How do I tell if my fridge seal is the problem?

[Alundra]

So I have a bar fridge that doesn't seem to be working all that well...

1. When I put milk in it it goes off before the day is through. I didn't think that was possible, especially with long life milk which I switched to so I would always have milk around because real milk lasts 3 days tops (and even when it didnt I could not drink it in time!). It does not matter where the milk is put in the fridge (door, back, middle).

2. It has settings up to 5. I used to keep it around 3, but anything above that would freeze everything....now it feels barely cold on 4 but things still seem to freeze on 5.

3. There's this wierd onion smell in it. I have baking soda in there and that's removed the smell but I cannot figure out where it's coming from. I have never put onions of any kind in there, or garlic, or anything similar in smell. I have not had any uncovered food in there in fact. I have sniffed every inch of this thing, cleaned the whole thing, and I cannot smell where it's from (I thought once it might be the drip tray but it was not). The rest of my room does not smell. The smell happened shortly after milk started going off in there.


A couple of people have told me it's the seal but no one will come out free and tell me if it is and give me a quote. I havent figured out how to test it to find out myself. I'm a student and this fridge cost me $120...a new one is $167...so you can see my reluctance to get someone out if they're going to charge me just for the visit. Also, I don't have the money to replace it so please don't suggest that. I can't.

I have no idea what brand it is but I think it's an LG. I bought it second hand, the previous owners only used it for beer and soda and reported no issues. I had it for at least 9 months or more before I started having issues. In fact in the beginning I was struggling not to freeze everything.

Can anyone tell me how to test the seal please? Or test other things myself that arent going to kill me to see what's happening?

[bigbuck]

Seal can be checked by eye or dollar bill inbetween seal & cabinet, make sure no rips or tears. Seal should be tight to pull all away around with a dollar bill. To help you better pls. provide model number.

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[haroldsappliance]

More than likely the seal is not going to be your problem. If this is a little dorm refrigerator, you might want to cut your losses and pick up another one, new of course. Most likely you have a sealed system leak, and you not going to be very happy with the price of the repair.

[tgoods]

Look for a coating of frost on the evaporator. If it's not fully frosted, you have a sealed system problem and it's not worth repairing.

[JWWebster]

I repaired a leak in one.

Step 1: Find the leak
Step 2: Repair the leak
Step 3: Vacuum and recharge



 Made a video: http://appliancejunk.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-fix-mini-frig-with-leaking.html