3 Ways How To fix magnetic Door Seal on freezer

Is your ice cream getting soft? It might be the magnetic door seal on your freezer!

The magnet in your freezer’s door seal is responsible for adequately sealing the door shut. If it doesn’t work correctly, your fridge door will have gaps, allowing air to escape and increasing energy bills. To fix this issue, you should remagnetize the freezer’s door seal. 

You can remagnetize your freezer door seal by running a magnet over the rubber seal. The magnet will transfer a magnetic force to the seal, rejuvenating its magnetic properties. However, the process requires accuracy and is tricky. Even a tiny mistake can ruin the magnet. 

In this guide, I will explain the process of remagnetizing a freezer door seal. Let’s get started! 

1. Remove and Clean the Gasket

As mentioned in the introduction, remagnetizing a freezer door’s gasket is a tricky process that’s easy to get wrong. 

The gasket is the flexible rubber strip underneath the door seal that runs along the door edge. It has embedded magnets that allow the freezer door to seal shut. 

These magnets are typically weak and can quickly lose their magnetic properties because they don’t have the regular north and south poles other magnets do. Instead, they have several pole pairs, making them prone to damage if a stronger magnet is nearby. 

Sometimes, the issue might not be magnetic, and the gasket may simply need to be cleaned, reinstalled, or replaced. It’s a good idea to remove the gasket, inspect it, and clean it before remagnetizing it. 

Removing the gasket is usually straightforward and doesn’t require special tools or skills. Here’s how to do it:

1. Turn off the freezer, and unplug it from the wall. 
2. Wait until it returns to a normal temperature.
3. Find the end of the gasket strip, grip the edge, and gently peel it from the freezer door.
4. Set the gasket aside, and inspect it for dirt or damage. 
5. If it looks dirty, clean it with some mild detergent and a soft cloth, and allow it to air dry. If the gasket seems worn out or damaged, you’ll need to replace it. 
6. Once the gasket is completely dry, reinstall it and apply heat with a hairdryer or heat gun. This ensures that it remains firmly in place. 
7. Allow the gasket to cool down and check if it seals your freezer door shut. 

This video will give you a visual representation of the process to make it easier:

Buying a new gasket is easy, and you can buy one from a refrigeration store. All you’ll need is your freezer’s model number and make. 

Read: Frigidaire Freezer Upright Problems You Need To Know Before Buying

2. Confirm the Problem Is Magnetic

Before beginning the magnetizing process, you must ensure that the issue is magnetic. If the freezer’s magnets are still in good condition, the remagnetizing procedure will ultimately damage it and may require you to change the seal completely. 

Checking this is simple. All you need is a piece of paper. Paper is ideal because it can fit between the door and the seal without preventing it from closing. 

Here’s how to do it: 

1. Place the paper between the door and the seal and close the freezer door. 
2. Immediately after you close the door, remove the paper without opening the freezer. If you apply a little force, you will pull the paper out, but that is not the goal. You must check for resistance before pulling the paper out. 
3. Perform this paper test on various points on the freezer door to determine if the magnets have any weak points.

If there is some resistance to removing the paper from the closed freezer door, the magnets are still working relatively fine. Hence, there is no need to work on the magnets in the gasket. If there is no resistance, the magnets likely have a problem, and you can try to fix it.

If you have determined there’s a problem with the magnets, you must fix the issue so that the freezer door closes properly. A freezer door that doesn’t seal shut correctly allows the cold air to escape and can cause your stored food to thaw. 

Read: Frigidaire Freezer Green Light Blinking: How To Troubleshoot?

3. Identify the Magnetic Pattern

There are several magnets in a freezer door gasket, so you should determine which ones are problematic.  

An easy way to do this is by running a piece of metal along the gasket’s edge to check where the force of attraction is. However, a more effective way is by placing a magnetic viewing film over the gasket. 

Most magnet-viewing films have various indication patterns based on the product’s design and technology. I recommend the CMS MAGNETICS Magnetic Flux Viewing Film (available on Amazon.com) as the best choice for this task. It offers two different ways of detecting magnetic fields: the magnetochromatic view and the monochromic view.

A high-quality magnetic film will show you the direction of the magnetic field and how much force is in the field. This will allow you to identify the weak spots on the gasket’s magnets.

Read: Frigidaire Freezer Door Seal Problems. Whats The Solution?

4. Get a Strong Magnet  (magnetic door seal on freezer)

Remagnetizing the gasket’s magnets involves drawing a magnetic force from a stronger magnet to revive them. This means you’ll need to buy magnets with a higher coercive force than your existing ones. 

An excellent example of such a magnet is a neodymium magnet, which you can find online or at a hardware store.  

MIKEDE Neodymium Bar Magnets (available on Amazon.com) are suitable for this purpose. These neodymium magnets have the shape of a refrigerator magnet, so placing them over the gasket’s magnet will be easy. 

Read: Why Frigidaire Freezer Not Freezing But Fridge Is Cold? How To Troubleshoot?

5. Run the Magnets Over the Gasket’s Magnet

This step is the trickiest part of remagnetizing the problematic magnet. If you do not get it right, you risk damaging the magnet. 

Here are the steps to follow for running the strong magnets over your existing one:

1. Combine two neodymium magnets inversely. Ensure that the north poles are touching the other magnet’s south poles. You can use magnetic viewing film to identify these points. 
2. Run the combined magnets over all parts of the gasket’s magnet. Be sure to run it over in a single direction—do not go up and come back down. If you accidentally move in a different direction, remove the magnet and start again.
3. Run the magnet multiple times. Don’t expect the job to be done after running the magnet over the gasket once. You may need to do it multiple times. 
4. Test each part of the gasket’s magnet. If you are working alone, you can use a small metal sheet to test the effectiveness of the magnet. If you run the metal sheet over the freezer’s magnet and it pulls, you’ve successfully remagnetized it. 
5. Replace the gasket if remagnetization fails. In the worst-case scenario, you will need to replace the gasket. Thankfully, gaskets are not expensive parts, and you can install them quickly. 

Read: Where Is Kenmore Freezer Reset Button?

Conclusion

Remagnetization is an excellent way to revitalize your freezer door’s faulty magnet. However, it is a very tricky process that can damage the magnet if you don’t do it correctly. 

That’s why you should check out if the problem can be solved in a non-magnetic way first. Maybe cleaning the gasket will get the job done.

If you do decide to remagnetize the door seal, remember not to run the magnet up and down. You could ruin the door’s magnets altogether.