Normal Noises that Your Refrigerator Makes

I have been working on a technical line for appliances the last several years and one of the most common complaints I receive is, “My refrigerator is making a strange noise!” Sometimes, an unusual noise is the first sign of a problem and should be checked out by an appliance technician. But many times that strange noise is absolutely normal, so read this article before you pay a technician to come out to your home.

The noise your refrigerator makes when it goes through the defrost cycle seems to concern people the most. All self-defrosting refrigerators go through a defrost cycle about every 6-15 hours and it lasts for approximately 30 minutes each time. During this time you will hear gurgling, popping, sizzling, hissing and water running. In fact, if you open your freezer door and look inside at just the right time, you will see a reddish orange glow emitting from the back of the freezer wall. All of this is absolutely normal, and prevents ice from building up in the inside of the refrigerator. So don’t panic if your refrigerator is gurgling, check it again in 30 minutes when defrost cycle is complete. Even after it is complete, you will hear gurgling every once in awhile when the refrigerant flows through the tubes in the refrigerator.

Icemakers make a lot of weird noises. You might hear a buzzing when it is calling for water and the sound of water running when the icemaker is filling. In addition you will hear clicking snapping of water valve and bail arm and creaking cracking of ice being ejected. You can also get a hammering or thumping noise during fill of the icemaker or if your water line is bumping against the cabinet during fill. In addition, you will also get a grinding noise if you get a cube of ice stuck in the ice ejector arm. An important point to remember is that your icemaker can make noise even if it is not hooked up to water. If your icemaker is not hooked up to water but is on, it will still make that grinding noise when it is calling for water (even if no water is there). So the solution to that, is simply turn your icemaker off if it is not connected to water.

Some other noises that can be normal are pulsating, water leaking, rattling and vibrating. On the newer high efficiency compressors and fans they have a different noise, it is a higher pitched pulsating noise. A water leaking noise can simply be the sound of the water draining into the drain pan during the defrost cycle. Rattling or vibrating can be from items sitting on top or inside of your refrigerator or even from the water line hitting the back of your refrigerator. The vast majority of times that a technician is sent out on a refrigerator noise complaint, it is simply to advice a customer that their refrigerator is operating normal. I hope this article will help you to avoid paying for an unnecessary trip charge.