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I need help in fixing my Samsung fridges door lever. Without it, the fridge door doesn't close tight enough leading to condensation inside the fridge.

This is a french door fridge. This video shows the lever replacement so that you get an idea how the lever looks like (https://youtu.be/mGnHxMNtrLQ).

The screw that attaches the lever goes into a plastic screw bracket. In my case, unfortunately the whole screw bracket has broken off.

picture showing door minus the screw bracket

This is the other door with intact lever - the screw can be seen here whose bracket has broken off.

picture showing door with bracket

What can I do to attach the door lever? One radical way could be to drill the screw into the door but that sounds like a recipe for disaster.

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  • for one you do not drill, you glue
    – asinine
    Oct 15, 2022 at 5:44
  • can we have a picture of the other door where the part is not broken off
    – asinine
    Oct 15, 2022 at 5:57
  • Added picture in the post.
    – Captain Jack sparrow
    Oct 15, 2022 at 16:29
  • @Ruskes I did bought glue but I'm uncertain whether the gorilla glue would be able to tolerate the force that would be acting on the lever
    – Captain Jack sparrow
    Oct 15, 2022 at 16:30

3 Answers 3

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You have to replace the door.

I agree a little with @Freeman's answer, about using glue to repair the broken-off piece or otherwise to just glue the lever in place. I would probably try this first. But only because it's cheap and easy to try and replacing the door is expensive. I would expect it to fail again pretty soon, and then to replace the door.

Look at how the lever is held in place. It's not so much the screw, that just holds it down. It's three tabs (see pic) that prevent the lever from moving or turning against the sideways forces it encounters. On your broken door two of those tabs are broken off. I don't think any glue will keep it in place for very long.

The good news is, these fridges are notoriously unreliable. You might find someone near you with a bad compressor who is replacing with a more reliable brand and will give you the door for free.

enter image description here

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    I would once again like to thank a long series of people having problems with Samsung appliances and asking questions here for keeping me from ever buying one...though my suspicions were already raised by the various ones in need of repair craigslist has on offer.
    – Ecnerwal
    Oct 17, 2022 at 18:13
  • Agreed, that screw is holding the black ?metal? piece on, it's the tabs that do the work here. Assuming the pieces are intact I'd separate the black bit and screw, epoxy the original grey part back in with the best technique and materials possible, then reassemble. If time allowed, maybe work out a way to get a metal plate into that foam as a bit of blocking to put in some additional screws to rigidly clamp the repair into place. But at the end of the day my time has value, this looks unlikely to last as a repair, and for me fridges are easily replaced financially.
    – Doug
    Oct 21, 2022 at 18:01
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Generally speaking, one would use an epoxy appropriate for the materials at hand to repair something like this. If both the door & bracket are plastic, be sure to get an epoxy that's appropriate for plastic, if they're both metal, get one that's good for metal, if it's a mix of plastic & metal, get an epoxy that's good for both.

Of course, once you've epoxied the replacement in place, it will be very difficult to ever replace it again in the future, so should this part fail again, you'll probably have to replace the whole fridge/freezer.

If you happen to still have the threaded portion that broke off (the part the screw goes into), you could try epoxying that piece back in then screwing the closer bracket back into that. It doesn't appear that there's a whole lot missing, so there may not be much strength left after epoxying, so it could fail again. If that's the case, another does of epoxy on that part plus epoxying the closer back in place should do the trick.

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Place the part needed where it needs to go. Drill a shallow (1/4 inch) pilot hole where the screw needs to be to anchor the part. Get a screw that has a shank that is only 1/4 inch longer than the thickness of the part. Place the part. Screw it to the door. Nothing should be 1/4 inch under the skin of the door except for maybe insulation. The tabs do the work holding the part in place when it experiences the forces against it as it is working. The screw just holds it down.

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