Refrigerator repair: $450 to repair the "fill" (i.e., weather stripping) around door
 

Hello All,

I'm looking at a $450 repair bill to fix the weather stripping ("fill") around the door of a refrigerator. Does anyone have experience with this? Is changing the weather stripping on a refrigerator door really that expensive?

Cheers.

It may sound a little high until you Google the Whirlpool OEM part. $245 for a new refrigerator door gasket.

I’m sure there is a video on You Tube showing how to do it.

But, how old and efficient is Fridge that you need a new gasket? …..I’d price out a new one, just to be sure.

Just be thankful you can get door seal for your particularly model. Don’t look to hard to replace if you’re handy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZBsBnGUWcU

Not a fridge but weather seal top and side of garage door was quoted $250 + parts were $58 I did it myself removal and install took 2hrs pontig 20 minutes. We are being taken advantage of in TV!

Anytime you get an appliance repaired in your house, you can expect to pay at least $250 and more if you need an expensive part. OP, if the work was already done on the refrigerator, I would just pay the bill and be happy that it is fixed.

Thank you all. It's great to have neighbors like you folks!

I was just wondering yesterday what it would cost to replace the gasket on our 16-year-old Whirlpool if it should fail. OK, thank you, I think.

That's a ridiculous assumption......your labor is free, no insurance, no truck expense, no inventory cost, no payroll. It's great that you can do your own stuff but to send a message to those that can't that they are being taken advantage of is uncalled for.

PartSelect.com
 

If you are a do-it-yourselfer you might try PartSelect.com or at 833-710-1065. I replaced a seal on the freezer door of an old Frigidaire that I have in the garage. I looked up the make and model and they have pics of the parts. Came with instructions. Easy Peasy

What is pontig? Is that a typo?

For less than twice that price you can get a whole brand new refrigerator/freezer. You can get a new one for less than $450 but they're basically "college grad's first apartment" quality appliances.

The savings will never pay that $450 back.

To me I don't know from weather stripping, but I do know paying $450 is a bit much.
I just looked on Lowes website at prices, you can buy a brand-new refrigerator for $999.00.
Yes, it is a little more than double but it's new and I'm sure it come with at least a 3-year warranty.

The door seal is so easy to replace even a caveman could do it. Go look at yours, pull on a small section…

...AND the new seal is included. So you're really get the fridge for $449!!

$450 to replace a seal is theft.

If you have any talent with a screwdriver it’s really easy. DIY. Just be sure to take one or two screws out THEN START REPLACING WITH NEW ONE. Do NOT remove the entire old one completely before starting the new one.

It can’t be this easy!

https://youtu.be/lWHydQZbjQQ?si=TA4qN3EekztfTISU

Did it myself on our dual-door Maytag. Could be that expensive. The seal for one door alone, off Amazon, was like $180 - $200 (and it did not come gold plated). But the job itself was easy to peal the old one off and install the new one. In my case the seal fit into a kind of track in the door (no adhesive). Something similar to how a screen in secured into a window frame.

One thing to consider is that, when a plumber or electrician comes to your house, they have a truck full of standard parts, so they can often complete a project with one trip. But, someone who repairs appliances cannot stock standard appliance parts because most parts are unique to a specific appliance. So, they need to make two trips to your house, one to diagnose the problem and order the parts, and then another trip to install the parts. A refrigerator door gasket is not a standard part, and many appliance parts are expensive. A DIYer can often find a cheap after-market appliance part on Amazon, but an appliance repair company, who offers a guaranteed repair, may not want to rely on after-market parts.

Beware. I had a Samsung refrigerator that needed a new evaporator coil fan motor. I called a repairman that was highly regarded by the reviews here at TOTV. I diagnosed the problem, but called him to do the the repair. He agreed that the fan motor was bad. He checked his sources and said the part was discontinued. He insisted that he could not find a replacement part anywhere. He basically said the only solution was to scrap the refrigerator and buy a new one. It was only 2 years old. It was part of the original home build and the standard issue by TV. I thought replacement was insanity. So I disassembled the fan assembly and found a manufacturer and part number label. That was a very simple process. Of course, Amazon had it for $19. It was a simple fix, that saved me $1400 and the headache of getting a new refrigerator. My take on many of the repair services and skilled trades is that they want to do the easy projects and get the best return on their time. So more stories about suspect repairs and high cost are sure to come, here on TOTV.

Rest is probably service

How old is the refrigerator? If you went on You Tube, you could have found out how to DYI it. at a fraction of the cost!

Contact Home Appliance Pro 386-284-2374. He is Honest and very reasonable! I highly recommend him,

I’ll never buy Samsung or LG product of anything again.

I wouldn't pay that for a fridge that's obviously quite old. I'd justify a new $1,000 one by thinking I'm just paying $550.00 for it.

Ohiobuckeye
 

Oh my, how old is this frig. my son has a 15 yr. old frig. & hasn’t had to put a nickle in it yet. Good luck with your frig.

To clarify, if you are referring to the Whirlpool side-by-side refrigerator on sale at Lowes for $999, it would actually cost $1,158.89 after taxes, delivery, installation, and haul away. And, the warranty is one year, not 3 years.

I did not check the sale tax or the length of the warranty, but assuming that your figures are correct, and I was given the option, I would buy a new refrigerator for the extra $708.89.
Let's step back a strip of rubber for $450 and I might be wrong, but I doubt it comes with a warranty?

I probably would too, depending on the age of the refrigerator. But, I did recently pay $230 to fix an electric dryer that I could have replaced for $500. I just didn't want the hassle of shopping for a new dryer.

NO it is not. We watched a Utube video and did our freezer. It is not a fast easy nothing to it job, but it certainly was not a $450 job....LOL ! Kind of like when we "almost paid" $450 to replace the controller for an automatic sprinkling system. Thankfully an Ace employee told us what they actually cost, and let us know that if you already have one on your garage wall, replacing it is SUPER SIMPLE, there were about 3 or 4 wires to unplug on the old controller, and just plug in the new matched the colors to the tiny plugs. Took almost 15 minutes but, repair people have to be paid for the time they drive to and from the work, have to pay for fuel, insurance, on and on, think that's where the $450 bill comes from to replace a door seal on a refrigerator.

You really cannot compare a DIY project to one where you are hiring a contractor. It is not a fair comparison. The contractor needs to make a profit, but a DIYer does not. A retired DIYer can waste the entire day watching YouTube Videos, reading TOTV posts, shopping for the best price for a part, and making mistakes on the installation.

Yes, and only a few more days of tax free purchase on new refrigerator.

Call Norm's Appliances 352-552-2389

Norm is honest and very reasonable. I'm speaking from experience.

Might try to rejuvenate the old seal with Vaseline? I read some where where this supposed to be annually or semiannually?

Agree, if have no skills you’re stuck paying the piper. :shrug: