issue with seal of mini fridge

[bobeer]

I bought one of those tall mini fridges for $50 off of Craigs list a while back. I was going to use it as a fermentation chamber but my carboy wouldn't fit in it due to the shelving that's built into the door. I decided to take the shelving off and see if that would maybe help the carboy fit but it still didn't fit. So I went to put it all back together and now the seal isn't sealing anymore and I don't know what's wrong with it.

The fridge has many screws that go around the whole door frame, and they're all in there, and the lip of the seal tucks under a part around the door so the holes line up to put the screws in but there's almost like a ripple in the seal when you close the door. There's a small area in several places where the seal isn't touching the frame of the fridge.

Has anyone had this happen when messing with the seal of your fridge? I hope I explained it well enough for you all to get an idea of what's going on. I can take some pics tonight when I get home if it'll help.

I'd like to get this thing working for summer so I can start lagering! I guess I could still turn it on and use it but it would be running all the time due to this issue with the seal... Any suggestions you all may have would be great because I'm all out of ideas with this thing...

 

[wilserbrewer]

My guess would be the seal is installed incorrectly, or you buggered it somewhere in the process. I would try holding the door shut tightly with a couple bunjee cords for a few days to see if it will perhaps deform itself and make an acceptable seal. Or take it apart and try, try again...good luck, if it was stored and kinked it may not perform as intended. Heating with a hairdryer or heat gun may persuade it to lie properly as well depending on how bad it is....

 

[bobeer]

My guess would be the seal is installed incorrectly, or you buggered it somewhere in the process. I would try holding the door shut tightly with a couple bunjee cords for a few days to see if it will perhaps deform itself and make an acceptable seal. Or take it apart and try, try again...good luck, if it was stored and kinked it may not perform as intended. Heating with a hairdryer or heat gun may persuade it to lie properly as well depending on how bad it is....

Thanks. I only had the seal off for all of 30 seconds just to put the carboy into it to see that it didn't fit.

Yea, I"ll just keep trying at it I suppose. The bungee cord idea is a good one. Maybe I'll crank my tie-downs around it and see if that'll "reset" it.

 

[MBN]

The door might need to be aligned. When you put it back on it might have got miss aligned. Just a guess.

 

[bobeer]

The door might need to be aligned. When you put it back on it might have got miss aligned. Just a guess.

I'll look into this too. Not sure when I'll have time to mess with it but I'll report back!

Thanks.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Thought about this a bit, the inner door liner may actually act as reinforcement to hold the door flat and true, if you removed and installed the liner with the door hanging on the hinges, the door may be twisted. I would either remove and reinstall the liner, perhaps with the door on a flat surface....or easier yet just twist and tweak the door with norwegian steam to align it better. ie if the top corner of the fridge isn't sealing, put your foot in the bottom corner and push the door closed to take the twist out of it...guessing a little massaging would help...

 

[tracyk]

Sounds to me like the door just needs to be realigned. Loosen the two screws that are on top for the door hinge and re-adjust until it fits properly or will close and stay closed.