I have a 14-year old Hotpoint side-by-side fridge. The plastic sliding
selector for the ice/water/cubes, has broken. I had tugged is roughly
recently and the exposed plastic piece broke. I tried gluing it back
with superGlue, but due to the shape of the break, it doesn't seem to
glue well. When I tried it later, the piece came apart again.

So, my question is, is the selector replaceable? Is it a pain to
replace? Or do I have to call a prof ($70 + parts) :-(

Thanks.
-Mark Sabatini

You can fix just about any broken plastic parts using fiberglass and
epoxy. Get some fiberglass cloth and 5 minute epoxy from the hardware
store. Cut a piece of fiberglass cloth to cover the area that is broken.
Mix the epoxy and soak the fiberglass in it. Patch the area with the
"wet fiberglass" and allow it to set completely (24 hr.). You will find
the repaired part as strong as before it broke. You can even rebuild
lost pieces of plastics using "chopped" fiberglass (cut fiberglass with
scissors) mixed into the epoxy. Great for fixing knobs that have broken
center tabs.


mark sabatini wrote:
I have a 14-year old Hotpoint side-by-side fridge. The plastic sliding
selector for the ice/water/cubes, has broken. I had tugged is roughly
recently and the exposed plastic piece broke. I tried gluing it back
with superGlue, but due to the shape of the break, it doesn't seem to
glue well. When I tried it later, the piece came apart again.

So, my question is, is the selector replaceable? Is it a pain to
replace? Or do I have to call a prof ($70 + parts) :-(

Thanks.
-Mark Sabatini

Oh, if the plastic is smooth, you should sand it first, so the epoxy
will stick better.


DL wrote:

You can fix just about any broken plastic parts using fiberglass and
epoxy. Get some fiberglass cloth and 5 minute epoxy from the hardware
store. Cut a piece of fiberglass cloth to cover the area that is broken.
Mix the epoxy and soak the fiberglass in it. Patch the area with the
"wet fiberglass" and allow it to set completely (24 hr.). You will find
the repaired part as strong as before it broke. You can even rebuild
lost pieces of plastics using "chopped" fiberglass (cut fiberglass with
scissors) mixed into the epoxy. Great for fixing knobs that have broken
center tabs.


mark sabatini wrote:

I have a 14-year old Hotpoint side-by-side fridge. The plastic sliding
selector for the ice/water/cubes, has broken. I had tugged is roughly
recently and the exposed plastic piece broke. I tried gluing it back
with superGlue, but due to the shape of the break, it doesn't seem to
glue well. When I tried it later, the piece came apart again.

So, my question is, is the selector replaceable? Is it a pain to
replace? Or do I have to call a prof ($70 + parts) :-(

Thanks.
-Mark Sabatini