Fridge door fell off

What I am about to describe is difficult.

I wonder if some of the problem with broken fridge hinges is related to where a free-swinging door makes contact to other things.  Does the end of the door hit something like a wall for example, or is contact made close to the hinges which increases abnormal stress by many magnitudes.  If this is the cause for broken hinges, I wonder if a door limiter could be installed.

Our 2007 2350 fridge and freezer doors both hit other things when fully open, but contact is made on the outer-most surface of each door.  Eight years so far with lots of water and soda stored in the door and we have not broken a hinge.

Now watch one break on us this season because I said this.  

Ron,

From the broken doors I have seen it doesn't matter how it swings, how heavy it is loaded but boils down to design of the hinge.  The hinge is sitting on a piece of plastic, heavy as it looks, it is not strong enough.  Norcold should do a recall but instead they made the reinforcement kit.  The reinforcement kit is made out of "metal" not plastic.  Before we ordered the kit I called Norcold and spoke with them about this.  This is definitely not a fix once the hinge breaks, this kit is to be used on an unbroken hinge to prevent it from breaking.  Only time will tell.

Sue

Our hinge broke as well. Very poor design. It was not under warranty.

I took piece of aluminum, used the screw holes on the bottom of the door, cut the hole for the hinge pivot. Then bought a nylon washer with the inside diameter to match the hinge pin, drilled out the hinge pin hole to match that washer, added more screws to the bottom. I then shaped the aluminum to the bottom of the door and painted. No problems since.

Norcold's fix might be less labor intensive but I do know that my fix should hold.

George

The really sad thing about this refrigerator hinge failure is that when I looked at the models of the PCs in these posts that have had this problem, it is clear that the problem has been around for at least five model seasons. Wouldn't you think that is long enough for the manufacturer to correct the problem and wouldn't you think that when they did they would at least do a repair solution kit for free on request?  When I searched on other forums about this problem, a lot of failures pop up.

The problem is that companies like Norcold and Dometic are international companies and the rv industry is fragmented. Even the largest rv manufacturers are small potato customers to these kinds of companies.  RV manufacturers have no purse persuasion muscle like, for example, Ford or Toyota or Nissan.   So, those folks making rvs are at the mercy of the makers of all sorts of components and have no leverage.  

How smart in the first place do you have to be to know not to make any part of a door hinge out of plastic?  

My PC is in storage for a couple of weeks, then we are going on a lengthy trip.  When I get it home before the trip I am going to examine that hinge and receiver and see if I can anticipate problems and reinforce it with J&B before the darn thing falls off.  Also, I am going to take the measurements and fabricate a METAL solution to carry with me.   When you boondock for weeks at a time, it is can be a long way to town for repair parts.  

I am very, very appreciative of those that posted about their doors and warned the rest of us about this potential.  Thank You!

Paul

The sad thing is Norcold doesn't even have a fix once the hinge is broken.  They want you to buy a new door and then buy their reinforcement kit.  Like George said, he had to fabricate something himself and his will probably outlast anything Norcold could do.

Their reinforcement kit is to be used on a door that has not been broken yet.  Very sad indeed that they anticipate their design will eventually break!

I found this on Amazon.  I wonder if this is the right repair kit?????   Might be worth the price to just have it ready and save time and trial of my own fabrication.

Does this sound like what we need?   Pretty limited info and no picture of the product.

http://www.amazon.com/Norcold-634166-Door-Hinge-Retrofit/dp/B008KWP6MC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434898912&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=norcold+door+reinforcement+kit&pebp=1434898922865&perid=0VDBEZJ6HGZZ5C35PSMT

Paul

Paul,

Yes, that is the right kit.  We ordered that exact one from Amazon.  But beware, this is NOT a repair kit or a fix for a broken door.  It is to be used on an unbroken door hinge.  It actually attaches to the bottom of the hinge and reinforces the area so that the weight of the door is not supported by the plastic but by the reinforcement piece.  We put it on after we saw what happened to George and Judi's.  They had very little stored on their door and it just gave in on them.  We are hoping this kit prevents our door hinge from ever breaking.

Sue

George, you gave me inspiration.  I decided to make my own hinge.  Using the part they sent me, the hinge that fits on the fridge not the door and cut off the bracket.  From what was left over, I was able to drill some holes and attach it to the bottom of the door.  The repair should be permanent.  It's not beautiful, but it's much stronger and you won't notice it unless you look.  I took some pics and will post up soon.

The problem is the door can't handle the weight of 18 12 oz drinks bouncing down the highway even with the door shut and our 18 drinks generally include some glass bottles.  My recommendation is to only put light weight products on the door  and you will likely never have a problem.  I'm not sure how the reinforcement kit works, but it is probably good insurance if it is metal.  Otherwise, if you are handy with tools and can cut, sand, grind, glue, and swear, you can probably fix it after it breaks.

Sue, thanks.  I will order that baby and put it on as insurance.  We want to put reasonable amounts of stuff in the door but a six pack of coke  is 4.5 pounds and you can go from there. you can get up to fifteen or so pounds pretty easily and that is the weight of a bowling ball.   

I fully understand this is to prevent - not repair - the potential problem.   Reading these posts and thinking of the horror of a full refrigerator's door tumbling down is enough for me to take action.   Thanks to all that posted on this.

I suspect Norcold will correct this problem at some point in time...probably when several someones have a foot broken by a full door falling on them and they get dragged into court in a class action petition.

 Isn't that sad?

Paul

I just examined our hinges and all four look fine.  But reading about the fridge hinge problem here and also on other RV forums, I decided to be proactive rather than regretfully reactive.  Thanks all for the great information and clarity about it.

This is a picture of the Norcold reinforcement kit 634166 that we ordered off of amazon.  The instructions are not very clear but if you remember once you remove the door the part attaches to the bottom of the door.  It is a 5 minute job once you realize how it attaches.  Remove the door, slide this piece of metal on the bottom lip of the door, add the spacer, reinstall the door and you are good to go.

Question for Barry-Sue.  They are mirror image parts so I assume you use both parts on the same fridge door.  If I want to reinforce the freezer door as well, I would then need two kits....right?

Ron,

Yes, they are mirror images, you get a right hand swing and a left hand swing.  Two kits are needed if you want to do the freezer door.  I do not put anything heavy on the freezer door so chose not do reinforce that hinge.  We are hoping George and Judi can use our extra one for their feezer door.  I think their door swings the opposite of ours.

Sue

Sue,
Looking at our freezer door, the hinge is on the right. We would love to have that extra part.

Judi

When reinforcing one door, is there a benefit to installing the other piece up top to reinforce it as well?  Or is it a throw-away/give-away/sell-on-ebay component?