Moving the residential refrig

[JohnLori]

We are trying to move the refrigerator back a little further into the cabinet. (We need more clearance in the passageway for John's wheelchair.) using a measuring stick, it seems there is about 4" of space behind it, and the refrig manual says it only needs 2" of space. If we could get another 1.5 or 2", that would be perfect. We've taken out the bolts on the bottom and it just doesn't want to move backward. Is there anything else behind it?

Thanks!
L&J

[dgerstel]

L&J,

Here is a photo of the wires behind my fridg, I added the insulation.



It seems to me that there is a screw at each side of the fridg base that raises and lowers it's wheels, allowing you to move it. You might pull it out to see what is behind it, causing your problem. To move mine out, I had to pull it's power cord plug out of the receptacle in the basement and free up the cord where it went thru the floor.

[Old Scout]

Just to double-check--we are talking residential frig? If so--there are 4 bolts thru the floor to anchor the frig--one at each corner of the frig. [generally, two are visible in the main basement and two are in the space above the dump tanks. Even with all 4 bolts out the wheels of the frig tend to settle at/near the bolt holes in the floor, making it hard to get the frig rollling. Assuming there is extra space behind the frig [not sure there is]; once the frig is re-located, you wont be able to use the existing bolt holes to re-achor the frig. It will be tough to drill new holes without a pattern--you need to keep the frig achored thru the floor....

[JohnLori]

Thanks for the help. great idea to add the insulation back there!

We got it moved back. We were able to push it back about 3" which really helped with access to the bathroom area. We screwed 2 "L" brackets in front of the refer into the plywood to keep it from rolling forward and will tomorrow see about using the same floor holes to reattach to the refer. We just haven't looked under there, up through the holes to see what's there. I'm sure we'll get something figured out to secure the bottom to the floor.

[dgerstel]

I would not drive anywhere without it bolted down. You can probably use a hole saw to make new holes for the bolts. The holes in my floor were quite large, with large fender washers on the blots to cover the holes. You should be able to measure back from the present holes, the amount you moved it back for new hole locations. I would also adjust the rollers off of the floor so that the firdg is sitting right on the floor.

[takepride]

Lori:

When I moved mine out, I noticed it is possible to secure the "hook" part of the tie-down bolt to another part of the reefer. On mine, at some point someone had secured one of the main frame members and the other three were on the roller frame. Just be sure what you are hooking down. There was a lot of play and variability possible.

[JohnLori]

We were able to re-secure it to the floor by drill-and-tapping new holes in the same metal strip on the bottom of the refer that the original bolts were screwed in to. It's all good and John's wheelchair now easily goes between the galley and the bathroom area.