mmmmmm....Click.......Click..

September 20, 2007 4:31 AM

Mini-fridge woes.

After being transported from my friend's apartment to my dorm room, my 2-year-old, $89 Haier mini-fridge is making loud clicking noises every time the motor stops going. (If not the motor, whatever it is that makes perfectly tolerable low humming noise of a typical fridge. When the nice humming noise stops, the clicks follow.) Every 20 minutes or so there will be 2-3 really loud slow clicks, and it's starting to drive me crazy.

Is there anything I can do about this besides buy another cheap mini-fridge? Are these noises a sign of its demise, or just a nuisance?

posted by puffin to home & garden (8 answers total)

Mine (same fridge) did that too. It started sometime in January, I think, and was working as of mid-August. It has been in storage since then, however.
posted by oaf at 5:06 AM on September 20, 2007

I meant to say more: Have you tried defrosting it? Mine clicked less loudly after being defrosted.
posted by oaf at 5:07 AM on September 20, 2007

Nope, it hasn't been defrosted for over a year -- I think my friend just kept it plugged in the whole summer. I'll give that a shot.
posted by puffin at 6:08 AM on September 20, 2007

That noise is your relay/overload assembly tripping. It sounds like your compressor is short cycling which isn't good.

However there are lots of things that can cause this, the only way to be sure would be to measure the amp draw of the compressor.

In order of expense:

Short cycling can be caused by a heavy frost build up (more than say half an inch) so go ahead and defrost. You should defrost your fridge when the frost gets to be a 1/4" thick or anytime you have ice rather than frost. Do not poke at the frost with anything, even a plastic spatula can deform the tubing causing a problem. The best method is to just turn the fridge off. If you must be more active warm water and a turkey baster are safe. Or a garden hose outside.

Short cycling can also be caused by the cap tube of the cold control coming loose from the freezing compartment. Check for this once you have the unit defrosted.

Your cold control could be bad. this will cost 30-70 dollars for the part.

Your relay overload assembly could be bad, again about 30-70 dollars for the part.

Your compressor could be failing. About $350-400 to replace. It isn't user serviceable as you need a several thousand dollars worth of specialized tools to make the repair.

Finally you could have bad power that isn't supplying enough voltage. This is worth a check if you are in a rural area. Use a voltage meter to check, you should have at least 110V at a regular outlet between the two flat prongs.

You can have this symptom sometimes for years before the fridge actually quits. I wouldn't replace the unit until it quit however it's not driving me crazy either.
posted by Mitheral at 9:13 AM on September 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Haier quality control isn't anything to write home about. I've owned two Haier "appliances" - briefly - and would never consider a third.
posted by ikkyu2 at 9:30 AM on September 20, 2007

Short cycling can be caused by a heavy frost build up (more than say half an inch) so go ahead and defrost. You should defrost your fridge when the frost gets to be a 1/4" thick or anytime you have ice rather than frost.

I had no idea that this was so bad. I definitely have more than 1/4" of icy buildup on the freezer section. At the moment I have the fridge off with bowls of hot water inside to speed up the process a bit. I'll report back with the results later...

Re: your other suggestions. I'm in a large dorm in an urban area, so I don't think voltage could be the issue. In terms of replacing parts, I'd probably just buy another cheap fridge. Hopefully defrosting and checking the cap tube will do the trick!
posted by puffin at 9:34 AM on September 20, 2007

Maybe not for puffin, but for the googlers: a common cause of refrigerator compressors working too hard is a failing door gasket. You should perform the "dollar test" on each side (top, right, bottom, left) of each door: close it with a dollar flattened between the frame and the gasket, and try to pull it out. If you feel no resistance, your gasket is not providing enough, uh, gasketry. New ones are consumer-replaceable, generally under $100, and will extend fridge life.

For a Haier, though, it may not be a great investment. You can "refresh" the rubber a little bit with something like WD-40, which will make it slightly more pliable for a while.
posted by dhartung at 10:45 AM on September 20, 2007

I'm not sure why an overload switch would click more than once or twice per cycle. I could see once as it trips, and once as it resets, but a third click?

I wonder if the clicking might simply be thermal expansion or contraction of some part. Try wiggling every piece of the condenser, nudging the compressor, and squeezing the exposed portion of the evaporator (ice section?) inside the fridge.
posted by Myself at 10:35 PM on September 20, 2007