Hot take: stop throwing away those old fridge gaskets

I spent like two hours last weekend fighting with a fridge that wouldn't seal right. It was a rental unit in an apartment complex and the tenant said it was frosting up everything. I was about to order a $90 new gasket kit from the supply house when I remembered some guy on a job site once told me to try boiling the old one. So I pulled the gasket off, dropped it in a pot of near boiling water for like 10 minutes. Pulled it out and let it cool flat on the counter. Slapped it back in and now it seals perfect again. No joke, the rubber just needed to relax. I saved myself $90 and a trip to the supply house. Who else has tried this or got a similar dumb fix that works?

2 comments

2 Comments

john65015h ago

Wait, @emmag22, you boiled a whole gasket? How did that not stink up your whole kitchen?

emmag2217h ago

Did you let it cool completely flat? I did the same trick on an old fridge and it worked like magic, just had to make sure it was totally flat before putting it back.