How To Repair A Torn Refrigerator Door Seal (Do This!)

Your fridge is only as good as its ability to keep your food cool, and that means you need to make sure that your machine can keep cold air inside. The key to keeping your fridge’s cold air inside, of course, is the door seal. The door seal is that nice little rubbery layer that “clicks” the door closed. It’s great, until it’s torn. Then, what do you do?

To repair a torn seal, you have two main options. You can either replace the door seal or you can remove the seal, create a patch using wax paper and silicone sealant, and then place the seal back on the door. Either way, it will involve turning off your refrigerator.

A broken refrigerator door seal can easily pose a serious threat to your food safety, not to mention your energy bills. Unless you want to toss out your food, you’ll work on fixing it ASAP. Thankfully, this is a quick fix.

Truth be told, there’s no reason why you should repair your door seal if you can find an identical seal for your model. A new seal will be less likely to crack and chip, and also will not have to be repaired as quickly later on. You can usually find fridge parts online, as long as you search by the fridge make and model.

If you cannot find a seal for your model, then repairing the seal makes more sense. This is usually the case with older fridge models, as well as refrigerators that are “third party.” Please note that refrigerator door seals that have cracks in them need to be replaced. The cracks mean that the seal is too dry to function.

Now that you fixed your door, you probably are wondering what happened that caused the tear in the first place.

Most of the time, the tears and warps that you see in refrigerator doors occur as a result of the door seal drying out. Much like many other rubbery items, door seals can dry out. Since door seals need to be flexible, the dryness starts to cause problems. Your door may end up cracking, causing holes in the seal.

If your door seal warped, it’s because the door is drying unevenly as a result of the heat differences the door can experience. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of the uneven heating of the door making one part expand and another part of your seal shrink. Fixing it is easy, as long as there is still some pliability left in the door.

Related Questions

Do I have to replace the refrigerator door if the seal is broken?

In most cases, a refrigerator door that has a broken, cracked, or warped seal does not warrant a full door replacement. Most refrigerator models are designed to give people a way to remove the refrigerator door seal and replace it without replacing the door.Unless you have a unique “smart refrigerator” design that doesn’t allow for seal replacement, there’s no need to replace your fridge door. Simply replacing the door seal alone will usually suffice.

What glue do professionals use to fix refrigerator door seals?

If you need to glue a door seal into place, then you can use anything that could work with rubber. However, many professionals prefer to use cyanoacrylate super glue in order to patch things up in refrigerators.People who want to get a door seal fixed or patched up should use a silicone sealant to fill in tears. With that said, the best time to use glue is to glue down a door seal that won’t stick to the track. If you can’t find professional-grade glue, you can usually use Gorilla glue with fairly excellent results.

Is black mold in the fridge dangerous?

Any time that your food could be potentially exposed to mold is a time to be concerned. This is especially true if you have black mold, which is linked to severe allergic reactions in people. If you notice black mold in the fridge, you need to address it immediately. This is a safety matter.Black mold can be killed by wiping down the area with white distilled vinegar. If the mold is pervasive, let the vinegar sit for at least five to 10 minutes before wiping it away. You can also use bleach if other forms of mold are visible.