The short answer
The Aviva ARBM models covered here are compact bottom-mount refrigerators, and that construction decides which noises they make: a cabinet whose cold is made in the lower freezer compartment and moved upward into the fresh-food space through a duct and a fan. Work from when the noise occurs to where it must be coming from, and you will usually name the part without removing a panel.
What you observe on these models
- A hum or buzz that starts and stops with the cooling — Machine-bay noise.
- A noise that disappears the moment the door opens — That is inside the cabinet.
- A constant whine or whirr with no cycle to it — On a compact bottom-mount refrigerator a sound with no cycle belongs to something that never stops, which narrows it immediately.
- NEAR MISS — a loud click and then nothing cools — A start-relay fault, not a noise fault.
Causes, most likely first on ARBM
- The circulation fan inside the cabinet — A circulation fan clipping ice or running on a worn bearing gives a chirp, a warble or a scrape that changes when the door is opened, because the door switch cuts the fan. This is the fan that lifts cold to the upper compartment, so its noise arrives with a cooling complaint attached. First on this family. On a bottom-mount refrigerator line the path this fault travels is shorter and more exposed than the generic advice assumes.
- Ice contacting a fan or a panel — Ice growing where it should not be eventually reaches a moving part, and the noise arrives long after the ice did. Ice on the evaporator meets the circulation fan, which is the noise that gets reported.
- The condenser fan in the machine bay — A fan blade that has picked up debris, or a bearing that has dried out, produces a rattle or a whine that starts and stops exactly with the compressor.
- Tubing or a wiring loom touching the cabinet — A line that has drifted into contact with the shell turns a normal vibration into a buzz. It is the most common cause of a noise that appears suddenly after the machine has been moved. Last on this list, and the item that every cause above it can imitate exactly.
Check in this order, and why that order
- Time the noise against the cooling cycle — Stand by the cabinet for one full cycle. Whether the sound starts with the compressor, stops with it or ignores it entirely eliminates two thirds of the list before anything is touched.
- Open the door while the noise is happening — The interior fan stops when the door opens on most cabinets. A noise that survives the door being open is not inside the cabinet.
- Press firmly on the cabinet sides and top — If the noise changes or stops, it is panel or tubing contact rather than a failing part — and that is a fix rather than a repair.
- Rock the cabinet corner to corner — A unit that moves on its feet is amplifying the machine into the floor. Level it and re-listen before pursuing anything mechanical.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel or reaching into the machine bay. A capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off, and a condenser fan will start without warning while the door is shut.
Models this page covers — the ARBM family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| ARBM115SB | aviva:refrigerator:arbm |
| ARBM177SE | aviva:refrigerator:arbm |
| ARBM184FSE2 | aviva:refrigerator:arbm |
| ARBM184FSE3 | aviva:refrigerator:arbm |
| ARBM187** | aviva:refrigerator:arbm |
| ARBM188*E4 | aviva:refrigerator:arbm |
When to call a technician
Call when the noise is mechanical and inside the sealed part of the machine — a compressor that knocks under load, or a rising scrape that arrives with a cooling complaint. Call sooner if the noise is accompanied by a loss of cooling, because together they mean a part is failing rather than resonating. A note on scope: this page is written for the ARBM bottom-mount refrigerator line and for the 6 model numbers the variant table names. A sibling family from the same brand will have a different order.
Other problems covered for the ARBM family
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