Can the inner bottom of a freezer be replaced?
A hole has occured in the inner bottom of my stand alone freezer, As water gets through the hole the felt or what`s inside is making a terrible smell. Can the inner bottom be replaced ?
Thanks
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Sep 2, 2009. 7:13 AMlonzu (author)
says:
Thanks for your quick reply, yes I guess it is fiberglass insulation. The hole was made by us using tools to pull up food that used to get stuck from time to time to the bottom. Looking from where the motor is i can see the steel bottom which looks to be fine. So what I was thinking was to remove the silver cover ( which looks like foil) and the insulation from the top so that there will be no need to tip it upside down. I don`t know if that could be done as I don`t know what to find beneath the silver cover. What do you think, can you explain to me what`s beneath the silver cover. Pushing down around the hole with my fingers it`s very soft and water still keeps coming up. Thanks again
Sep 3, 2009. 3:15 AMkevinhannan
says:
From my experience, there is only the bottom cover, the insulation and then the plastic mould of the freezer. I don't expect you will find anything else - I certainly never have. That's a tough break to have your freezer have a hole in the way you describe. Who'd have thunk it? But,hey, that's life and experience...If I had a penny for every mess-up I made... Drying it is going to be difficult, but do-able. I'd apply a gentle heat from a hair-dryer; I wouldn't be tempted to remove any insulation if possible - after all it's there for a reason. I'd do a mixture of moving the insulation around a bit, dry it with a hair-dryer and repeat until you feel the job is done. Otherwise,if you have some replacement insulation then take as much out as you want,dry the space,and then fill it back up again with fresh, dry insulation. Prob cos I'm lazy, I'd still be tempted to use a premium tape to seal the hole again. Or use a flat piece of pvc (assuming the moulding where your hole is, is also flat) and stick he two together with PVC solvent cement. It's no good trying to apply a flat sheet to a curved area. If you do this you might want to chamfer the edges of the new piece of PVC to prevent sharp edges tearing any bags that get placed against it. Good luck;-)
Sep 2, 2009. 11:15 AMRe-design
says:
What I would do is Empty the freezer. Dry it out. Apply a fiberglass patch that is made to use to repair small holes in fiberglass boats. Let it cure for 24 hours. start the freezer back up. Put a wire rack over the bottom so that stuff didn't freeze to the bottom. Load the freezer back up. Hang a blunt plastic tool near the freezer for those emergencies. Good luck.
Sep 2, 2009. 3:39 AMkevinhannan
says:
As I understand your Q, the felt is fibreglass(usually) insulation. My fridge has a hole designed by purpose to release excess water from its auto-defrost feature. It can smell, but I bleach it clean. Could this be the same for you? Notwithstanding the above comment, it's quite possible that liquid has gone into a hole if there is one, stagnated and smells. You could replace it, but that would mean tipping the freezer upside-down, undoing the welds that secure the bottom of the freezer to release the bottom plate and then replacing it with an equivalent insulation and lastly rivetting the bottom back on. Once you tip a freezer the coolant needs several hours to settle back down before switching on again. Or you could use a super-quality tape like Gorilla tape and simply cover the hole good. If the tape is gas-proof it will stop the smells from coming back up but the condition would still exist. I don't think ordinary foodstuffs or water would degrade the insulation, but it would reduce its effective somewhat. If space allows you could also try removing the offending area of insulation, but fibreglass spikes are unpleasant and tough to remove from your fingers. If it were me, I'd tape it up good and see how it goes while saving up the cash to get another (hopefully in the sales!). Good luck!
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