[NancyHarvey]

The freezer door won't stay closed. The freezer is beneath the fridge and every time anyone closes the fridge door, the freezer door pops open. I've cleaned around the edge of the gasket - to no avail. Is it a magnet that holds it closed? Or some kind of vacuum seal? Do I need to replace the gasket? YIKES. How?

[Gene]

Hi Nancy,

Check the door frame. It should be clean, without paint bubbles and rust.

Check the door gasket for any damages.

Check the bottom door hinge for any worn parts.

For more accurate advise I need the complete model number of the fridge.

Gene.

[richappy]

If the old gasket will not firmly grip a dollar bill, replace the gasket. If the gasket is not firm all the way around, you may have to pull the door off, loosen the screws, and re-align.

[Matt S]

The door does not need to be removed to be realigned. Realignment is accomplished by accessing the screws behind the door gasket (fold gasket back).

Odds are you do not need a new gasket. In fact, the new gasket will take a while to take on the shape of the refrigerator housing and will, therefore, not seal as well at the beginning.

Gene made mention of the lower door hinge. That is a good place to start looking for the problem. If that hinge is bad, the door will sag and hit the bottom of the frame (plastic liner on the bottom of the freezer). Look for scuffs on the plastic where the bottom of the door closes. If the door is hitting the plastic liner of the freezer at the bottom, that is your problem and would normally indicate a bad hinge. Not to muddy the waters, but, I have even seen refrigerators with cabinets that are tweaked (misaligned from one corner of cabinet to the other corner) from not sitting evenly on the floor for years. This will make the freezer door hit the bottom of the freezer. This is rare, though.

One more thing is to check the gasket at the hinge side. Make sure the gasket is closing well and not bunching in that area. That will give you this symptom as well.

Last thing to check is if there is anything hitting the door on the inside. This is very easy to overlook and very common.

As you can tell, there are alot of possibilities here.

Matt