A 1997 GE refrigerator, 20.6 cf, model # TBX21C1, frost free, ice maker, and
it works perfectly, and very quietly.....until the compressor shuts off,
then it sounds like you put
a handful of marbles into a metal coffee can, and shook it. Sometimes its
VERY loud, other times not so much. The rattle sound volume is totally
random.
Its been replaced and banished to the garage for months, where it runs just
fine, doing duty for kitchen overflow, extra ice, and beer.
I have a friend who needs a refrigerator. Before I give it to him, any
guesses as to the cause of the racket, and how it will affect its life span?
TIA

A 1997 GE refrigerator, 20.6 cf, model # TBX21C1, frost free,
ice maker, and it works perfectly, and very quietly... until the
compressor shuts off, then it sounds like you put a handful
a handful of marbles into a metal coffee can, and shook it.
Sometimes its VERY loud, other times not so much. The
rattle sound volume is totally random.

My GE (circa 1999) doesn't make exactly the same noise, but I hear a rather
frightening sound when the compressor shuts off.

I live in the Pacific Northwest, and never turn on the heat. This sound is
loudest and occurs most often during cold weather.

Does anyone know if it portends something disastrous? I've been hearing for
years.

You'd have to isolate it to either the condenser fan or the
compressor. The fan motor usually being the type shaped like an H,
bearings can make some crazy sounds especially if amplified by the
condenser coil. Compressers can also emit funny sounds when they
are turned on/off. Also a compresser in rubber mounts can cause the
plumbing to shake at start/stop and bang into something. Fly me out
and back home and I'd be happy to fix it free of charge.

And you'd get to hear a great home-theater (and sound) system, too.

Sorry, I don't have the money. But you're welcome if you're in the
neighborhood.

"Deke" wrote in message
et...
A 1997 GE refrigerator, 20.6 cf, model # TBX21C1, frost free, ice maker,
and
it works perfectly, and very quietly.....until the compressor shuts off,
then it sounds like you put
a handful of marbles into a metal coffee can, and shook it. Sometimes its
VERY loud, other times not so much. The rattle sound volume is totally
random.
Its been replaced and banished to the garage for months, where it runs
just
fine, doing duty for kitchen overflow, extra ice, and beer.
I have a friend who needs a refrigerator. Before I give it to him, any
guesses as to the cause of the racket, and how it will affect its life
span?
TIA

Maybe some rotten rubber or foam shock absorber.

"Meat Plow" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:59:36 -0500, "Deke" wrote:

A 1997 GE refrigerator, 20.6 cf, model # TBX21C1, frost free, ice maker,
and
it works perfectly, and very quietly.....until the compressor shuts off,
then it sounds like you put
a handful of marbles into a metal coffee can, and shook it. Sometimes its
VERY loud, other times not so much. The rattle sound volume is totally
random.
Its been replaced and banished to the garage for months, where it runs
just
fine, doing duty for kitchen overflow, extra ice, and beer.
I have a friend who needs a refrigerator. Before I give it to him, any
guesses as to the cause of the racket, and how it will affect its life
span?
TIA

Could be a fan bearing or other bearing for the ice mech. If said
friend needs a fridge, give it to him.

Fridges are killers for odd noises. About a year ago when I refitted our
kitchen, we bought a fancy (and very expensive !) black Bosch fridge /
freezer. I have no complaint at all at the way it works, and it's virtually
silent when running. But every now and then, it emits the loudest CRACK! you
have ever heard - sometimes a double one. It is so loud that you would swear
that something must have broken. Sometimes, when I am sitting here in the
dead of night, and the house is all quiet, it will do it and nearly make me
jump out of my skin ...

Arfa

On Sep 28, 5:19*pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
snip
Fridges are killers for odd noises. About a year ago when I
refitted our
kitchen, we bought a fancy (and very expensive !) black Bosch
fridge /
freezer. I have no complaint at all at the way it works, and it's
virtually
silent when running. But every now and then, it emits the loudest
CRACK! you
have ever heard - sometimes a double one. It is so loud that you
would swear
that something must have broken. Sometimes, when I am sitting here
in the
dead of night, and the house is all quiet, it will do it and nearly
make me
jump out of my skin ...

Arfa

Ice maker spitting out the next batch??

G²

wrote in message
...
On Sep 28, 5:19 pm, "Arfa Daily" wrote:
snip
Fridges are killers for odd noises. About a year ago when I
refitted our
kitchen, we bought a fancy (and very expensive !) black Bosch
fridge /
freezer. I have no complaint at all at the way it works, and it's
virtually
silent when running. But every now and then, it emits the loudest
CRACK! you
have ever heard - sometimes a double one. It is so loud that you
would swear
that something must have broken. Sometimes, when I am sitting here
in the
dead of night, and the house is all quiet, it will do it and nearly
make me
jump out of my skin ...

