It’s Murphy’s law that if something can go wrong, it will. . . and most often this occurs when you’re already overextended and can’t afford to shell out money on yet another unexpected expense. Most recently in our house, the gasket on our side by side upright freezer suddenly stopped working altogether.
At first, I blamed my spouse, telling him he left the freezer open when he grabbed ice. He insisted he hadn’t even been in the freezer to get ice, he’d gotten something out of the fridge. When I got in the fridge and closed the door, I noticed that the freezer door popped open.
So we started looking closely at the freezer to see if it was no longer level, no longer tilted properly, how the gasket looked. Well, to be honest, it looked like crap. It’s peeling off in the corner, again.
Mind you, in the 10 years we’ve had this junk Kenmore freezer, we’ve replaced quite a few parts in it, including the gasket, twice.
The first two times we paid a repairman to replace it, which entailed making an appointment, waiting over 2 MONTHS for someone to NOT show up, then another 2 weeks for them to reschedule and show. We actually had to purchase a chest freezer in the meantime to put everything in because, in order to replace the gasket on this model, they have to take the door completely off and remove panels.
It was a nightmare and it was expensive, to the tune of over $250 each time, for the service call and parts, so you can imagine my extreme displeasure when the issue started all over again.
This time, I found a much cheaper solution that doesn’t involve calling a repairman, doesn’t involve waiting 2 months for him to show up, doesn’t involve duct-taping my fridge or freezer shut and then scraping the residue off every couple days and reapplying tape just to ensure it stays closed and we don’t lose food, or risk our health.
Nope, this involves 2 minutes of “labor” and less than ten dollars.
Instead, we purchased some dual action multi-use latches, that actually match our fridge/freezer coloring quite well.
DIY Dirt Cheap Broken Fridge-Freezer Gasket Remedy
How to Apply:
- Determine where to install latch before removing adhesive.
- Clean and dry all surfaces before mounting appliance latch.
- Once the location is determined, remove adhesive backing and firmly press latch to surface. Make sure the back plate is level with lock.
- Clean the surface where the latch will be installed. Be sure it is dry.
- Remove the backing, press the product onto the surface.
Here’s why we love them
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- Secures cabinets, drawers, appliances, toilet seats, and more which is great when you have nosy pets or small children.
- Requires dual button operation to release, release and rotate when not in use
- Flexible strap allows latching around corners, we use them in our RV as well.
- Easy to install with provided adhesive – won’t damage furniture and is easy to remove
- The latches are durable, even when used multiple times daily.
