Frigidare goes bump in the night

[Larry Weil]

I have a basic Frigidare refrigerator (freezer on top) that is about 22 years old. For the last 6 months or so, it has been making a banging sound at the end of each cycle. I pulled it away from the wall and saw that the compressor motor was mounted to a bracket which was attached to the frame of the fridge with four pins that have a rubber bumper on each side, each secured by a cotter pin. I can easily rock the motor and when I do it makes the same kind of sound that I¹ve been hearing at the end of each cycle. I then observed that the motor shook at the end of each cycle and made the sound. There was nothing I could see that would easily fix this.

So, I¹m wondering if I can somehow replace the rubber bumpers without removing the compressor, which I think would require evacuating the system and removing and then replacing the refrigerant lines? Or does this mean that the compressor is going bad and I need to get a new Fridge?

TIA for your help.

Larry

[Mr Pounder]

Probably the rubber mounts have worn a bit/gone hard where the steel pin passes through them. If you can determine exactly where, use a bit of silicone caulk to make a repair, ie, make good the worn bit.

The compressor is worn internally. It could last for a day or a year; but it *is* 22 years old. Forget changing the mountings.

[trader4]

I'd also put a kill-a-watt meter on it and see how much it's costing to run each year. A new one could use half the energy of an old one and might pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time.

You can probably find the rubber bushings at a parts store online and also a blow up diagram of how it goes together. Could help determine if they can be replaced.

[A. Baum]

Wrap the mounts with duck tape.

[Evan]

@Larry:

If the noise at night bothers you it is time for a new fridge...

22 years is an accomplishment, time to shop for a replacement...

~~ Evan

[Jules Richardson]

Do they log data over a period of time? I expect it's hard to form a true picture of energy use unless it's left on for a few days. (And are they accurate for measuring motor-loads such as a fridge compressor?)

Maybe. I keep wondering that, too. Ours is 34 years old - but considering the cost of a replacement and savings of maybe $100/year in electricity, it's still a decade or so before it pays for itself (basic fridges with a freezer compartment of the size that ours has seem to be $1000 minimum).

It's even worse here in the frozen north, because for 6 months of the year, any reduction in heat lost by the fridge into the room is picked up by the electric baseboard heat anyway, so for half the year it doesn't matter that the 34 year old dinosaur is throwing out masses of heat.

Will a modern fridge run trouble-free for a decade or more? I'm not sure

- I don't have much faith in modern plastic-fantastic stuff that's built to last the warranty period and no longer ;-) Of course countering that is the fact that a 34 year old fridge is probably on borrowed time anyway, and when the compressor does give out it won't be economical to repair it.

cheers

Jules

[trader4]

You can leave a Killawatt meter on as long as you think necessary to get an accurate reading. For a fridge, I'd think a couple days would give an accurate reading. It will read out how much the load is using by the hour, day, week, month, etc.

(And are they

Yes, they measure true power.

I replaced a 25 year old Frigidaire that was still running OK. It went from around $190 a year to run, down to $90 for the new one, so the $100 a year savings was spot on for my case. You're right it does take a while to fully pay for itself, but saving $100 a year does go a long way to help justify a new one.

True enough in winter. If you use AC in summer, you lose some of that advantage, but it's still not 1:1 as the AC works like a heat pump and it takes less than X$ to remove X$ worth of resistive heat from the house.

Like so many things today, it probably won't last 30 years like old ones did in many cases. However, I'm fairly comfortable that you can get at least 15 years out of one. That's enough for most people. By then it's probably time for a new one for other reasons.