Replace and repair fridge door gaskets yourself

When it comes to your refrigerator, it is an open-and-shut case: Your refrigerator is the case, and your family probably opens and shuts it at least a dozen times a day. All that use is eventually going to weaken the door gaskets. You can fix it yourself in a flash.

• Check both the gasket around the freezer door and the one around the main door.
• Put a 150-watt floodlight on a thin, flat extension cord in the refrigerator or freezer compartment. Check one edge at a time.
• Point the bulb toward the suspect edge with the cord coming out of the opposite edge.
• With the light on, the door shut, and the kitchen lights off, check for light seeping through the edge.
• If any light is leaking out, the gasket is worn and should be replaced.
• Check with your local appliance store to see if they have the right gasket for your particular model in stock; if they don't, they can special-order it.

• There are three ways your gasket might be attached: On older models, screws go through the gasket into a retaining strip.
• You'll have to remove the screws to remove the gasket. On some newer models, the gasket fits around the retaining strip, and you'll only need to loosen the screws to remove the gasket.
• On other new models, the strip has a groove down the centre, and the gasket has a lip that fits in the groove.
• In this case, you don't have to loosen the screws, just pull the old one out and push the new one in.
• The screws that hold the retaining strip in place also secure the inside door panel, keeping the door rigid.
• To prevent warping the door, you don't want to remove or loosen all the screws at once.
• You do want to empty the door compartments before loosening any screws.
• Before installing the gasket, you want to warm it to remove any kinks and get it nice and pliable.
• You can either soak it in hot water or throw in it your clothes dryer on medium heat for 10 minutes.
• To make the replacement, first loosen or remove the retaining strip screws along the top of the door and pull out the top section of the old gasket.
• Slip the top section of the new gasket in place and tighten the screws. Work your way around the door, removing and replacing one side of the gasket at a time.

• If an inspection of the gasket around your refrigerator door reveals just a small crack in a gasket that is otherwise serviceable, you can usually fill the crack with a little silicone caulk.
• Roll the gasket back, and fill the crack with a tiny bit of the caulk — don't use so much that it squeezes out all over the place.