Arfa

Ice maker spitting out the next batch??

G²

Ice maker !! ?? This isn't America you know ! Here in the UK, icemakers in
fridges and freezers are quite rare, and only fitted to either the most
obscenely expensive units, or DIY warehouse 'deals' with models that are all
fur coat and no knickers, and guaranteed to just about last out the
warranty. So it's not the icemaker (that it hasn't got ... ) :-)

I suspect that it is some piece of insulation expanding and contracting, or
maybe some layer of ice deep in the freezer section that cracks away from
whatever it's stuck to. I've learn't to just live with it now as it doesn't
seem to affect the operation, and a year on, nothing is visibly falling off
on it.

Arfa

Ice maker spitting out the next batch??

Ice maker !! ?? This isn't America you know!

Arfa, he was trying to be funny. The sound of ice cubes being ejected into
the ice-cube-holding box sounds exactly like ice cubes being ejected into an
ice-cube-holding box. You wouldn't mistake it for anything else.

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
Ice maker spitting out the next batch??

Ice maker !! ?? This isn't America you know!

Arfa, he was trying to be funny. The sound of ice cubes being ejected into
the ice-cube-holding box sounds exactly like ice cubes being ejected into
an
ice-cube-holding box. You wouldn't mistake it for anything else.



This I know, William. Having spent a fair bit of time living in American
vacation homes, I am quite familiar with the sound of ice cubes being
discharged into the holding hopper. i didn't actually see the comment as an
attempt at humour. Seemed to be a reasonable suggestion based on the fact
that ice discharging can be quite noisy. I guess it's another example of the
differences between British and American humour ... :-)

Arfa

Ice maker spitting out the next batch??

Ice maker !! ?? This isn't America you know!

Arfa, he was trying to be funny. The sound of ice cubes
being ejected into the ice-cube bin sounds exactly like ice
cubes being ejected into an ice-cube bin. You wouldn't
mistake it for anything else.

This I know, William. Having spent a fair bit of time living in American
vacation homes, I am quite familiar with the sound of ice cubes being
discharged into the holding hopper. i didn't actually see the comment
as an attempt at humour. Seemed to be a reasonable suggestion
based on the fact that ice discharging can be quite noisy. I guess
it's another example of the differences between British and American
humour... :-)

Maybe he wasn't trying to be funny. But it struck me that way.

I sometimes post really absurd comments, and they're taken seriously. Like
one about variable capacitor lubricants (as opposed to variable-capacitor
lubricants): "Does anyone make a fairly stable capacitor lubricant?" And I
got serious -- and apparently useful -- replies.

Arfa Daily wrote:

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
Ice maker spitting out the next batch??

Ice maker !! ?? This isn't America you know!

Arfa, he was trying to be funny. The sound of ice cubes being ejected into
the ice-cube-holding box sounds exactly like ice cubes being ejected into
an
ice-cube-holding box. You wouldn't mistake it for anything else.



This I know, William. Having spent a fair bit of time living in American
vacation homes, I am quite familiar with the sound of ice cubes being
discharged into the holding hopper. i didn't actually see the comment as an
attempt at humour. Seemed to be a reasonable suggestion based on the fact
that ice discharging can be quite noisy. I guess it's another example of the
differences between British and American humour ... :-)


The British have humor? Who knew! Is that why you use all those
extra 'U's? ;-)


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!

The British have humor? Who knew! Is that why you use
all those extra 'U's? ;-)

I think it's spelled "humour".

On 9/29/2009 12:45 PM Michael A. Terrell spake thus:

Arfa Daily wrote:

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...

Ice maker spitting out the next batch??

Ice maker !! ?? This isn't America you know!

Arfa, he was trying to be funny. The sound of ice cubes being
ejected into the ice-cube-holding box sounds exactly like ice
cubes being ejected into an ice-cube-holding box. You wouldn't
mistake it for anything else.

This I know, William. Having spent a fair bit of time living in
American vacation homes, I am quite familiar with the sound of ice
cubes being discharged into the holding hopper. i didn't actually
see the comment as an attempt at humour. Seemed to be a reasonable
suggestion based on the fact that ice discharging can be quite
noisy. I guess it's another example of the differences between
British and American humour ... :-)

The British have humor? Who knew!

Well, apart from Monty Python, Dame Edna, Eddie Izzard and Benny Hill, no.

