to trust that it will work reliably. Fixing a fridge compressor is beyond my DIY paygrade.

To follow up on the original reason for this thread, I ended up using the foam strip normally sold to insulate window AC units to block the crack. It seemed to work pretty well.  I don't know the impact on our energy usage because the energy company hasn't read the meter since then. We've just gotten estimated bills. I also tried the magnetic tape, but it was too thick and I couldn't get the rest of the gasket to stay flush.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!