A steady hum, soft clicks, gurgling and the odd crack or pop are normal. Chirping, squealing or grinding usually means a fan is worn or hitting ice. A buzz followed by a click every few minutes, with no cooling, usually means the compressor is trying to start and can't.
Normal fridge sounds
- Hum: the compressor and fans running.
- Clicks: the control or the defrost switching on and off.
- Gurgling or bubbling: refrigerant moving through the tubing.
- Hiss or sizzle: defrost water dripping onto the heater.
- Cracks and pops: plastic expanding and contracting as temperatures change.
- Thud: the ice maker dropping ice.
Rather have a technician look at it? See our Lufkin fridge repair service.
Fan noises
Chirping, squealing or a rattle that gets louder when you open the freezer usually comes from the evaporator fan behind the freezer wall. Either the motor bearing is wearing out ("probably a bad bearing", as one caller put it) or ice has built up until the blade scrapes it. If it's ice, there's a defrost problem too.
A rattle or chirp from the bottom back is the condenser fan. A worn one gets noisy, then stops, and the fridge starts running hot.
Compressor noises
- A loud buzz or hum that starts and stops every few minutes, with a click: the compressor is trying to start and the overload is cutting it off. Often the start relay, sometimes the compressor.
- "It's making a noise, and it's hot from the back": a struggling compressor, or a condenser that isn't getting rid of heat (dirty coils, a dead condenser fan).
- Knocking or banging when it shuts off: worth having a technician look at.
What you can do
- Check the fridge isn't touching the wall or the cabinets, and nothing is loose on top or behind it.
- Listen with the freezer door open and then closed to work out whether the noise is inside (evaporator fan) or at the back (condenser fan or compressor).
- Don't reach into fans or remove panels with the fridge plugged in.
When to call now
- Grinding or squealing and the fridge is warm
- Click-hum-click every few minutes and no cooling
- Burning smell or a very hot back
See emergency refrigerator repair for what to do in the next hour.
Call (936) 304-3264What happens when you call
Tell us the brand and what it's doing. A technician comes out, finds the fault and gives you the price before any work starts, and you decide. More in how a repair visit works.