My fridge and freezer have crappy old gaskets and so it seems like the fridge is running almost constantly to keep up with the loss of cool air. I would like to avoid buying a new fridge and I’m not averse to a little DIY, but I can’t find gaskets for the exact model of my fridge online. Do I need to replace it with the exact right one or can I try buying something that looks similar?
It’s an Admiral Signature 2000 similar to this one and the model number on the sticker is HMG238027A, but Google turns up nothing. I can take a picture of the current gaskets if that will help.
Just make sure that the gasket is your problem. I had an old refrigerator that didn’t seal properly but it was because the door was bent. On some models, there isn’t a lot of metal in the door and it is very easy to warp them out of shape.
Since your fridge is running constantly, you probably do need a new gasket, but once you’ve installed it, check that the door is sealing evenly and bend it back into shape as necessary.
However, if you can manage the funding, consider replacing the entire fridge as old refrigerators are notorious energy hogs. A run-of-the mill, nothing special fridge today uses about half the power as a similar fridge that’s 10 years old.
If your fridge is so old that it’s fallen off the parts books, a new one may pay for itself in energy savings in less time than you’d expect. This site has a calculator to estimate the payoff. You will need to know your cost for electricity in cents per kWh, so go find your latest power bill.
I’d love to get a new fridge but money is currently a little tight. If I can really justify it to myself with a savings, I might try harder to find the money, so thanks for the calculator. It looks like savings is really depending on the age of my fridge, though, and I can’t figure that out. The little sticker with the model number doesn’t have a year anywhere on it and the previous owners of the house didn’t leave us a manual.
To answer the OP, I have done it and it is really easy. Handy to have another person around when you are screwing the plates back on, but not essential.
your local utility or a local conservation group or maybe library might have a wattmeter to loan. you can measure your appliance’s electrical consumption. then you can calculate payback on a new unit, could be just 5 years.
utilities may give a credit for retiring old appliances. this credit along with the price of a gasket (maybe $50 to $70 for a freezer i checked, i didn’t look at those cited) are a significant fraction of a new unit. the old units are recycled.
generally you think that repairing something is a conserving thing to do. some appliances that use a lot of electricity and run a lot (refrigerators, freezers, dehumidifiers, air conditioners) might be better replaced because of the energy savings and that the old units are recycled.
Quoted these just to say that they are good points.
Along the lines of energy savings, you can probably justify getting a kill-a-watt meter. You can find the basic model for $20 + shipping. This will let you make an informed choice about any type of appliance and especially those little vampires affectionately known as wall warts (small AC transformers that plug into the wall - for small/portable electronics).
