Keeping Your Cool – Replacing Your Fridge Door Seal
The door seal of your refrigerator plays a critical role in keeping your fridge cold by keeping the cold air in and the warm air out. Your fridge door seal (also called a door gasket) is made from rubber with a magnetic strip that keeps it attached to the metal of your fridge door, and over time this will perish.
A worn, damaged or faulty door gasket can stop your fridge door from closing with a perfect seal, which will make your fridge work harder to keep its interior to the set temperature, especially in the freezer compartment, which will cause a build-up of frost. You’ll also notice your electricity bill start to rise as your fridge’s power consumption goes up.
Condensation and mould can also contribute to your fridge door not sealing, so a good inspection of the seal is needed to determine whether it’s damaged, or just needs a really good clean. If your fridge door seal is beyond saving with a good clean, then replacement fridge seals are easily available and installation is a fairly straightforward process.
Considerations: types of fridge door seals
There are three main types of fridge door seals used by popular refrigerator manufacturers:
- Screw-in seal, secured with screws between the inner door liner and the outer door
- Push-in seal, which has a ridge that’s secured in a channel around the outside of the door
- Snap-in seal, fitted behind the inner door liner and held in place by a ridge/lip
A quick inspection of your door will show you which type of fridge door seal you have, and then you can order the correct replacement spare part. In terms of the replacement process, the screw-in type of fridge door seal is a little more time-consuming to remove and replace, but all you’ll need to do is loosen the screws around your fridge’s door liner in order to get the old seal out. The last push-in and snap-in types are simpler to pull out from a corner.
Step by step: the fridge door seal replacement process
- Step 1: Check the model number of your fridge. The model number will be on the manual, or located either on the inside edge of the interior or near it on a manufacturer’s identification plate. Write it down so you make sure you purchase the correct seal.
- Step 2: Purchase the correct fridge door seal to fit your refrigerator model.
- Step 3: Once you have purchased and received the right replacement fridge door seal from WWSpares, you’ll need to give the magnetic strip time to unkink; because of the gasket’s size it will likely have been folded to box and ship. Unfold it and leave it flat for a day, or soak it in a hot bath and dry it with a hairdryer.
- Step 4: Disconnect your fridge from power (if you want to avoid incessant beeping while you work) and then unscrew or pull out the old seal from a corner, depending on the type of fridge door seal you have.
- Step 5: Fit your new fridge door seal. If you have the screw-in style, start by fitting and securing the top of the seal first to the door liner before the bottom. For a push-in or snap-in door seal, start at a corner and secure it in place, following with the remaining three corners.
- Step 6: Turn your fridge back on (if you turned it off), and check the new door gasket seals firmly all the way around. It may take a couple of days for the magnetic seal to completely relax to fit the door correctly. If it’s wavy in parts, then grab the hairdryer again and heat it where it’s not sitting flat.
Get advice from the professionals
Replacing your fridge door seal is a pretty straight-forward process, and we stock most refrigerator manufacturers’ parts and spares. If you aren’t sure what you’re looking for, or need advice, then get in touch with our team. We’re always happy to help.
