Need help with yucky Trilliam fridge

[bake]

Trailer was left for years and I'm trying to make it useable again. Trying to get the faux wood panel out of the fridge door with no luck. I have removed all hardware and fasteners from the trim, I can see where the trim ends meet and tried prying and heat while prying, still nothing and I don't want to ruin the trim. Anyone done this with success?




Also the plastic inside the fridge is stained, I've tried a few different things and it's getting better but a slow process, any hot tips?

[sokhapkin]

I believe bleach should remove stains in 15 minutes.

[francene]

For stains, maybe one of those gel type bathroom cleaners would work if you brush it around and let it sit. After that, Ajax or Comet powder used as a scrub is more abrasive, but it might do the trick.

The panel on the Dometic is removeable. I did mine. Maybe rust has welded some parts together. Try PB Blaster spray at the joints and screw holes.

Good luck!

Fran

[Donna D.]

After you get the refrigerator as clean and stain free as possible, tape off everything you don't want to get over sprayed and spray with Fusion paint.

[Island Claire]

From the picture it looks like the panel is loose in the middle. I pulled ours out by pulling on the middle of the panel until it came out of the trim on the sides. Then I cut a piece of arborite to size and slid it back in. The top of the fridge did come apart a bit to make it easier to slide the new piece back in.

[dbir]

I primed and painted the wood paneling on my fridge, has stood up well so far (same color i did all the drawers and doors.)

[Greg and Tracy]

Sometimes the channel that the panel sits in gets pushed in tight against the panel.
You may have to pry ( gently) the channel away from the panel.
Also, ours had a couple of strips of double sided tape holding it in.
It took some finessing but eventually it came out damage free. Hope this helps.

[Randy J.]

I've had good luck getting rid of stains and funky smells and rust/iron stains in/on plastic using alternating treatments of javex and a paste of Borax and lemon juice, rinsing between treatments. It does take a while.

If you are putting this much work into the old fridge I'm sure that you've confirmed it is working properly and safely. You might want to have an RV place check the cowling behind the fridge before you reinstall it. My RV place told me that what was on my '76, while still sound, no longer met the safety code and he would have to red tag it unless something was done to better seal the burner area away from the cabin. In our case, the fridge wasn't worth fixing anyway, so I scrapped it.

[Gina D.]

I used to detail RV interiors for a living. I've seen worse fridges than this, but this on is pretty bad, yep.

Go to the dollar store (really) Get a few bottles of "LA's Totally Awesome" liquid cleaner.

Spray it on directly, no diluting..let it sit for 1/2 hour. Wipe and rinse with wetish rag. Repeat if needed. Its just that easy. (Really)

[TimR]

If you gently pry it up in the middle of one edge will it not pop out? As for the cleaning, I would also try the Barkeeper's Friend. Cleans things like that very well.

[Bullington]

Whink is the best I have seen to remove stains in plastic/fiberglass.

[jaye580]

Why are you trying to get the door panel off so badly? Granted it's ugly but who knows what's beneath it? (unless you already have something to replace it with)

If it were me, (and I know it's not, just saying) I would paint it with chalk board paint and make it a neat little message board, mucho easier than anything else.

JAYE

[Carol H]

Do you have a thin piece of metal such as a metal ruler you could try and slide in behind the cover & the fridge door backing to see if perhaps someone glued it in?

[Glenn Baglo]

There appear to be screws, or plugs with screws under them at the bottom of the picture that shows the whole door. If it's like my dishwasher, you undo those screws and remove the bottom part of the frame. You then can slide the panel out. On my dishwasher, the panel was black on one side and white on the other. I just flipped it and put the frame back together.

[Greg and Tracy]

If you happen to damage the foil on the door insulation you can patch it with foil duct tape (the kind you would wrap heating ducts with, not the fabric stuff)

[Cory Hilby]

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but my brother Steve Hilby covered my icebox door up with corkboard, with new trim, and it's looked nice, received many complements, and been really handy!

[bake]

I've pecked away at it but still haven't got it apart, looks like it's going to have to be gentle brute force. Even just trying to pull the panel out has met with a lot of resistance.

Meanwhile removed the fridge out of the trailer to clean it up and bench test it to see if it's worth all the effort and so far it hasn't worked on 12v or 120v, yet to try propane.