weird fridge noise

[Nate Nagel]

Got a GE "Profile" french door/bottom freezer fridge, with icemaker and in-door water. Maybe a year old if that. Been 100% satisfied with it so far. Had both sets of folks over for thanksgiving dinner and while sitting around BSing late in the evening the fridge started making an awful racket (well, no louder than my old fridge, but lots louder than one would expect from a relatively new and very expensive appliance.) Found that both fridge and freezer were warmer than set point (likely due to huge influx of leftovers shortly before) and noise seemed to be a blower fan motor, definitely not compressor. Also saw lots of condensation in freezer section. Tried releveling fridge but it wasn't that far off and didn't help anyway. Figured there was nothing to be done at that particular moment in time, seeing as it was a holiday, and that if the noise didn't get better and/or fridge/freezer weren't at proper temp by the AM I'd call for service.

Lo and behold the next AM the fridge is quiet and cold. What happened? Freezing condensation in a squirrel cage? Should I worry?

nate

[Pete C.]

Could well have been a bit of ice on a fan blade while it was trying to move more cold air from the freezer section to the fridge to cool it down. They use regular muffin fans for that BTW, along with motorized damper doors.

[ransley]

The defrost cycle makes noises on mine, I guess since the heater is expanding things.

[gfretwell]

Are you sure it is not just the drain pan under the fridge? My old GE used to set up a heluva racket now and then.

[Oren]

Was that a metal drain pan? Now days they most likely are plastic .

[Stormin Mormon]

Impossible to tell from here. Next time it makes noise, please try to find out more specifically where it is. Fridge side? Freezer side? Etc. Most likely not a really serious problem.

[gfretwell]

It was plastic and the noise alternated from a chirp to a rattle to a buzz depending on where you moved it to. It started when my wive took off the factory tape that held it in for shipping so she could pull it out to clean. I fixed it with another tape up job

[hrhofmann]

The noise you heard could have been the defrost cycle, it heats up the metal plate that has the cooling coils welded onto the back side that air normally flows over. As the plate heats up, it expands and there is creaking, and as the ice melts off, there is clanging, etc. The only way to be sure that is the situation is to look at the bottom of the freezer, behind the kick plate. The melted ice normally comes down a hose and drains onto the metal (or plastic) floor next to the compressor, and is evapoorated by the compressor heat when the unit turns back on. The defrost cycle is normally about 20 minutes every 8 hours, or a full hour once a day, depending on the brand of freezer..

[mm]

I keep my fridge non-level so the doors will close by themselves.

Set them once and they last for many years.

[mm]

Yes. Start worrying now. Reasons to follow.

[Gary H]

Self-closing doors can be very annoying when you're trying to put stuff away.