Freezer won't stay shut

A note about your problem: If your freezer is sealing itself properly you should not have a frost problem. Most models self-defrost the small amount that builds up when you open it. I would check for door-drawer gasket leaks... I recently posted a fix for this and will repeat it here for you.


We recently purchased a new Kenmore French Door (side by side upper doors and bottom drawer freezer) and have had nothing but problems keeping frost-ice and dripping water (condensation on the ice maker) under control in both the top as well as the freezer section. Also, If I put a bright flashlight inside the fridge, closed the doors in a dark room, I could actually see light escaping from the doors and the freezer in several places. (use a mirror in difficult places.)

Warranty service on the unit has not helped with the technician using a heat gun to reform the gaskets in several places. They also replaced the metal slide rails in the freezer which helped a bit but did not solve the whole problem. I was also told that new gaskets come folded so much that we would be worse off than the ones currently in our fridge.

I searched the web for a solution and some even suggested adding (YUCK) petroleum jelly to the gasket. I would only try that as a last resort.

My successful fix was to add HEAVY DUTY magnetic tape to the metal fridge surface where the door seal tries to seat. This is not your typical box-store tape so don't think they are all created equal.

Part of the reason why this works is that most door gaskets have a magnetic strip inside them. My problem solution works well because the gasket and the tape strips attract each other and the magnetic tape also adds a bit more thickness to the fridge side of the equation.

Source for the magnetic tape: Amazon... just search for... Master Magnetics - B005HYDC68 Roll-N-Cut Flexible Magnetic Tape Refill - 1/16" Thick x 1/2" Wide x 15 feet. (1 roll), 07518.

With the tape installed, our frost-ice buildups and water drips (around the upper ice maker section) as well as all the light leaks have been eliminated. best of luck.

10-2-22 update:
Our model 11175039120 bottom freezer unit has two defrost drains under the evaporator coil (remove back cover in freezer compartment). The right drain is TOTALLY BLOCKED with insulation foam and a plastic panel of some sort put in by Kenmore. This causes a constant lake of water/ice to form under the evaporator coil with ice filling the evap. fins putting excess water on both circulation fans during defrost cycle causing them to vibrate and\or freeze up and STOP during the next freeze cycle. This fan motor freeze-up gets worse as the fan motors age and let more high-humidity air inside them to freeze. 4681JB1027C Refrigerator Evaporator Fan Motors are available on Amazon and fit (you will need to solder original electrical connectors) perfectly. Kenmore fan motors (if you can get them) are about 150.00 each. Amazon fans are less then 30.00 each.

Still trying to figure out how to clear out the right defrost drain.

Great going Kenmore! A design or assembly flaw that does wonders for your reputation.

Check the hinges and the door seal. If you need parts Sears service center online has a great parts locator for kenmore

No vacuum just magnets in the seals, clean the seals & cabinet, might just be dust & dirt.

My new freezer did the same thing. I contacted the company and they went into the whole leveling thing. What it has to do with is the magnetic seal. The magnets are not strong enough to keep the freezer door from popping open when closing the big fridge door. They share the same duct. I level my doors on the fridge and freezer so they swing shut by themselves after opening. Just the force of the big door when it swung closed cracked open the freezer door about a quarter of an inch and if left unnoticed created a puddle and made the fridge run overtime. I solved the problem by placing strong magnets inside the fold of the magnetic seal at the handle end of the door. This is the flap on the outside the door seal. I used six magnets on the top and six on the bottom. The magnets were from discarded Sonicare tooth brush heads. They are very flat and super strong. You can find something on ebay. My freezer door doesn't budge problem solved. I did call the company and told them I solved the problem and they still insisted it was the leveling. Good luck, Art Knapp

kenmore elite, alarm kept going on and b flashed on and off. I finaly figured out on bottom of freezer there is a battery door open it and change 9v. thats it,

replace the seals and / or have the hinge adjusted

Sounds like a door seal that isn't sealing all the way around. That would be my first replacement. Is the unit level back to front and side to side? Is it really full of food?

Call your local appliance parts house and get a magnetic door seal first. They aren't that expensive. But make sure you do not have the freezer overloaded, which could account for the lack of that vacuum sound.

Finally, is self defost? Even if it is, a lot of times the vent on the bottom in the back gets packed with ice. If it is, remove the food and use a hairdryer, being carefull to unplug the freezer first. Melt all that ice and empty your overflow tray at the bottom underneath.

Good luck!

The freezer will stay cold because a small amount of cold air will be forced through the frost but that will not be enough to make it up to the refrigerator portion. You can defrost the unit by removing the metal panel and allowing the frost to melt. Careful use of a hairdryer can speed up this process. This will likely be a temporary fix. The root cause of excessive frost can be caused by a bad door seal or a defective defrost circuit.

First check that the door seal is good by closing the door on a dollar bill at several points around the door, both on the freezer and refidgerator door. If you can pull the bill out with no resistance, the door is not making a good seal. Inspect the seal and make sure there isn't anything stopping the door from closing such as food, or a shelf not pushed in all the way.

If the door seal is good, the defrost system is likely defective. The defrost system has three main parts, the defrost heater, thermostat, and timer. None of these parts are particularly expensive, or difficult to replace you feel comfortable with repairing it yourself. If you can troubleshoot this by manually starting the defrost cycle. Let me know if you would like this procedure.

the fridge door stays shut only by strip magnets inside the door seal. cause is possibly that the hinges are out of line or the cabinet distorted. try levelling the fridge and tilt slightly backwards

Could be the air pressure created from shutting the refer door is popping open the other one. There are are channels between the two so cool air from the freezer gets to the refer compartment. Try this as a test... s l o w l y close the refer door and see if that keeps the other door from popping open. If that works then it's likely an air channel is frozen up somewhere and you may need to turn the unit off for a day or so to let it thaw out. Moisture from leaking door seals, or doors that were left slightly open overnight can be sucked in and freeze up the air channels. I don't know if you are sort of slamming the door shut or not but the doors need to be shut slowly due to how air tight the new refers are.