Refrigerator door suction

I guess that I should add a little more info.

The freezer is 0 degrees. The freezer door makes that suction "thump" sound when it closes and reqiures a little tug to open it.. The cooler door does not. The cooler used to be around 36 degrees but it is up to around 40 now. The door seals all look great. In the center of the cooler's "ceiling" is a little 2" by 3" vent. There is some ice blocking a couple of the vents. Normal, significant? No interior condensate to speak of. It is a frost-free refrigerator- Amana ART2527AW

bject is a bit lame as it certainly supports the notion

Check the door weather stripping One way is use a dollar bill, close the door on it, if it moves the weather stripp is bad, check the whole area.

there is no 'suction' so to speak. There is , however, a magnet in the doorseal. You may need to replace the doorseal assembly.

your defrost heater may have gone kaput. You should not see ice in a frost free. It should heat and get rid of it about every 18-24hours. The 'suction' you observe in the freezer is normal. It's from the warm air you just let in contracting. you won't see that as much in the 'frige portion. I'd still check those door seal magnets.

Check the door weather stripping One way is use a dollar bill, close the door on it, if it moves the weather stripp is bad, check the whole area.

I did that before and it failed, but I figured that that was because there is no "suction" in the cooler so the door seal is not "pulled in". The freezer does pull in its door with a vacuum of sorts. The cooler used to. It may not matter but the seal looks brand new. Thanks.

Normally there is no ice in the air passages of a frost free unit. This can be caused by failure of the defrost heater, or by failure of the timer that controls the defroster heater. HTH, EJ in NJ

Your fridge doesn't suck.

When you open the door, room temperature air enters the box. When you close the door, the fresh air cools and contracts generating negative pressure compared to the room.

That is, of course, if your door seals are working properly.

There is no suction. The seals are magnetized. Replace the seal.

The door swings shut because the refrigerator leans back a little. That's gravity, not suction. The thump you hear is a combination of the magnetized seal and the entire seal contacting the door simultaneously.

is there an echo in here?

You are right that the door is inclined and the magnetic strip holds it closed, however (IMO) Hey Bub is also right in that cooling fresh batch of warm are tends to lower the pressure in the interior of the box. I once had a freezer that you could barely open just after it closed due to this effect. After a while (about twenty minutes) the pressure settled out and the door opened normally.

EJ in NJ

the smaller ones are the worst. The little one on top the 'frige in our RV, just about CANNOT be opened immediately after closing it.

Only if it's adjusted right, I think. Don't they normally or often come so that the box is level?

It took me a long time to get the doors to shut when less than 90 degrees open, but not to open wider when 90 to 100 degrees open.

If the fan has stopped, it is easily replaced. You will have to take out some plastic lining the freezer where the fan it to get to it. The fan moves air between the two compartments, thus the warmer fridge while the freezer is still cold. I don't know how that affect door suction though as it is not a very powerful fan.

I think the defrost timer has failed and that is why you see ice build- up and a warmer temperature. You should be able to find the timer in the kickplate area under the freezer. Find the connections to the defroster and put a voltmeter avross them. Then look every half-hour or more frequently to see if there is ever any voltage applied to the defroster.

Bob Hofmann

Yes they do suck. I'm in the mid east, not sure where the fridge was made, NOT US made, or China, but when close the door, you can hear a motor start, runs for a few seconds, then shuts off. A partial vacuum is generated.

My top freezer model also sucks closed on the lower refrigerator section, I would guess ice or a bad door seal would be a few causes.

Why? What possible reason could a manufacturer have for such a bizarre process?

Evacuate the cold air? Suck in, through inevitable leaks, some warm, outside air?

I know! Vacuum-pack the vittles!

Or maybe your fridge is made by al Qaeda where everything must be the reverse of western norms?

Meh!

Hi, Failed? Then deal with this first and check the proper operation of defrost timer.

news: snipped-for-privacy@i28g2000prd.googlegroups.com...=

... Failed the dollar bill test. Maybe I should have used a fin??

Thanks to all for their input.

First I am going to be sure that the door is aligned properly.

Then I am going to open up the panel between the freezer and cooler and = see what is happening with the ice and see if there is a fan in there. = There also seems to be some ice around that cover plate, too. Might be = more than one issue here.