Is that why you use all those extra 'U's? ;-)

It must be something like the Law of Conservation of "R"s (they drop
them in certain words, but insert them intrusively into others).


--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism

The frige I have that's maybe 12 years old or more, sometimes makes a
gurgling or percolating noise after running the cooling cycle.

I don't know what the noise is, but it's been doing this for years.

It also makes a loud popping noise sometimes, like someone else suggested,
that almost sound like spot welds being separated or shot with a BB gun
(fairly loud), but no operational symptoms have been noticed.

It might be worthwhile to do some curent checks, or get a Kill-A-Watt meter
to see if there are any irregularities to be concerned about, but it's only
a mildly annoying situation.

--
Cheers,
WB
..............


"Deke" wrote in message
et...
A 1997 GE refrigerator, 20.6 cf, model # TBX21C1, frost free, ice maker,
and it works perfectly, and very quietly.....until the compressor shuts
off, then it sounds like you put
a handful of marbles into a metal coffee can, and shook it. Sometimes its
VERY loud, other times not so much. The rattle sound volume is totally
random.
Its been replaced and banished to the garage for months, where it runs
just fine, doing duty for kitchen overflow, extra ice, and beer.
I have a friend who needs a refrigerator. Before I give it to him, any
guesses as to the cause of the racket, and how it will affect its life
span?
TIA

In article ,
Wild_Bill wrote:

The frige I have that's maybe 12 years old or more, sometimes makes a
gurgling or percolating noise after running the cooling cycle.

I don't know what the noise is, but it's been doing this for years.

It also makes a loud popping noise sometimes, like someone else suggested,
that almost sound like spot welds being separated or shot with a BB gun
(fairly loud), but no operational symptoms have been noticed.

It might be worthwhile to do some curent checks, or get a Kill-A-Watt meter
to see if there are any irregularities to be concerned about, but it's only
a mildly annoying situation.

http://searchwarp.com/swa84191.htm may have some leads.

The gurgling-after-motor-shutoff is apparently fairly common (I've
heard it from a number of refrigerators) and is described in the cited
article as "Primarily the sound of refrigerant evaporating (boiling)
as it enters the cooling coils."

The popping/cracking: icemaker? or the coil-defrosting cycle as
suggested in the cited article?

Another possibility: on most refrigerators the outside (heat-dumping)
coils of the compressor system are mounted on a metal gridwork, which
is fastened to the rear or bottom of the chassis. As the coils and
gridwork heat up (when the compressor is running) and cool down (after
the compressor shuts off) there's likely to be a fair bit of thermal
expansion/contraction, which will put some stress on whatever
arrangement is used to mount or clamp the coils and grid to the
chassis. Possibly something in this mounting is snapping back and
forth or working mechanically, to relieve the stress - this would
cause the whole coil/grid assembly to "ring" loudly.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

On 9/29/2009 3:47 PM Dave Platt spake thus:

In article ,
Wild_Bill wrote:

The frige I have that's maybe 12 years old or more, sometimes makes
a gurgling or percolating noise after running the cooling cycle.

I don't know what the noise is, but it's been doing this for years.

It also makes a loud popping noise sometimes, like someone else
suggested, that almost sound like spot welds being separated or
shot with a BB gun (fairly loud), but no operational symptoms have
been noticed.

I suggest that Arfa, who reported this odd behavior, set up the fridge
running in a room with a couple of webcams (and mikes) focused on it, so
we can investigate this further.


--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...

Arfa Daily wrote:

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
Ice maker spitting out the next batch??

Ice maker !! ?? This isn't America you know!

Arfa, he was trying to be funny. The sound of ice cubes being ejected
into
the ice-cube-holding box sounds exactly like ice cubes being ejected
into
an
ice-cube-holding box. You wouldn't mistake it for anything else.



This I know, William. Having spent a fair bit of time living in American
vacation homes, I am quite familiar with the sound of ice cubes being
discharged into the holding hopper. i didn't actually see the comment as
an
attempt at humour. Seemed to be a reasonable suggestion based on the fact
that ice discharging can be quite noisy. I guess it's another example of
the
differences between British and American humour ... :-)


The British have humor? Who knew! Is that why you use all those
extra 'U's? ;-)


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!


But we invented Python and The Office and Fawlty Towers .... AND the
English language. Not our problem if you forgot how to spell it on the long
sea journey over ... :-) I have to admit that your Mr Bush was pretty
funny though !

Arfa

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...
On 9/29/2009 3:47 PM Dave Platt spake thus:

In article ,
Wild_Bill wrote:

The frige I have that's maybe 12 years old or more, sometimes makes
a gurgling or percolating noise after running the cooling cycle.

