Help! My Refrigerator is Falling Down!

[Bryan01519]

Hi Allies!

Anyone else have this problem?

The Norcold DC refrigerator in my 2022 32RLS is slowly but gradually getting ready to fall out of its wall cabinet!

The attached pictures show the Leaning Tower of Norcold and the closeup shows a typical screw attachment that has pulled out of the cabinet face frame.

A few weeks ago I noticed a blemish in the refrigerator cabinet face frame near only one screw point and didn’t pay much attention to it. But now after some bumpy road trips the cabinet face frame now has 3 failed anchor points and the refrigerator is noticeably leaning forward.

There are multiple screw anchors in the upper refrigerator compartment that show signs of pull-out. The lower ones in the freezer compartment look like they are securely attached.

Behind the cabinet particle board facia, there is a strip of solid wood blocking on both sides of the opening that I believe is the intended target for the refrigerator mounting screws.

In the closeup of one of the failed screw anchor points, you can see the tip of the screw! It wasn’t long enough and never penetrated the solid wood blocking.

The mounting screw heads are inside the refrigerator compartment. I’m camping now and don’t have an ice chest to empty out the refrigerator and take my time to make a permanent repair. I’ll just do a temporary quick fix with longer upper mounting screws.

Come on Alliance, this is terrible workmanship and terrible quality control. Usually the factory hacks overdrive the crap out of every screw but something this important has now become a safety hazard!

 

[Socal-Paul]

I would remove the screws, drill out the holes to allow a 1/8” or 3/16 hardwood dowel to be inserted. Cover the dowel with epoxy, I use epoxy that sets in 5 minute. drill a pilot hole for your screws and reinstall the screw. The damage I would use a clamp to bring it flush with cabinet, tape both sides with masking tap, mix some epoxy with sawdmust to thicken to a putty and fill the damage. The tape will probably stick so you will have to remove carefully sanding as small an area as possible. you might also use a white epoxy And find a paint to finish. Please excuse mistakes I’m not good using my phone.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

No way to simply fix the pressed paper "wood" they use to screw the frig into. We just fixed this on our 2023 340RL a few weeks ago by removing the frig and taking off their wood frame and replacing it with oak trim (see the blue arrows) Solid as a rock now!! We also took the opportunity to build the floor with REAL support. You'll be shocked to see how little support is there holding that heavy frig up.

 

[dwcfish]

We just had our 32RLS at the factory for repairs, they addressed this by pulling the wood chip flooring from under the fridge, installing a rigid composite floor and installing a metal trim around the fridge

 

[Oregon_Camper]

We just had our 32RLS at the factory for repairs, they addressed this by pulling the wood chip flooring from under the fridge, installing a rigid composite floor and installing a metal trim around the fridge

View attachment 3743

....now you're just showing off. LOL

Yes. I am super jealous of your repair at the factory vs my home DIY repair.

 

[dwcfish]

Just saying, when you go to the factory it's the best! They fix everything.....I mean everything, even stuff you did not bring it in for, like this. I was at the factory 2 years ago for repairs and it is a totally different experience now.