Fridge Freezer in rented - strong seal

pinklady21

Hi everyone
This is a new one on me.... a new tenant in my rental property has reported an issue with the Fridge Freezer. When trying to open it shortly after closing the door, it requires quite a lot of strength to get the door open as the seals are doing their job a bit too well.
The tenant has found a website that would suggest that the reason it opens fine after a short time is because warm air is leaking in.....and seems to be suggesting there is a fault with it.

Now - I inspected and thoroughly cleaned the fridge/freezer and turned it on before she moved in.
At the handover inspection, with the tenant there, I opened both the fridge and freezer doors with no problems, and both fridge and freezer were cold as you would expect.
The fridge/freezer was purchased in 2006, this tenant is the third one since then. Previous tenants have not remarked on it. In my view it is in excellent condition and is working exactly as it should.
(I have an upright freezer in my own house that does exactly the same thing, when we close it, the seals click in making it really difficult to open again, we simply wait a couple of minutes to open the door.)
I suspect the tenant is being a wee bit picky on this one. I have however, agreed to go and take a look at it.

My options would appear to be:
1. Advise that the F/F is working as it should and no further action required. - risks upsetting the tenant.
2. Replace it with a similar unit - will cost me between £150 and £200 with no guarantee that the same thing won't happen again. Also risks upsetting the tenant!

I am interested in hearing what other folks think.
Thanks!

Callie22

Get a couple of fridge thermometers. The optimum temperature for a fridge is between 0 and 4 degrees, and for a freezer -18 to -21. Ask the tenant to keep checking the temperatures for a week, which should let you know if the fridge and freezer are working correctly.

Also, fridges and freezers do tend to be harder to open if you try to open them immediately after closing them, especially if the freezer isn't that full. It's something to do with the differences in temperature - this explains it better than I can

bouicca21

I had this problem with a freezer several years ago - it was a built in feature that the manufacturers had incorporated after complaints about the door not closing effectively. It took a couple of minutes after closing the door before it could be reopened easily.

lonestar1

Surely warm air is far more likely to flood the unit when the door is wide open rather than if door is shut even with a faulty seal, as such if warm air is making it easy to open it should be easiest just after being closed not harder

kinger101

There isn't a fault with it. This is just a fridge behaving normally.
Tell them you're happy to call an engineer out on the basis that they'll have to pay the call out fee if (when) they find nothing wrong with it.

kinger101

lonestar1 wrote: »

Surely warm air is far more likely to flood the unit when the door is wide open rather than if door is shut even with a faulty seal, as such if warm air is making it easy to open it should be easiest just after being closed not harder

By warm air, they meant external air. It's pressure, not temperature causing the effect. When the fridge door closes, the air inside rapidly cools as it touches the sides and contents of the fridge, reducing the pressure. Gradually, the pressure will increase as air slowly enters; the fridge is not 100 % air tight.

If the magnetic seal is damaged such that it's letting too much air in, you'd hear the compressor turning over too much as it struggled to maintain temperature. But the fact the door is difficult to open when the fridge is first closed indicates the seal is fine.

pinklady21

Hi again
Thanks for all your replies - I agree, I think the fridge/freezer is working as it should, and simply waiting a couple of minutes to open the door again is all that is needed.
I might pick up a fridge thermometer to show that that the temp is fine too, and can suggest that provided the tenant pays for the call out charge when the engineer finds nothing wrong, we can look at arranging for someone to call.

I wonder if the issue is that when she viewed the flat, the fridge and freezer doors were both open, as I had switched everything off, and didn't want a mould build up inside the F/F.
Having seen that, she now thinks there is something wrong with the appliance.
Each to their own!
Thanks again.

HappyMJ

pinklady21 wrote: »

Hi everyone
This is a new one on me.... a new tenant in my rental property has reported an issue with the Fridge Freezer. When trying to open it shortly after closing the door, it requires quite a lot of strength to get the door open as the seals are doing their job a bit too well.
The tenant has found a website that would suggest that the reason it opens fine after a short time is because warm air is leaking in.....and seems to be suggesting there is a fault with it.

Now - I inspected and thoroughly cleaned the fridge/freezer and turned it on before she moved in.
At the handover inspection, with the tenant there, I opened both the fridge and freezer doors with no problems, and both fridge and freezer were cold as you would expect.
The fridge/freezer was purchased in 2006, this tenant is the third one since then. Previous tenants have not remarked on it. In my view it is in excellent condition and is working exactly as it should.
(I have an upright freezer in my own house that does exactly the same thing, when we close it, the seals click in making it really difficult to open again, we simply wait a couple of minutes to open the door.)
I suspect the tenant is being a wee bit picky on this one. I have however, agreed to go and take a look at it.

My options would appear to be:
1. Advise that the F/F is working as it should and no further action required. - risks upsetting the tenant.
2. Replace it with a similar unit - will cost me between £150 and £200 with no guarantee that the same thing won't happen again. Also risks upsetting the tenant!

I am interested in hearing what other folks think.
Thanks!

Option 1 ... don't worry about upsetting your tenants if they don't like it then they can move somewhere else or even get their own F/F. As long as it works you have nothing to worry about. It does not even need to be efficiently working it just needs to work. It could have hole in it, seals rubbish, broken shelves and it doesn't matter it keeps food cold and that's all that matters.

pinklady21

Actually I do worry about upsetting my tenants.....some landlords do care! It is also in my interest to have a happy tenant who will look after my property, advise me about any issues as they arise, and who will pay the rent on time. I don't like antagonising people anyway, but the reality is that if I hack off my tenants, they will leave, I then have a higher turnover of tenants, I end up with more void periods, and that costs me more money in the long run!
I think in this case, having found a rather misleading website, the tenant is now thinking that the fridge is not working, when actually I think it is fine and behaving exactly as it should.
Possibly a thermometer will prove the point one way or the other, and my role as a caring landlord will also be clear.

HappyMJ

pinklady21 wrote: »

Actually I do worry about upsetting my tenants.....some landlords do care! It is also in my interest to have a happy tenant who will look after my property, advise me about any issues as they arise, and who will pay the rent on time. I don't like antagonising people anyway, but the reality is that if I hack off my tenants, they will leave, I then have a higher turnover of tenants, I end up with more void periods, and that costs me more money in the long run!
I think in this case, having found a rather misleading website, the tenant is now thinking that the fridge is not working, when actually I think it is fine and behaving exactly as it should.
Possibly a thermometer will prove the point one way or the other, and my role as a caring landlord will also be clear.

It's a business.....but if you wish to care that much then spend your profits keeping the tenants happy then that's up to you. I wouldn't entertain them.

My tenant wants me to change the light bulbs as she couldn't do it apparently they are too difficult to remove....I declined. Is she happy about it?.....probably not but I'm not paying an electrician to go around to her house to do that.

kitrat

We have freezers at work that refuse to open shortly after closing them. Just wait 30seconds and have another go. It's annoying yes, but I don't think it's malfunctioning. Unless perhaps its always very difficult to open?