Servicing a Refrigerator Door

If you find that your refrigerator's compressor is constantly running -- wasting energy and cutting down the life of your appliance -- it could be due to problems with the door. Ideally, the climate inside a refrigerator would never be broken, and the unit could maintain a steady temperature all the time. Of course, we have to open our refrigerators many times a day. Here are some tips to keep your doors working properly and to keep the warm air away from your food.

Servicing the Door Gasket

When a refrigerator gasket (usually a rubber seal around the door) becomes hard or cracked, its seal is broken, and the unit's efficiency drops sharply. Test the door gasket for leaks by placing a dollar bill between the gasket and the door jamb and closing the door. Pull the bill out. If it offers some resistance, chances are the gasket fits properly. If the bill comes right out, or falls out, the gasket is faulty and should be replaced. Test the gasket at several locations around the door. Before you replace the gasket, check the door hinges for leakage.

To replace a gasket:

Step 1: Buy a gasket made specifically for the model refrigerator you own. So-called fit-all gaskets may fit after a fashion, but tailoring them to the door's configuration can be a tough job. If you aren't sure about the model number of your refrigerator, cut out a small section of the gasket and take the sample to an appliance dealer for matching. If the gasket has to be ordered, you can glue the section back into the gap with rubber cement for a make-do repair until the new gasket comes in.

Step 2: Let the new gasket sit about 24 hours in the room with the refrigerator to bring it to the correct temperature and humidity, or soak the gasket in warm water to make it pliable.

Step 3: Begin removing the old gasket. Door gaskets are held by screws, clips, or adhesives, and the gasket may have a retaining strip, which helps shape it and provides a fastening tab or guide. On some units, the gasket may be held in place by the edge of the door panel; the panel is fastened with spring-steel pressure clips, bolts, or screws. To remove the gasket, remove the fasteners that hold it and remove any retaining strips; or remove the fasteners that hold the door panel.

Step 4: Finish removing the fasteners on one side of the door at a time. Do not remove the entire door panel. If the gasket is held by spring clips, be careful not to pry too hard on the clips; they're under tension and could spring out of their mountings. If the gasket is held by adhesive, pry it off with a putty knife.

Step 5: When the old gasket is off, clean the mounting area thoroughly with mild household detergent and water. Remove stubborn adhesive with mineral spirits and fine steel wool, followed by a detergent/water rinse.

Step 6: Start the replacement at one side of the top of the door. Work down the sides to replace the entire gasket. Smooth the gasket evenly into place, easing it around corners. Use gasket cement to secure it if the manufacturer specifies this step. Make sure the gasket lies flat, with no lumps or curled edges.

Step 7: Replace the fasteners, retaining strips, or panel that held the old gasket. After the gasket is in place, tighten or loosen the mounting bolts necessary to adjust the gasket to the door jamb. If the gasket is glued in place, there isn't much you can do but wait for the gasket to conform to the door jamb.

Test the gasket on a freezer door with the same dollar-bill procedure; if the gasket is faulty, replace it with a new gasket made especially for the freezer. Do not remove the freezer door to replace the gasket. Freezer doors are often tensioned with spring devices, which can be very troublesome to replace after the door has been removed, and on some models wiring has to be disassembled as well.

Servicing Door Hinges

A worn or broken door gasket may not be the cause of door leaks. Misaligned and loose door hinges can cause the door to rock or sag slightly, making even a well-fitted gasket ineffective.

Step 1: If the door won't shut tightly, tip the refrigerator slightly backward by propping up the front of the unit or unscrewing the front leveling legs two complete turns. Experiment with this adjustment until the door stays closed, but don't tip the unit very far out of front-to-back level.

Step 2: If leveling doesn't work, tighten the hinge screws. You may have to open the door (especially the freezer door) to turn these screws. On some units, you may have to remove a hinge cap or trim to reach the screws; pry off the cap or trim with a screwdriver. Sagging and looseness can be corrected by shimming the door hinges. Loosen the hinge and place a hinge-shaped cardboard shim between the hinge and the door. Then tighten the hinge again. Sagging may also be caused by a wrongly placed shim. In this case, you can correct the problem by removing the shim. Experiment with the shims; you may be able to eliminate the sagging.

Step 3: If the door is warped, tighten the screws that hold the inner door shell to the outer door shell. You may have to change or adjust the door gasket after making this adjustment.

Step 4: Check the catch. Newer units have a magnetic catch on the door. If the door doesn't latch properly, remove the magnetic strike from the inner door shell and shim it slightly with a piece of thin cardboard. You may have to adjust the gasket to conform with the new shim.

Servicing the Door Switch

On the refrigerator door jamb, locate a small push-button switch. This component operates the light inside the refrigerator. If the switch is malfunctioning, the light in the unit may stay on, and the heat from the lightbulb can cause cooling trouble in the box.

Step 1: Check the bulb to see if it is burned out. If not, depress the push button on the door switch.

Step 2: If the light stays on, clean the switch with a cloth. Then remove the switch from the jamb. Remove retaining screws hidden by a plastic trim piece, pry the switch out of the jamb with a screwdriver, or pry off the jamb trim to expose the switch. Then test the switch with a VOM set to the RX1 scale (instructions for using the VOM are given on page 19).

Step 3: Clip one probe of the VOM to each terminal of the switch and press the push button. The meter should read zero. If the needle on the scale moves above zero, replace the switch with a new one of the same type.

Step 4: Connect the new switch the same way the old one was connected.

Now that we have thoroughly exhausted door repair, there's nothing left to do except move inside and learn about the internal components of a refrigerator. In the next section, you will learn everything from how to repair a leak to how to service your ice maker.