freezer 3

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A beautiful sub-zero sunny day.

A perfect day to stack all the frozen food outside while I defrost my freezer.

I'll save a bit of energy and reduce future ice buildup by checking the seal and door hinge adjustment. Easy to do.

Also a good time to inventory what I have on hand and check expiry dates/condition. And clean up a bit of raspberry juice.

The ice build up is all on one end of the freezer. I can see a finger of ice reaching up to where the moist room air has been entering the freezer.

Likely the hinge on the left side of the freezer is a bit too high.

[click any pic to enlarge]

The two hinges hide under plastic covers that snap off if pried gently.

Mine has four Philips head screws holding each hinge.

With the door/cover in the down position, I carefully loosen all eight screws about 1 turn counter clockwise. Because the screws are in slots, the cover is free to move up and down slightly. I could lift the cover off completely if I wanted to.

Instead, I lift each corner slightly and press down slightly to ensure that the cover is sitting evenly all the way around.

The hinges hold the cover securely but should not hold it UP or DOWN from its normal level seated closed position.

Now that I have it in that position, I carefully tighten all the screws alternating between the hinges - one screw on one hinge, the same screw on the other hinge, then the next screw on the first hinge etc.

The final step is to check all around the cover with a piece of paper to ensure that the paper is gripped firmly when the cover is closed.

I did this paper seal test before hinge adjustment and it was apparent to me that the paper was not held well on the left end of the cover. It is now.

Another sign of good freezer health is the vacuum that results when the door is freshly closed. When I open and close the cover now it snaps shut and holds tight. The warm room air trapped in the freezer cools and shrinks. Difficult to open for a few minutes! It did not do that before, at least not like it does now! All good.

While empty, I carefully cleaned and disinfected the seal and door. Some slight mold spots were removed.

The freezer is chilling and will be refilled with sorted frozen food in a couple of hours, kept frozen outside.

I will try to "read" the frost buildup over the next few months to see if I have reduced the seal leak.

Thanks for your interest

George Plhak
Lions Head Ontario Canada

Update June 6, 2020

Ice buildup has started around the left hinge but does not seem to be very severe.

At the right side, there is almost no ice.









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