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The Artt ATUF freezer family covers two listings in the roster below, and on that platform a new noise has a short list of origins and most of them cost nothing to rule out. A standalone freezer has fewer moving parts than a refrigerator, which makes a new noise easier to place and usually cheaper to resolve. Levelling, contact with a wall and a fan blade catching frost explain most of what owners report.
The observables
- A hum you can feel through the floor — The cabinet is transmitting rather than radiating, which points at feet that are not all carrying weight or at a case resting against a wall.
- A single knock a second after the machine starts — Compressor mounting grommets that have hardened with age let the compressor move as it takes load, and the cabinet reports that as one dull knock.
- A tick or a scrape that keeps time with a fan — Frost or a stray wire is touching a blade once per revolution, which on an upright with a fan is the most common mechanical noise of all.
- Clicking every few minutes followed by silence — The start relay is trying and failing to get the compressor running. It is the one sound here that comes with a cabinet that is not holding temperature.
- NEAR MISS — the noise came with food beginning to soften — Noise plus a cabinet losing temperature is a cooling fault first. A freezer holds food safely at 0 °F (−18 °C) or below, and that is the page to work.
Causes, most likely first on the ATUF line
- Cabinet out of level or touching a wall, a pipe or shelving — Ranked first here, because it costs nothing to rule out, it explains almost every hum an owner can feel through the floor, and freezers are more often installed in garages and utility rooms where the floor is uneven. Every listing here is one base number with a different tail, so a cause that is true of one of them is true of all of them unless the tail is the thing that differs.
- Fan blade catching frost, a wire or debris — Second here, because on any model with a fan this is the most common mechanical noise, it keeps time with the blade rather than the compressor, and it usually means frost is building where it should not.
- Compressor mounting grommets hardened with age — Third here, because they are the only deliberately soft part in the machine, and once age has taken the give out of them every start is reported straight into the cabinet.
- Something loose in or around the machine compartment — Fourth here, because the compartment is open at the back on most designs, and a fallen object or a loose cover produces a rattle that sounds far more serious than it is.
- Start relay cycling on a compressor that will not run — Last here, because it is uncommon, but it is the only sound on this list that means the cabinet is not cooling between attempts, and that makes it the one to act on.
What to check first, second, third
- Decide whether the sound is continuous, cyclic or once per start — That single classification removes most of the shortlist, and it needs nothing but a minute standing in front of the cabinet listening.
- Pull the cabinet clear and listen at the back — With the machine away from the wall, the compressor and anything in the machine compartment separate audibly, and a fallen object becomes visible.
- Switch off for a few minutes and listen to the restart — Everything that only happens under starting load — the grommet knock, the relay clatter — happens in the first seconds of a restart and nowhere else.
Safety first
Safety
Listening needs no power off; anything past that starts by unplugging the appliance or switching off its breaker, because a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Keep hands out of the machine compartment while the cabinet is plugged in, because on models with a condenser fan the blade starts whenever the compressor calls and there is no interlock. Frozen food stays safe at 0 °F (−18 °C) or below while you work..
Models in the ATUF family — Every listing above is covered by this article rather than by a page of its own; where a page exists for one of these models it goes further than this one. Numbers reproduced from the platform data for this label.
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| ATUF21ES | artt:freezer:atuf |
| ATUF21ES SS | artt:freezer:atuf |
Where the owner side ends
Call the moment the noise comes with a cabinet that is warming, since at that point the noise is a symptom of a cooling fault and the cooling fault is what needs diagnosing. If anything smells hot or electrical, unplug the cabinet, move the contents to a cooler and leave it unplugged until someone has looked at it.
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Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
