--- title: "Refrigerator making noise" description: "Electrolux refrigerator making noise: most refrigerator noises are normal and a few are not, and the difference is usually when they happen rather than how…" url: "https://electroluxmiami.support/symptoms/refrigerator-noisy/" date_modified: "2026-09-11" Appliance type: "Freezers, Refrigerators" --- # Electrolux refrigerator making noise ### What to do in the next ten minutes Note when it happens: continuously, only when the doors are shut, only after the ice maker runs, or in bursts. Hold the door switch in and listen with the door open — if the noise starts then, it is the evaporator fan. Check nothing is resting on top of or against the cabinet. ### What a built-in cabinet does to sound A freestanding refrigerator stands in air and most of what it makes goes into the room and disperses. A counter-depth cabinet scribed into an opening, or a column behind a trim kit, is in contact with the structure on three sides, and the joinery re-radiates it. We check for contact points before assuming a mechanical failure, because packing a cabinet off a side panel has solved more of these calls than any part we have fitted. Ice is touching the evaporator fan A blade catching frost gives a rhythmic tick or a warble that stops when the door opens. The commonest real cause and it is also a defrost symptom. The condenser fan or its housing A fan that has collected coastal grit runs out of balance and drones. Behind a trim kit that resonates through the joinery. The ice maker doing its job Filling, harvesting and dropping cubes are all loud, and on a column in a quiet kitchen they surprise people. Not a failure. Hold the door switch and listen A noise that appears with the door held shut is the evaporator fan, and that is conclusive. Time it against the ice maker Noises every couple of hours in a short burst are almost always ice. Check the cabinet is not touching the joinery A counter-depth unit resting against a side panel transmits everything it does into the kitchen. A hum, a rattle, a click or a grinding What it usually means When it happens matters more than what it sounds like Built-in joinery amplifies noise that a freestanding cabinet would absorb Ice against a fan blade is the single most common real cause What to do in the next ten minutes Note when it happens: continuously, only when the doors are shut, only after the ice maker runs, or in bursts. Hold the door switch in and listen with the door open — if the noise starts then, it is the evaporator fan. Check nothing is resting on top of or against the cabinet. What a built-in cabinet does to sound A freestanding refrigerator stands in air and most of what it makes goes into the room and disperses. A counter-depth cabinet scribed into an opening, or a column behind a trim kit, is in contact with the structure on three sides, and the joinery re-radiates it. We check for contact points before assuming a mechanical failure, because packing a cabinet off a side panel has solved more of these calls than any part we have fitted. ### It only does it at night. The house is quiet and the compressor runs longer when the kitchen is warm from the day. Both are normal, and a noise that is only noticeable at night is usually not new. ### It sounds like water running. That is normal. Refrigerant moving through the system and meltwater running to the pan during a defrost cycle both sound exactly like that. --- **[Read full article: Refrigerator making noise](https://electroluxmiami.support/symptoms/refrigerator-noisy/)**