Chosen Solution
Hi! For the past few weeks, every 5 minutes or so, my fridge freezer (Hotpoint Aquarius) makes a series of lound cloncking noises (a series of 4 or 5 in a 2 second span) then stops. It also sometimes does that when opening the fridge door and what baffles me then is that the light inside the fridge flickers in exact synchronisation with the noise. I’ve read things about noises and the compressor in this forum but I don’t understand what can make the light flicker in sync if it’s the compressor. Apart from that it seems to be working just fine, but I am worried if I leave it like this it is going to break…
Hi @gordonfreeman , What is the model number of the refrigerator? Is the compressor running when the noise occurs? If so, can you hear if the noise is emanating from the compressor or even “feel” it by touching the compressor motor case? If you can “feel” the clonking coming from the compressor, is the refrigerator still covered by the manufacturer’s warranty? If not still check the warranty anyway, as usually the ‘sealed system" which includes the compressor, evaporator, condenser etc (but not the labour costs) are covered for 5 or more years whereas the rest of the refrigerator usually is only the 12 months. Might be worthwhile if it turns out to be a compressor problem Is this occurring continually every 5 minutes or only a couple of times a day for a short while but every 5 minutes in that time? If the compressor is not running when the noise occurs and it only happens a couple of times per day(once every 6-10 hours approx) and it occurs every 5 minutes but for only about 20-30 minutes minutes then this could just be the ice breaking off the evaporator unit in the freezer during the auto defrost cycle before it melts and drains away to the evaporator pan Can you make the light flicker by tapping it? I’m wondering if the flickering light is a mechanical problem in the light/light fitting (loose filament or wiring connection) and it is just reacting to the vibrations caused by the “clonking” noise or an electrical problem where if the compressor was failing to restart properly and keeps trying to start, due to a fault it may cause the light to “dim” accordingly due to the current required by the compressor to start etc. You never normally look at the light to see what happens when the compressor is started ;-)
