Refrigerator Making Noise? What Each Sound Means

A refrigerator making noise is not always a refrigerator in trouble. It runs all day and makes more sounds than most people expect, and makers like Whirlpool list humming, gurgling, popping and clicking as normal. A new sound often has a simple cause: the fridge is not level, something touches it, or a fan has gotten dusty.

Two questions sort it out: where does the sound come from, and is the fridge still cold? A noise with normal cooling is usually a fan, the drain pan or the ice maker. A noise together with a warm fridge means a part that keeps it cold is failing.

Start With These 30-Second Checks

1. 1Check the temperature with a fridge thermometer. The FDA recommends 40°F or below in the fridge and 0°F in the freezer.
2. 2Listen at the back bottom, inside the freezer and at the ice maker to find where the noise comes from.
3. 3Push gently on the top corners. A fridge that rocks is not level, and it rattles and hums louder.
4. 4Make sure nothing touches the back or the sides: the wall, a cabinet, a bag on top.

1. Normal Sounds You Can Ignore

These sounds come from a fridge that works as it should:

• ›A steady hum or a low buzz while the compressor runs.
• ›Gurgling, or a sound like boiling water: refrigerant flowing through the tubes.
• ›Popping or cracking: plastic parts expanding and shrinking as the temperature changes, often during defrost.
• ›A short sizzle during defrost: water dripping onto the warm defrost heater.
• ›A click when the compressor starts or stops, and a buzz or rushing water when the ice maker fills.

2. Rattling: Level It and Check the Drain Pan

Rattling usually comes from the bottom of the fridge: the drain pan has shifted, or the fridge does not stand level.

1. 1Unplug the fridge, then take off the toe grille at the bottom front.
2. 2Check that the drain pan sits firmly in place and that nothing loose lies near the fan.
3. 3Turn the front leveling legs so the fridge stands level side to side and leans very slightly back, which also helps the doors close.
4. 4Refit the grille, plug the fridge back in with your hands clear, and listen.

3. A Loud Buzz From the Ice Maker

An ice maker that is switched on with no water connected buzzes every time it tries to fill: the water valve opens, but no water comes.

1. 1If no water line is connected, switch the ice maker off with its switch or lift its arm.
2. 2If a line is connected, check that its shutoff valve is fully open and the line is not kinked behind the fridge.
3. 3A buzz together with no ice points to the water inlet valve or a frozen fill tube, see ice maker not working.

4. Squealing or Chirping From the Freezer

A fan behind the freezer's back wall moves the cold air into the fridge. When its motor wears out, or ice builds up around it, it squeals, chirps or grinds.

1. 1Unplug the fridge and move the food to a cooler.
2. 2Look through the vents in the freezer's back wall with a flashlight. Frost or ice around the fan means the fridge is not defrosting properly.
3. 3With the fridge still unplugged, leave the doors open and lay towels down so the ice can melt. This can take several hours, up to a full day with heavy ice. Wait until no ice is left.
4. 4Plug it back in with your hands clear. If the noise and the ice come back within days, the defrost system or the fan motor has failed, which is a technician's job on most models. Some fridges show this as a code, see LG refrigerator ER FF error.

5. Noise From the Back Bottom: the Condenser Fan

Many fridges have a second fan next to the compressor at the back bottom. Dust, lint and pet hair build up on it and on the coils, and it gets loud. Whirlpool advises vacuuming dusty coils when a fridge buzzes.

1. 1Unplug the fridge and pull it out from the wall carefully, minding the floor and any water line.
2. 2Remove the lower back panel and look at the fan blade. Clear anything that touches it.
3. 3Vacuum the coils and the fan with a brush attachment.
4. 4Turn the blade by hand. If it is stiff or wobbles, the fan motor is worn and needs replacing.
5. 5Refit the panel, push the fridge back, plug it in with your hands clear and listen.

6. Clicking While the Fridge Gets Warm

A click every few minutes, often with a short hum, while the fridge stops getting cold usually means the compressor tries to start and cannot. The start relay or the compressor itself is the cause.

1. 1Check that the fridge is plugged straight into a wall outlet, not into an extension cord.
2. 2Move perishable food to a cooler or another fridge.
3. 3If it has stopped cooling altogether, see refrigerator not cooling.
4. 4Call an appliance technician. The relay plugs onto the compressor next to the sealed refrigerant lines, and it takes a meter and some experience to tell a cheap relay from a failing compressor.
5. 5Fixr puts a noisy refrigerator repair at about $200 to $300 and a compressor at $500 to $1,000, both with labor. On an old fridge, ask for the quote before the work starts.