Help With My Fermenting Fridge

[Fents]

Crew,

Just brought a new Fridge for fermenting off ebay. its a 300L all fridge so no freezer.

I wanted to fit my 60L fermenter in it so i replaced the inner door trim. Brought a new seal and some sheet metal to replace the door trim. Spent a few hours yesterday taking the original door trim off, layed it flat on the piece of sheet metal and traced and cut it with tin snips, marked out all the holes and screwed it all back on with the new seal in place. Must say it looks great too..

BUT, when i close the door it wont seal properly...the bottom and the top look like there sealing but theres massive gaps down the sides, when i saymassive i mean i can see through them and put my finger through.

Now i didnt take off the fridge door to fit the new inner trim, just cut it to size clamped it on and drilled it all up so im pretty sure theres no spacers missing as i didnt take the door off.

The old piece of plastic trim is roughly the same thickness as my piece of sheet metal if anything the sheet metals a tad thicker so it should seal really well.

Only thing i can think off is the door has buckled when i was screwing on the sheet metal.

any ideas?

 

[mika]

Only thing i can think off is the door has buckled when i was screwing on the sheet metal.

 

[Gavo]

Show us some photo's?

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[ian ulrick]

Run a straight edge (spirit level) along the door skin and check to see if it has buckled. It may have been an idea to take the door off and worked on a flat surface. some of these fridges are made of light material. Mine is solid as a tank. Pictures may help others to put you on the right track.

Cheers Baldrick.

 

[muckey]

Only thing i can think off is the door has buckled when i was screwing on the sheet metal.

That's the only thing I can think of. If it is the case, if you loosen the screws around the door it should straighten and seak then you can tighten them carefully to get it to seal properly

hope that helps

 

[Gavo]

Just having another thought. If the fridge door was cold and the sheet metal was warm/hot when putting it on the temp difference may cause the sheet metal to shrink when it cooled and caused the door to buckle.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[Fents]

at least we all agree somethings buckled. put a spirit level on the door and it was quite straight although i dont have the best level. took the door off and theres a plastic bottom hinge on the bottom with a big screw through it that holds the door on and it looks pretty grimey and old and cracked, its also been partly glued/silconed on. think i'll turf that and try and make up a new bracket, this fridge is pretty old i dont imagine you could get spares for it.

its bullshit cause i went through two years looking for the perfect fridge and this was the one, took me ages and now its gonna take longer all i want to do is be able to ferment at <22c! [/rant]

i woulda taken photos straight away but i dont have the cable its at work, i'll put some up tomoz.

 

[reVoxAHB]

Hey fents,

I've had the same thing happen nearly every time when doing fridges (I've done 4 now). I've never purchased new trim tho.

First off, with the trim, is there a correct side up? Sounds funny to ask, but I remember accidentally reversing trim at re installation with new panel and the ******* sealed like what you are describing (but again fwiw, I was using a used trim that was obviously worn in 1 way.)

As you try to close the door now, do so carefully with attention to the side trim closest to the door hinge and make sure it's sliding flat or closing flat against the face of the fridge. You might find it's kinda catching on one side and rolling, forcing the door out so it's not sealing. If this is the case, use like a butter knife or anything flat to work the seal so it does close flat and snug, check seals all around. If OK (and likely with you pressing in on the door), chuck something heavy in front of it and leave it overnight- check tomorrow and it will hopefully open and close as intended with proper seal. It sort of works the wonky area into place. New trim may need a lot of this!

I did one fridge where I couldn't really see anything wrong.. no red flag why it might not be sealing and my dicking with the screws, stretching, etc. wasn't helping.. so I completely removed the trim and door insert and started over from scratch very carefully redoing each screw making sure everything was just right and viola sealed correctly at reinstall. As we've got a hot day in Melbs, it might help to chuck your new trim in the sun for 5 mins or so to let it expand, then onto your new door panel and again into fridge.

And I did the same thing you did where I custom built a bottom plastic hinge thing.. I also needed mine to lift the door about 1cm via the hinge (which was totally eroded). Anyway, can't remember what I did and fridge is now gone, but found something in the toolbox (metal plug of some sort?) and wooden splints and came up with something eventually.

Used fridges are always a bit fiddly but if you keep dicking with it, you'll get the seal you're after.

reVox

 

[reVoxAHB]

mine, done:

 

[Fents]

Hey fents,

I've had the same thing happen nearly every time when doing fridges (I've done 4 now). I've never purchased new trim tho.

First off, with the trim, is there a correct side up? Sounds funny to ask, but I remember accidentally reversing trim at re installation with new panel and the ******* sealed like what you are describing (but again fwiw, I was using a used trim that was obviously worn in 1 way.)

Hi revox i guess there is a correct side up with the original trim cause if there wasnt the shelves would all be upside down. i guess it dosnt matter if my flat panel piece of sheet metal is right way up i dont think it would make a difference...maybe i have the new seal upside down?

As you try to close the door now, do so carefully with attention to the side trim closest to the door hinge and make sure it's sliding flat or closing flat against the face of the fridge. You might find it's kinda catching on one side and rolling, forcing the door out so it's not sealing. If this is the case, use like a butter knife or anything flat to work the seal so it does close flat and snug, check seals all around. If OK (and likely with you pressing in on the door), chuck something heavy in front of it and leave it overnight- check tomorrow and it will hopefully open and close as intended with proper seal. It sort of works the wonky area into place. New trim may need a lot of this!

yea its like the seal is kinda pushed in and not sprung out all the way in some places...i'll get a butter knife.

I did one fridge where I couldn't really see anything wrong.. no red flag why it might not be sealing and my dicking with the screws, stretching, etc. wasn't helping.. so I completely removed the trim and door insert and started over from scratch very carefully redoing each screw making sure everything was just right and viola sealed correctly at reinstall. As we've got a hot day in Melbs, it might help to chuck your new trim in the sun for 5 mins or so to let it expand, then onto your new door panel and again into fridge.

yea think thats the next step

And I did the same thing you did where I custom built a bottom plastic hinge thing.. I also needed mine to lift the door about 1cm via the hinge (which was totally eroded). Anyway, can't remember what I did and fridge is now gone, but found something in the toolbox (metal plug of some sort?) and wooden splints and came up with something eventually.

Used fridges are always a bit fiddly but if you keep dicking with it, you'll get the seal you're after.

reVox

cheers mate, really apprciated, if it does my head in too much i might pm you and persaued you over.

 

[raven19]

Sounds odd that a frdige door would buckle significantly, given the sheet metal wraps around the edges of the door, and these edges are at least 30 - 40mm thick. I wouldve though there is a fair bit of structural integrity, and bending strength as such.

Keen to hear if you can solve this issue. Fermenting at a constant low temp is something I need to start doing! But..... I need a 3rd fridge and a shed!