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My refrigerator just today started periodically humming for about 10-15 seconds every 20 minutes or so (something low, 1kHz or lower, I'd wager, though I don't have an amazing ear), followed by a quiet pop.

It has never done this before. Where should I start looking, and what can I do to diagnose this?

The refrigerator is a Kenmore Coldspot (59592990). And no, the icemaker is not on. The noise appears to be coming from the rear of the fridge.

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My first guess would be the icemaker, if you have one. At the least, let us know the make and model so we know what features it has. – Niall C. Dec 1 '10 at 5:26
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Is there any ice build up in the freezer? Could be the defrost mechanism. Like Niall said, make/model would be helpful. – Mike B Dec 1 '10 at 7:17

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Our makes a weird noise when we have too much food in the freezer and it cannot circulate the air, causing the fan to run harder than normal.

It also could be that the noise is a fan that needs to be cleaned out. There may be dust in it that has built up over the years. Pulling the fridge out and inspecting it would be the first thing to do.

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I noticed my fridge was humming a few months ago, and after some inspection I discovered it was the plastic strip at the bottom where the water filter installs. Somehow it had gotten bumped and was loose. The vibration from the compressor was exciting a natural mode in the plastic piece. Once I snapped it back tight, the humming stopped.

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