Finally caved and tried that 'freezer trick' for a stuck ice maker gear

Thought it was total BS, but after leaving the module in my deep freeze for 20 minutes, the plastic gear popped right off. Anyone else have a weird hack that actually worked?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylan97613d ago

Sounds like you got lucky with a one time fix. That trick is just asking for trouble with thermal stress on the plastic. You're basically making it brittle on purpose. Next time it might crack instead of just loosening up. The right way is to use the proper tools and maybe a little heat from a hair dryer, controlled and direct. Relying on a freezer is a shortcut that could cost you a whole new unit.

john64813d ago

Totally agree! I tried the freezer trick on a stuck battery cover once and it snapped a corner right off. Plastic just gets so weak when it's that cold. A hair dryer on low for a minute made all the difference on the next one, just warmed it up enough to wiggle free. Shortcuts like that always seem to backfire at the worst time.

ray6486d ago

Yeah, "shortcuts backfire at the worst time" is so true. I used to go straight for the freezer too. After a bad crack, I'm all about the low heat now.