How to Make Fridge Door Easier to Open

August 1, 2022 0

Introduction

The most important design aspects of a refrigerator are its size, quality, and price. However, there is another aspect in refrigerator design that does not get the same attention. The fridge door has to be easy to open and close. It should not be too heavy, nor should it stick when you try to open or close it. Today I will be discussing how to make fridge door easier to open. The fridge door is one of the most important parts of the refrigerator. It is the part that allows you to access the food inside the fridge. If the door is not easy to open, then you will have a hard time getting the food you need.

Issue With Fridge Doors

With the popularization of fridges in households, it is now quite a problem that opening and closing them can be quite a hassle because of their heavyweight. So, to ensure that there is no struggle while opening and closing the fridge, a good number of manufacturers now offer some kind of a gas spring.

The reason that fridges have two doors is because of the way that they open and close. One side of the fridge door opens and closes easily because it has a rolling mechanism. However, the other side of the fridge door is very difficult to open because it does not have a rolling mechanism. This is because most of the weight of the fridge is focused in the center of the door, making it difficult to open even for an ordinary person.

Lifting weight becomes more prominent when we have less space inside our kitchen countertop near the left side below which these mechanisms are hidden. In addition, for people who do not have the space to lie the fridge at a comfortable angle and want to keep it open, the problem of opening this heavy door also increases. For these reasons, new methods and technologies are being developed for the convenience of customers.

Step-wise Guide on How to Make Fridge Door Easier to Open

See that your fridge door doesn’t shut when you leave it open for a long time.
The door is heavy: this means the springs are too strong. If you can lift 100 pounds, use 70 pounds (32 kg) or 80 pounds (36 kg) springs. They will always stay closed and be easy to open. You won’t have to muscle them open as some do with 150 lb (68 kg) spring force! Do not get cheap Chinese metal spring replacements; they break at 12-30 lbs of load, and those supplied by major manufacturers fail at 35-50 lbs of load.
Pushing hard on the door to open it is one of the most damaging things you can do to your fridge. This is because the pivot supports the weight of the door at each end with delicate nylon rollers. If you push on them, they will wear out or break in short order, and then your fridge may not stay cold enough!

You can adjust the close-force using shims (fender washers) but this only works with some brands. It’s a trick to get just the right amount of force, too much, and you’re back where you started; too little, and it doesn’t work well either.
A better solution would be a replacement plastic hinge set like ours. They give about 45 pounds of force to hold the door closed but are very easy to open. In addition, the springs do not need to be changed as they come with this set!
If you have a side-by-side fridge, it may have a lot of foam on the walls inside the refrigerator compartment, which holds the heavy doors shut while allowing them to swing fully open. If so, remove some of it and reduce friction on both doors equally.

Precautions While Performing How to Make Fridge Door Easier to Open

Before you begin, make sure that the compressor is frozen. Otherwise, your efforts will be counter-productive.
Do not touch any internal components as they can be freezing and might cause burns if touched without protection on your hands; gloves are suggested.
If you have an upright fridge (that doesn’t spill water over the floor), this method may work for you, too!
Some fridges (such as those from Samsung) contain “anti-pinch” features in their doors to prevent injury by cleverly sensing when a finger or hand has been trapped and releasing it automatically — this is good news as it will prevent possible accidents while making your door easier to open (but why would someone leave their finger/hand trapped in a door, to begin with?!). Check your owner’s manual for more information about your refrigerator.
You can try this method at your own risk, but if you feel uncomfortable or have any doubts, don’t bother trying it. There are plenty of reasons why an open fridge door might suddenly close and possibly injure you (such as power failures or “anti-pinch” features), so be careful!
If done incorrectly, the compressor may become even harder to open than before; in that case, unplug the fridge for a few hours until the ice inside melts and then try again (this sometimes happens when too much water gets into the freezer).

Common Issues Regarding Fridges

When you open the door, it hits your hand or the shelf that’s next to it.
You have to pull hard to get the door open.
The door closes slowly by itself, and there is no way to adjust this function.
Sometimes, when you open the fridge door, a small light (the one in front of food shelves) comes on if it’s too dark inside. However, it turns off once you close it back. If your light does not turn on/off properly, try adjusting its switch located just under where the handle attaches to the main body of your fridge (see pic below). If nothing helps, call for service as this might be a hardware issue rather than just something that is wrongly adjusted.
The upper part of the door can be quite warm, even hot to touch sometimes. If this makes you uncomfortable, then adjust the temperature by using the upper dial in front.

Conclusion

There are many variables when it comes to fridges — they have to handle different foods and liquids in different environments, which all require different levels of friction to work properly. We hope this article will help you fix any issues that may arise (and we’d love to hear about them!), but if anything is unclear, be sure to ask for clarification before attempting your desired process! Thanks for reading how to make fridge door easier to open. Thank you and have a nice day!

You may read also –