Do old fridge's go CLUNK ?

Little brick bungalow in midwest US, built in 1954. Mostly original stuff. Floor-boards creak a good bit. I'm alone here.

Every night, in bed, I hear a CLUNK from the direction of the kitchen. Often a second one, not too long after the first. I've heard it while in the dining room as well. Never while I was in the kitchen.

I orignally figgered it was in the studs or rafters, possibly where they attach to the forced-air ductwork. If so, I may never find the cause.

Fridge is an Amana built around 1984. Has given very good service.

It sometimes sounds like it is coming from the fridge, but I can't tell for sure. Do they CLUNK when the compressor shuts off?

Any other ideas?

Thx, Willie

Reply to
Willie The Wimp
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possible. I had an old dehumidifier that used to clunk and rattle when it shut off.

Does fridge have an icemaker? Might be the pipes knocking when the water shuts off.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

I've heard them rattle :-)

Check the compressor mounts and see if something is broken.

Reply to
Oren

I had a Sears that did what you describe - I doubt that it did so from day one, but it died just a little past the five-year warranty on the motor.

Reply to
norminn

I didn't get the icemaker. Figgered it'd be a headache sooner or later.

Reply to
Willie The Wimp

Yes. usually within the compressor, and not much you can do. Goes clunk when the compressor turns off. Part of the personality of the house.

I live under a walnut tree, it sounds like hand grenades being thrown at a Quonset, or a field shelter in Vietnam. I'm not a vet; good thing. I'd be psychiatric over the personality of my place.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I have an old Sears upright freezer that's started doing that when the compressor cuts off. It still seems to work OK, and I put a wattmeter on in and it's all still in spec. (probably a compressor mounting bolt broke or rusted off)

Bob

Reply to
zxcvbob

We had a refrigerator going on 30-some years of use. It always sounded like someone was frantically typing on an old manual typewriter, stopping and starting occasionally, almost haunting...

Reply to
Phisherman

Only 5 years? You don't know who made it for Sears, do you? Whirlpool or ?

Reply to
Willie The Wimp

You should be able to get under the unit and with a piece of wood jimmy the compressor very slightly and leave it in its new position. Then see if that makes any difference. If not, set up a bed in the kitchen and see if the noise really comes from the fridge.Please report back here what you find. Please start a new subject "report on refrigerator clunking" so that we see it again, otherwise it will be so far down in the list most of us will not see the results.

Reply to
hrhofmann

Another possibility is if the fridge has a condenser fan underneath. When the thrust washers/bearings wear, the shaft will pop back and fourth when power is applied or removed from the motor. It can make a clunking sound. As far as the compressor goes, hermetic compressors have the motor and pump actually suspended or sitting on springs inside the can. Over the years, the springs can weaken and allow the compressor to bang against the inside of the can when it starts or stops. There can also be bearing wear in the compressor itself much like what happens with a fan motor, the shaft can move longitudinally and make a thumping sound when the compressor motor cuts off. I found a PDF file that has an exploded view of a small hermetic on page 71 that shows the springs:

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Here's a link to an excellent video about small hermetic compressors:

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TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

It's from 1984. Is it a frost-free model? The defroster might be turning on, then off.

The defrost cycle (if it has one) is just a few minutes blowing heated air through the freezer to melt the ice. On some machines, that involves opening and closing baffle doors, I understand.

Reply to
SteveBell

My house use to have one refrigerator upstairs, one downstairs, and three freezers downstairs. All were gotten for FREE from freecycle.org. They were all 25 to 30 years old. When the upstairs fridge was replaced with an energy efficient fridge from Sears. Cost: 1700. Saving: $384/yr.

My wife got on my case about all the refrigeration downstairs. My claim was it was needed for brewing beer and storing deer meat. But over a year, I replaced two standup freezers with a larger one aas well as the fridge - the new ones were energy efficient. Cost: ~$1600. Savings: $418/yr.

The costs include the Sears Servive plan which has been used twice.

Think about replacing it.

Dick

Reply to
Dick Adams

OH gee, this is a trip down memory lane for me! Back when I was "almost a teen" and felt like a man, I slept right next to a wall that had, get this, a 1948 Amana Fridigaire on the opposite side! This would have been 1954 and later. I always wanted to keep that sucker because it seemed to just run and run with never a problem except one time it sprung a freon leak; luckily it stank to the high heavens so Dad was able to figure out quickly what it was!

Amyway, that fridge would definitely "clunk" when it shut off! Not always, but often enough to get your attention. And occasionally an additional thump a few minutes later, further assumed due to the hi-pressure side pressure leak-down for easy-start next time. It was sort of muffled a little sound, but at the same time loud enough to hear all over the camp and even outside if you happened to be around. Kind of like, IMO, wrapping a piece of steel in a towel and dropping it onto something real hard. Dad always said it was the compressor head banging on the side of the cylinder sleeve when it stopped at its lower-most point, and it wouldn't hurt anything. If it did, we'd get a new one; after all, it came from a junkyard in the first place. It served us for over a decade of all-summer living and was still working when the camp was finally sold. Once or twice we thought we'd beat it by carefully levelling the fridge, but ... nope, it came back eventually! lol, I hav en't thought about that in years!

There was another strange noise up there that we never did figure out. When I was around 16 or 17, fairly during the night, there would be a "bong" sound, like a piece of sheet metal being bent. It seemed to come from under the camp; it was build right on bedrock, raised a bit by 5 gallon cans of cement piers. But we never found anything under there that would/could make that noise. There were no heat vents, just a very large kerosene space heater to heat the place. It had to be critters walking on something, but we never figured out what. My Mother called it our own personal ghost. NOT a lot of help at that still gullible age!

Nostalgia; it used to be so great!

Twayne

Reply to
Twayne

Compressor is suspended by springs inside allowing the guts to clunk against the inside of the sealed container if the high side valve doesn't close causing the compressor to turn backwards then stop suddenly.

Reply to
Jeff The Drunk

Hmm, that makes sense. Might explainj a "kickback" that creates a second clunk, too. Sometimes I love these little asides!

Cheers,

Twayne`

Reply to
Twayne

I can't find the origin of the CLUNK. All evidence is inconclusive. I'll keep looking, but ...

Responses are, however, much appreciated.

Thanks, Willie

Reply to
Willie The Wimp

Well, geez, just set up a deck chair in the kitchen one night and curl up with a good book and/or television, and just wait for the clunk? What's one night's sleep worth compared to all of us worrying about you living in a haunted house? :P

nate

Willie The Wimp wrote:

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Sleep in the kitchen, with your head resting on the fridge compressor?

Fridge compressor is a good place to start.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Reply to
Oren

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