<p>I need to clean under a bin in the refrigerator and I can’t get it out because the door won’t open wide enough. The whole unit is too close to the wall. It’s too heavy for me to move. Any suggestions for finding someone to help? Is this something I’d look on Angie’s List for a handyman? Craig’s List? I don’t know any strapping young high school students around here. Everyone I know has grown up and moved away.</p>
<p>With your health, I don’t want you to try this and I think you should wait for your H to return…but this is what I did (thankfully no one was around with video)</p>
<p>I pulled off the vent grate on the front. then I got on all fours and grabbed ahold of each leg and jockeyed them back and forth till I moved the unit forward about 2 inches.</p>
<p>If you have a couple of those super thin/ flexible cutting boards try slipping them under the legs and it should glide when you pull.</p>
<p>(this is all assuming you have a regular brand and not one like a Viking which I would guess is 10 times heavier)</p>
<p>I second Kajon’s first paragraph.</p>
<p>The secret for moving big heavy things is to stick something under. Cardboard is really easy, as is a towel (one you don’t care about). Tilt the thing and slip the helper under the lifted edge. You’ll be amazed at how much more easily you can shift weight on to that to move it. This method also protects the floor.</p>
<p>How old is this fridge? My 20 year old one had wheels, and slid easily out.</p>
<p>I think it’s about 15 years old thumper. It sure doesn’t slide out easily. When H is around, I’ll try the suggestions here. My back is already hurting some, so I didn’t try too hard.</p>
<p>If it has an external pivot point, use a wrench or screwdriver or whatever, undo it at the top, and lift the door off the bottom bracket.</p>
<p>They often have “leveling feet” which screw down to lift the fridge off the rollers. And, the plastic wheels on the rollers often break over the years. Rendering them useless. Either can be investigated by pulling the vent cover off the front bottom.</p>
<p>With inoperative wheels the best bet it to get appropriate furniture sliders (or cardboard). Use a “wrecking bar” under an edge for easy leverage to lift one corner at a time while the second person slides the furniture slider under the foot on that side. I used that technique to get a big piece of cardboard under ours and slide it from one room to another while we had a new floor put down in the kitchen.</p>
<p>Another thing that can happen is the wheels sink into a soft vinyl floor. Once you get the wheels out of the impression, they move easier. Another thing to try, rather than pulling straight out is to move one side a bit, then the other. You have a bit more leverage pulling on one corner, rather than trying to pull the whole thing.</p>
<p>What kind of floor do you have? When the deliverymen installed my new washer, they sprayed windex on the linoleum floor to slide it more easily into position. This would obviously not work very well on a tile floor, but might work on hardwood.</p>
<p>The floor is oak.</p>
<p>Again, lean into it and when it tilts a little slide some cardboard under the edge. I’ve moved incredibly heavy, bulky stuff with this trick. If you can get cardboard under the front, you can pull the whole thing forward much more easily with just a little rocking to get it moving.</p>
<p>The cardboard method has the added benefit of protecting your floor from scratches or other damage that might occur.</p>
<p>Check for the leveling legs on the front like interesteddad mentioned. Some fridges have them screwed down. If they’re screwed down you won’t be able to move the fridge without a lot of effort and damage to your floor so you need to screw them back up off the floor before trying to move it. I never screw down the leveling legs on my fridge - I’ve never needed to and they’re a pain when you want to roll it out.</p>
<p>If it’s on rollers, it’s just a matter of pulling hard enough. Usually the ‘breakout’ force, i.e. the force to start it moving, is much greater than that needed to keep it rolling. </p>
<p>The cardboard hint is a good one since you want to protect your hardwood floor. </p>
<p>This is something very simple to do so it’s usually a job for an H, strapping S, or helpful neighbor if you feel you shouldn’t do it or can’t do it (and be careful not to damage yourself trying something you shouldn’t).</p>
<p>An alternative - you might be able to just remove the door to get access for cleaning and then replace the door when done. How viable this is depends on your particular fridge design but many single door fridges are designed so the door can be installed on either side so they’re fairly easy to take off.</p>
<p>I totally agree with people who said, please don’t try to move it. But then I just read you were going to wait till H was home, so great!</p>
<p>Have you ever used those things they move furniture with (I don’t know the name of it)? They look like plastic coasters. We have moved really heavy stuff this way. If you can lift up just one side of the frig about 1/4 inch, you can shove it underneath, and you lift up the other side and stick another one underneath. And you just slide that puppy right out of there. It makes it so easy!</p>
<p>This is a double door fridge. We do have those coasters here though, so maybe I’l try that tomorrow, but only with help.</p>
<p>Off topic, but since you’re here, how are you doing?</p>
<p>If she’s not strong enough to slide the fridge out, there’s no way she will be able to tilt it to put anything under it.</p>
<p>Well, she said with help, so I’m counting on that she’ll have someone else to do the heavy lifting. </p>
<p>If you’re near Seattle, bethie, me and my H can come over any time you want. My husband is strong. Me, not so much, but I can fake it.</p>
<p>bethie … please post this in the THINGS NOT TO DO THREAD, when you have been sick and have an aching back.
Then go have a cracker and wait for someone else to do all heavy lifting. ;)</p>