Welding on a fridge?

[ProjectX]

This board was amazing when I didn't my sub panel project and no way was I going to get that right without the help of The Garage Journal so I'm back with another project looking for some advice. I got a brand new fridge for free that was damaged on the upper left corner where the door hinge is. Looks like something heavy fell on it and bent the top corner which also pushed the bottom door down as well. I have removed the bottom door and was able to bend the body of the fridge straight which also straighten the bottom and middle hinges and the bottom door is now lined up correctly. The top corner took the brunt of whatever fell on it. I thought about taking the Liner out from inside and hammering out the dent but I don't see how that comes out and looks like that would be a major project. Now I'm thinking about if it's possible to either cut an access hole in the top and using a tool long enough to hammer the metal straight and then welding it back in. I know there would be some sort of insulating material in there and possibly wiring so not sure how that would work with welding, meaning if I can sucessfully weld the piece back in and not burn wires or catch the insulation of fire. I was thinking if I went really slow and moved the wires or protected them when welding it back together. I have the ability to mig and tig the piece back in. Has anyone delt with this before?

I ran across several of these similarly damaged fridges on eBay while looking for a replacement door and parts so someone is buying up these damaged fridges and I assume fixing them. I got it for free, well hauling a trailer of junk to the scrap yard for the guy, so the fridge and my time is free so I would like to give this a go. What do you guys and gals think? Anyone ever tackle something like this before? Here are a couple of pictures of the damage in question.

Thanks for any help or advice in advance.

 

[RPH]

That’s some thin metal. The insulation is applied by robot at the factory when the inner tub and outer housing get married.
You should be able to massage most of that back into place. Use a pick to search the inner zone, blunt edges to push it back into place. Any lost foam insulation replace with great stuff minimal expansion. Good luck work slow.

 

[Zeke]

That bracket screwed into inserts gives you an great place to attach for leverage. I don't have enough visual to see how I'd do that but like @RPH says, it's doable. Think part paintless dent removal techniques vs. metal shaping (body work). I think securing the fridge and getting a come along on that will pre stress it enough to slowly tap back into place. As he said, work slowly and examine the effects of each thing you do.

And some real PDR tools like the adhesive and pullers would really be the cat's ***.

 

[ProjectX]

Thanks both of you. I think I will try to massage it back into place as described and see how that works out. The real concern is the front edge where the door seal would fit, it is caved in a bit and I would imagine would not give a good seal. Good advice though, I'll see what I can do with massaging it, and leave cutting it open for a last ditch effort.

 

[Milton Shaw]

That looks more like the damage from flipping off a fork lift from about 20 feet up. As stout as those boxes are I don't think stacking anything else on it would cause that damage. Look at the compressor feet/mounts and see if they show damage because it may be non cooling because of damage. A lot of fridges have what they call a halo loop of gas from the compressor to keep the cabinet from collecting moisture on cold metal, others may have an electric heating coil for the same reason. The foam insulation will melt and catch fire same as the ABS plastic the liner is made off. I saw a few other appliances that got flipped off a fork lift and they were no way repairable.

 

[rlitman]

...A lot of fridges have what they call a halo loop of gas from the compressor to keep the cabinet from collecting moisture on cold metal...

It is called the Yoder loop, and it is a refrigerant line right up under the surface where the door seal contacts. But this loop goes around the freezer door seal. It isn't usually around the fridge door.

 

[ProjectX]

The rest of the fridge looks pretty good, not other damage to the body other than scratches from it bouncing around in a garage. It looks to me like something heavy fell from above and landed on that corner of the fridge pushing down the door and the door hinges. The person I got it from said it worked, I haven' t plugged it in yet, but plan to do so today. I got it basically for free so at this point I don't stand to lose any money. I will take a look at the compressor and see what that area looks like.

 

[P51Mustang]

If there was an issue with the door sealing in the repair area, maybe a thin layer of body filler or fiber glass or even JB Weld that you sand smooth.

 

[no704]

Looks like a job for a pin/stud welder.

 

[ProjectX]

Hey Guys, sorry I haven't updated this thread. Life got in the way so the fridge project got pushed to the side. I did do some work on it after posting the original post and still not useable yet. I ended up having to cut the top of the fridge open where the top door mount went since the screws that holds the mount both shared off. I had to get those screws out and put in replacement screws, so now the top mount is back solid. All the (two door mounts) mounts were bent from whatever landed on the door, but the top was the worst. Since the top was cut open I was able to push a large bladed screwdriver through the opening and tap out most of the dented areas for the door seal, not perfect but better than it was. Since the door was back on I was able to fire up the fridge and it seems to work fine although it showed some error codes. I think the codes are due to the door switch which tells if the door is closed or open and the fact that it isn't sealing all the way around due to bad door seal and still slightly dented fridge frame. Still have more work to do on it, like find a new door set and cover for the top that covers the hinges ect. She aint pretty up there that's for sure! The pictures are out of order but you can see in the first one where I was able to hammer out the big crease on the side. Looks better in person lol. I'm still trying to decide if I should cut my losses, zero money spent so far, or keep at it. I'll have to find a door and some of the bins inside that were broken.

 

[CraigStu]

I would approach this by pulling out what I can and pushing the rest of the damage low or cutting it out. Then I'd find a friendly sheet metal shop to bend up some cover pieces, paint them w/ Rustoleum Hammered finish paint which will reasonably well match texturewise what is on there now. Then I'd glue the piece over top of the damage. I 'guess' the door is a stainless finish so that will take a little effort to make a cover piece that matches. For a free fridge I could live w/ a nice cover piece on that door that comes down to the top of whatever the protective film is covering and runs full width of that door. I might even stick another on the other door so both doors match. For reference this is a valve cover that I painted in black 'Hammered'. It is, one coat of self etching primer and 4 coats Hammered painted on very light to very heavy, next coat as soon as the prior one was tacky. Dried 24 hours. To get this level of hammered you have to do it while the piece is flat as it might run off a vertical surface.

 

[runner1]

I needed a new shop fridge last year so bought a Hissense from Lowes. Brought it home in a trailer and upon unwrapping it found exactly the same damage on yours. Plugged it in just to see if it would work and it did. Still, took it back for return, but this time, made them unwrap the replacement fridge in the store. Same exact damage on the second one, which, of course, was the last one in stock.

Thing is, this damage must have happened at the factory before it was shipped because there was no visible damage to the packaging on either of these units.

 

[Monza Harry]

If your door is a "stainless" finish, that is just a wrap on most newer fridges. Source some "brushed finish" stainless vinyl [on-line(?)] and you will be good as gold, with either a repair, or replacement door, as colour/finish can be easily fixed after. Harry