Refrigerator top hatch

[Air Mobility]

Both my freezer and refrigerator top hatch doors are slightly warped. They do not seal properly. I would like to try to straighten the doors. Has anyone else seen their top hatched warp? Were you able to straighten them by clamping them to a straight edge? Any thoughts. The refrigerator door is about 1/8 to 1/4" out of true. The doors do not seal in the corners.


George
SV Air Mobility
Hull 158

[KenKrawford]

George are you sure the doors are warped? They are made out of a Corian-like material and I can't imagine them warping. Could it me the gasket is compressed in one area allowing the lids to sit at an angle? Also have you checked the screws being loose in the hinges that secure the doors?

[KevinMc]

I took three steps to get better freezer / refrigeration.

1. Added additional gasket material to reduce cold air loss.
2. Placing a few 18x24 inch foam mats (available at big box stores in the kitchen aisles - usually used as floor mats) on the counter to again reduce cold air loss.
3. The biggest and best improvement was putting a few ziplock bags filled with air in the freezer. Trust me on this.

Another cruiser said by using 1 or 2 gallon ziplock bags filled with air in the freezer you reduce the freezer space so the chill plate is now cooling a lot less space. Other cruisers we met do the same thing and will use gallon or half gallon milk jugs filled with water. I have used combo's of a few bags of ice, cardboard and ziplock bags to accomplish the same thing.

We have been on the ICW for the past few months so the freezer has been running 24x7. The average freezer temp is now below 13degs (it will go single digits for a few days when we defrost the freezer) whereas before if it was in the 20's I was happy.

Again, the basic idea is if you eliminate open "air space" in the freezer the chill plate has less space to chill - so your frozen stuff is kept colder.