Refrigerator Door Gasket

The pro's esimate was over $500 for this one... It's very helpful to have a power tool screwdriver/nut driver. Loosen up the screws (#8 x 1/2" hex-head screws on mine) which hold the gasket in place. These screws also hold the plastic inner-portion of the refrigerator door in place. On my fridge, the parts of the gasket at the top and bottom closest to the hinge had progressively become deformed, perhaps because the outer part of the plastic was not holding the gasket in place hard enough (in these locations, I improved the clamping action by removing the screw and adding a #10 washer). In many locations, the screws turned out to have been driven in hard enough to strip the metal, so a hardware store run was needed to purchase #10 x 1/2" screws - be warned. Before trying to mount the gasket, I worked it over with a hairdryer on the floor (used an old towel to protect floor), to get out the worst of the kinks, then mounted it on the door, tucking the bead between the inner and outer door all the way around. This can be hard enough that if you do have a power tool nut driver, it may be preferable to completely remove the inner door portion, mount the gasket, then screw it back in place. Once the screws are tightened, use the hairdryer to soften the areas which don't contact properly, working on the gasket with your fingers and/or by repeatedly opening and closing the door, until you have smooth contact all the way around. I did not remove the doors completely, simply stowed the freezer compartment stuff in an ice chest, and used cardboard to close the main refrigerator compartment.

I removed all the food items from the door. I removed the old gasket by loosening up the screws at the top of the door. The rest of the old gasket pulled out easily from the rest of the door. While the gasket was off, I took the time to clean up the door. I startede at the top of the door, loosening up the screws but not removing them. I then replaced each side of the door seperately. I found it helpful to have a flat blade to help poke the gasket into place. Because I was in the kitchen, I used a metal spatula. The corners were the trickiest. Using a hand held hair dryer helped to soften the gasket when it became cold. The freezer and fridge have good seals now and the refrigerator is good as new.

The fridge is in great shape but the seals/gaskets were shot. Between me, the wife and the kids the fridge door seemed like it was in constant motion.

Measue the seals, NOT THE DOOR. I measued from the straightest part of the seal at the edges and came within an quarter of an inch of what was offered here.

You have to take the seal off in stages, if you loosen all of the screws, the door will fall apart. Pick an edge (I started at the top) undo all of the screws and pull the old gasket off.

Then put the new gasket on the top (loosen a couple of screws on the sides if you can't get it to fit) and use a putty knife or a dull butter knife to sit it in place.

Once the top is in, screw the top screws back in and then take out the screws on the next side that you will work on. Go around the rest of the door the same way.

This is not a hard job, but it does have a pain in the rear factor. You have to move quick, especially on the freezer, but once you get the hang of it , it gets easy. But until you get the hang of it, you will be using some four letter words:)

I hope it extends the life of my fridge by another five years, so it is worth the money if the fridge is expensive. It will probably cost $100 or so for 2 seals (in my case a fride and a freezer seal), so if your fridge isn't worth the cost, you would probably be better off replacing the entire fridge.

I hired someone to do this, but after watching him do it, this is an easy job. Amana made a smart refrigerator and it's easy to do your self. I saved a LOT of money buying the parts here and I should have attempted it myself. The trick is heating up the gasket once it was mounted and then when you had a tight seal to the door, tape the door shut and LEAVE it as many hours as you can (minimum of 4, but overnight better).

I removes all food and drink items from the refrigerator and freezer doors. I then removed all of the screws holding the inner panel of the refrigerator door to the door itself. The old gasket could then be removed. I placed the new door gasket in place around the inner panel and reinstalled the inner panel with new gasket onto the refrigerator door. I then removed the inner panel from the freezer door and then removed the old gasket. I placed the new door gasket in place around the inner panel and reinstalled the inner panel with new gasket onto the freezer door. I used a portable drill with a 1/4 inch nut driver to remove and reinstall the many screws that held the inner panel and gasket on the doors.

Soaked the gaskets in bathtub to make them more pliable. They laid flatter and were easier towork with,

I removed all food items from inside fridge/freezer doors.I then noticed how gaskets slip behind outter skin of both doors after removing all screws except a few on the top, inorder to keep from having entire door skin fall to the floor.Using back of spoon helps to properly fit gaskets into place without any rips.Using nut driver really helps with saving time and the "hairdryer" suggestion really helps with having gasket seat firmly around entire unit.Just take your time and pay attention to corners,they may need a little streching.

Refrigerator door was removed and placed on a set of "horses". Fastners were loosened about 3/4 thread length. Old gasket removed. New one installed. It was necessary to use a "hair dryer" to take out shipping kninks.
Used a piece of 1 1/2 inch sheet styrofoam to seal the door
opening during the process so as not requiring emptying the
unit.

The freezer door was a bit more difficult. This one was done in place. The Styrofoam sheet was cut down and fit in this opening as mentioned above. Inner door panel was removed to reveal heavy ice build up inside door. This was allow to melt and removed along with the fiberglass insulation. New fiberglass insulation was installed and the door reassembled.

In general everything went quite smoothly. Fit on both gaskets was really good.

Loosen bolts, remove gasket. Replace gaskets then tighten bolts.
The gaskets new were very out of shape when they were delivered this made it very difficult to put them back on. Even after warming them up with the hair dryer.

Followed the video instruction and it was fairly easy to install. Let the gaskets sit for a day to reshape itself. Started by loosening the screws then removal of the gasket was done. The only hard part was to align the Gasket evenly. Not removing the doors made the install a little more difficult for alignment.