I don't know what the noise is, but it's been doing this for years.

It also makes a loud popping noise sometimes, like someone else
suggested, that almost sound like spot welds being separated or
shot with a BB gun (fairly loud), but no operational symptoms have
been noticed.

I suggest that Arfa, who reported this odd behavior, set up the fridge
running in a room with a couple of webcams (and mikes) focused on it, so
we can investigate this further.


--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism


Awww. Love to help you out on this one boys, but no time. Off on me hols in
a couple of days. Yay ! Can't wait !! :-)

Arfa

Thanks for the additional info, Dave.

Just as much as I was comfortable with accepting, nothing to be concerned
about.

--
Cheers,
WB
..............


"Dave Platt" wrote in message
...
In article ,

http://searchwarp.com/swa84191.htm may have some leads.

The gurgling-after-motor-shutoff is apparently fairly common (I've
heard it from a number of refrigerators) and is described in the cited
article as "Primarily the sound of refrigerant evaporating (boiling)
as it enters the cooling coils."

The popping/cracking: icemaker? or the coil-defrosting cycle as
suggested in the cited article?

Another possibility: on most refrigerators the outside (heat-dumping)
coils of the compressor system are mounted on a metal gridwork, which
is fastened to the rear or bottom of the chassis. As the coils and
gridwork heat up (when the compressor is running) and cool down (after
the compressor shuts off) there's likely to be a fair bit of thermal
expansion/contraction, which will put some stress on whatever
arrangement is used to mount or clamp the coils and grid to the
chassis. Possibly something in this mounting is snapping back and
forth or working mechanically, to relieve the stress - this would
cause the whole coil/grid assembly to "ring" loudly.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:14:00 -0400, "Wild_Bill"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

It also makes a loud popping noise sometimes, like someone else suggested,
that almost sound like spot welds being separated or shot with a BB gun
(fairly loud), but no operational symptoms have been noticed.

My Westinghouse pops as well. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

"Franc Zabkar" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:14:00 -0400, "Wild_Bill"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

It also makes a loud popping noise sometimes, like someone else suggested,
that almost sound like spot welds being separated or shot with a BB gun
(fairly loud), but no operational symptoms have been noticed.

My Westinghouse pops as well. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

- Franc Zabkar
--


I reckon that there's a world-wide conspiracy among fridge manufacturers to
make their products do this ... d[:-\

Arfa

Hi!

it works perfectly, and very quietly.....until the compressor shuts
off, then it sounds like you put a handful of marbles into a metal
coffee can, and shook it. *Sometimes its VERY loud, other times
not so much.

I will practically guarantee that your refrigerator is suffering from
aged rubber mounts on the compressor motor. They can be replaced, cost
is a few dollars and maybe a half an hour's worth of work. The heat
produced by the compressor slowly hardens them, and when it does, you
hear that motor come to a stop.

Even if you don't do anything about it, this noise is unlikely to have
any effect at all on the life of the fridge.

William

Hi!

But every now and then, it emits the loudest CRACK! you
have ever heard - sometimes a double one. It is so loud that
you would swear that something must have broken.

I really think that a fridge or freezer almost can't help but be
noisy. At one end, you have cold and of course at the other you have
hot (sometimes very hot). And then there are all the dissimilar
materials, metal, plastic, foam, etc with differing rates of expansion
and contraction. As such, I find it remarkable that they are as quiet
as they are.

If this is a self-defrosting model, I wouldn't be surprised if you
were hearing something reacting to the heat put off by the defrost
heater.

I once knew of an *old* beverage cooler that sounded like someone was
constantly throwing marbles at a wood door whenever it ran. Still, it
worked just fine until the building it was in was torn down. They
moved everything out first, so it might even still be running
somewhere...

William

William R. Walsh wrote:
Hi!

it works perfectly, and very quietly.....until the compressor shuts
off, then it sounds like you put a handful of marbles into a metal
coffee can, and shook it. Sometimes its VERY loud, other times
not so much.

I will practically guarantee that your refrigerator is suffering from
aged rubber mounts on the compressor motor. They can be replaced, cost
is a few dollars and maybe a half an hour's worth of work. The heat
produced by the compressor slowly hardens them, and when it does, you
hear that motor come to a stop.

Even if you don't do anything about it, this noise is unlikely to have
any effect at all on the life of the fridge.

William

William is correct, it`s the motor shaking around in it`s boots,
sometimes a bit of seruptitious foam packing helps to reduce the noise.
I repaired fridges for years, hate the bloody things!

Ron(UK)

And thanks to all who responded. I think I'll tear into it this weekend and
see what I can find.

Thanks Again!

D