I have a twenty year old 17.5 c' whirlpool refrigerator. The door gasket was getting torn. So, i went down to my local appliance parts house and got a door gasket for it. Was a big pain in the ass to put on. Now, the door does not want to close and seal like it used to.
I can tell the magnetic pull of the new gasket is not as strong as the old one. I compared the new one to the freezer door which is original. Is there a problem with these aftermarket door gaskets (FSP)? Has anyone done this kind of repair and had a problem?
The amount of pull is not important as long as you are getting a good seal. Put a piece of paper in the area that closes and pull it out. As long as you are getting some resistance it is giving a good seal.
BTW, it is nice to keep old appliances running instead of scrapping them, but it is probably costing you about $15 a month more in electricity compared to a new one. Be sure to consider that if you need an expensive repair. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net
It's possible the gasket is binding a little on the hinge side. Try spraying some wax like Pledge on the gasket and the box edge to allow the gasket to slip into place easier.
When you put a new door gasket on it. You probley have a different thickiness from the old one and you will have to adjust the door hinges to account for the thicker or thinner door gasket. This is common on refrigerators and freezers with new door gaskets. Now if you just keep using the door a good bit. In about a year or two you will mash the new gasket into the space set by the door to the point of it fitting in the old door gasket space. You can speed this process up by adjusting the door hinges to make it close correctly now.
Some gaskets have magnets on 4 sides and some are only on 3 sides.....is your gasket a 3 or 4 magnet one as it is important to have the non-magnet side on the hinge side.
FSP is Factory Specifies Parts....that is an Whilpool/Inglis brand name.
There is always some kinda problem....gasket is folded in the box, the door twists when you undo the screws, etc.....some gasket changing tips....
How is it not sealing? Uniformly across it's whole width or length or just at one or more of the corners?
How did you install it, take the whole door off the fridge or with the door still in place?
The magnet doesn't need to be very strong to hold the door closed but the door needs to be plumb and the gasket not binding (especially on the hinge side). Some door seals also only have magnets on 3 sides. It is important that the side *without* be installed on the hinge side of the door.
Replacement gaskets can also get deformed from being boxed. Did you heat it at all (like soaking it in a warm to hot bath) before installing it?
Some fridge models have door closers to help keep the doors closed. Sometimes these are just small plastic washer-like cams which may have broken and fallen off or just gotten lost if the door was removed.
FSP stands for "Factory Specification Parts" and is Whirlpool's trademark for OEM (original equipment manufacturer) replacement parts, not "universal" ones. If that's what you purchased, you got the 'real deal'.
On many units the door itself is very flexible when the inner panel is removed. When you reinstall the inner panel you need to leave the screws barely snug and twist the door so the top and bottom close at the same time, then tighten the screws. Lots of good advice in the other posts.
refrigerators and freezers with new door gaskets. Now if
new gasket into the space set by the door to the
adjusting the door hinges to make it close
Interesting theory, but i am not sure how to apply it. On this unit with the freezer on the top, there is a common hinge in the middle for the freezer and the fridge door. The only adjustment possible i can see would be to shim out the whole mount from the main body. And since i did not replace the gasket on the freezer, this may cause it not to seal as well.
This is the first gasket i have done, and i did learn a few things. One: never pull it straight our of the box in its crunched up state and put it straight on. I should have got the gasket out and let it form out to its natural size before installing it.
I have a feeling this gasket is not a 100% duplicate of the original. As many replacement parts are. I got this on at one of my appliance parts houses. Whether a original Whirlpool door gasket would have bee any different is debatable.
And to the guy who said i could save some more money on energy on a newer unit, yes, your probably right. But when i have a good old solid unit i hate to get rid of it.
I helped my 85 year old dad clean out his kenmore window air unit last weekend. It had not been cleaned our in many years. Its probably 30 years old +. (has a mashushita compressor in it). Its beat up, but still cools fine. I wonder if those new china made units would make it 3 years? They look like junk to me. And turtle, there was a big muffler or accumulator on this one.
from the old one and you will have to adjust the door
refrigerators and freezers with new door gaskets. Now if
new gasket into the space set by the door to the
by adjusting the door hinges to make it close
This is Turtle.
It will help to put the door gasket in a tub of hot water before puting it on the door.
Now the middle hing being common to both door. You just have to work with it and you can adjust it out.
Now the compressor having a Muffler on it. If you look ,it is on the suction line, and not on the discharge line. Most all Rotory Compressor will have a Muffler on the Suction line [ not the discharge line ] entering the compressor for some reason. Mufflers on the discharge line is not very common but on the suction line of the rotory compressor it is very common.
Its been on a month. I have tried loosening up the screws and letting the door set and then tightening them again. It just does not seem to help long term.
Now, the old gasket had like two folds in it, where the new gasket seemed to have only one. I am still suspicious that the new FSP gasket is thicker, does not give as much and has a weaker magnet. ANd it does have magnets on all four sides.
I will have to think about the shims. I will have to check to see if the appliance repair parts house has them. I don't have time to fab them while all my food is defrosting....
I missed your original post ('don't pass this way often enough), but gaskets can be shimmed with strips of ordinary, corrugated cardboard, glued in place with silicone caulk. Bad gaps, usually in the corners, will often need a two layer 'stack' of these.
If you're having trouble properly 'warping' the door, loosen the screws so they're just 'snug', and twist the door so the handle side reveal is the same at top & bottom, then *carefully* tighten the screws, the corners first. Some doors are really hard to get to stay in place as you do this, especially those with no metal retainer strips.
Seal wrinkles are caused by shipping seals in those small boxes, and can be really hard to remove. (One of my dreams for the last
32 years has been that manufacturers ship door seals in door-sized boxes, eliminating these wrinkle problems). Putting shims at the worst gaps will allow the magnets to pull the gasket in over time. Takes several weeks in most cases, and you have to keep your eye on them.
One of the tricks I've used on wrinkles for many years is throwing the new seal into the clothes dryer. While stripping off the top half of the original, I tumble the new seal for 4-5 minutes (no longer!) on high heat. Really makes a difference in straightning out the wrinkles. Can also be soaked in hot water in the bathtub, but it's messier.
And - most importantly - don't forget to lube the hinge side of the new seal. Vaseline(tm) works best, and this will add at least ten years of life to the seals. Keeps them from twisting and tearing on that side, the #1 cause of failure. I remember when refrigerators used to have this done at the factory, at least the Frigidaires. They stopped in the mid-70's. I think that's when they realized how may more door seals they could sell by *not* lubing them . More here:
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PS - be thankful your refrig *has* screws holding the seals. New ones don't, and that makes occasional lubrication very important in the long haul.
Hope that's of some help.
God bless,
Dave Harnish Dave's Repair Service New Albany, PA
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