The answer first
For the AFR series specifically, a new noise or vibration is most often tubing or a panel touching where it should stand free. This is the narrowest page this reference holds for the fault, so it carries the full order rather than narrowing one written above it. 3 of the 5 causes below can be checked without a tool; the rest need a technician.
What the machine is doing
- A gurgle or a trickle a few minutes after it stops — Normal on nearly every cabinet. It is refrigerant and meltwater moving, and it needs nothing done about it.
- The whole cabinet walks or drums against the wall — Vibration is being transmitted rather than absorbed, which is about levelling and contact, not about the part making it.
- It is loud for the first minutes and then settles — Parts expanding and contracting as temperatures change, which is a sound rather than a fault.
- NEAR MISS — a noise that is there whether or not the machine is running — Then it is not the machine. Check what is standing on it and what is touching it before going further.
Causes, most likely first on the AFR series
- Tubing or a panel touching where it should stand free — Refrigerant lines are routed with clearance for a reason. One that has been nudged into contact with the cabinet turns the whole back panel into a sounding board.
- Compressor mounts that have hardened with age — The compressor sits on rubber pucks that go hard over years. When they do, the same motor that was always there is suddenly audible everywhere in the room.
- The evaporator fan inside, fouled by ice or worn — It is behind the rear panel of the freezer compartment, and it is the part that speaks loudest through the open door. A blade catching frost gives a tick that changes when you open the door and the fan stops.
- The ice maker cycling, filling and harvesting — Cabinets that make ice make noise doing it: a fill, a whirr and a drop of cubes into the bin. Switch it off for a day and see whether the complaint goes with it.
- The defrost cycle: sizzling, popping and dripping — A heater melting frost off the coil hisses, and water hitting a warm tray pops. It runs a few times a day and only ever for a short while.
What to check first, second, third
- Decide first whether the noise tracks the cooling cycle — A noise that starts and stops with the compressor belongs to something that switches with it, which removes half the list at once.
- Time the noise against the cooling cycle with a clock — Twenty minutes of listening replaces a great deal of guessing, because most of this list is identified by when the noise happens rather than by what it sounds like.
- Note whether the noise survives the machine being switched off — If it does, it is not the machine, and everything below is the wrong list.
Safety first
Safety
Isolate the machine first. Unplug it or switch off its breaker before removing any panel, because a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Refrigerant work is licensed work: the sealed system is not to be opened, tapped or topped up by an owner at any level of experience. Leave every interlock and door switch exactly as you find it: each one cuts power to something for a reason.
Models in the AFR family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| AFR151SS | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR151SSOD | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR152SS | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR152SS** | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR152SSOD | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR152SSOD** | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR241SS | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR241SSOD | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR242SS | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR242SS** | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR242SSOD | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR242SSOD** | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
When to call a technician
Treat the boundary this way: what you can see, reach and clear with the machine isolated is owner work; refrigerant work of any kind, and any test that puts a meter on a live terminal is not. On this page that puts compressor mounts that have hardened with age on the far side of the line. Call straight away for anything that smells of burning, trips a breaker or gives a tingle from the cabinet, whatever else the page says.
Other problems covered for the AFR series
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