Hi Guys, I have a Maytag Fridge which is about 8 years old. At times it makes a really loud CRACK, sounds almost like a gunshot. Would any of you know what it is and if it is serious? Thanks. Jean
Jean, does it do it often, or when making ice or any time in particular? I googled it and the only thing that came up was the possibility of bad timer or bad thermostat. Better call the repairman!
Thanks Vickie, I was going to check the Maytag site but then I thought they would be off today for the holiday. It doesn't do it any particular time and there are times the ice maker isn't on. I guess I will try and keep track and call someone tomorrow.
Check for dust. I had a fridge one time that would do that - it was dust accumulated underneath. As was said, could also be an arc. My sister her has an old fridge that does that - has been for the last 3+ years and still running fine. Guess she is lucky it hasn't shorted out and started a fire.
I had a KitchenAid Icemaker that stopped making ice. I was prepared to call the K/A Service Department when my son suggested cleaning the coils beneath it. He used the vacuum and a long skinny brush..and LO! and Behold! it began working again! A great lesson. Who'd have thunk it???
Jean..there are very few moving parts in the fridge..Only the compressor and the icemaker..I think what you heard was the ice maker falling in the ice bucket...especially if the tray was empty. Or something falling from a shelf. Or maybe, it's just celebrating the 4th of July with a firecracker....But I would not worry too much about it..
We have a 4 yrs old Whirlpool fridge and have already replaced the icemaker, and now the valve that lets the water go to the icemaker is bad. At first I was going to replace the valve, but then after I thought about it, maybe it's better to go back to the old-fashioned way of making ice. I recently activated the child lockout (after it was suggested on one of the threads), so that no one would use the water dispenser or ice dispenser and create a mess on the stainless steel front. I realized that now I wouldn't have to spend about $100/year on filters, etc. Sometimes, simpler is better!
phranque, I know what the sound is when the ice falls into the bucket and it is nothing like that. It is almost like a shot from a gun. If it is celebrating the 4th it started really early....llike months ago.lol.
I will have to get DH to pull it out from the wall. We have a galley kitchen and it is a tight fit. If he can get it out I will clean it and see what happens. Thanks everyone.
Oh, good! Perhaps I can get help for my over-the-stove microwave. The turntable still turns, but it makes a grinding noise. Would it hurt anything if I sprayed a little WD-40 on it. Remove glass turntable, there's a plastic thing the turntable rests on that I can't remove; so I'd spray into a little opening between it and the "floor" of the microwave. I hate to think of taking the whole thing out. In fact, I won't. A problem is we live in the country and paying someone to come out costs a bit. Guess it costs no matter where you live to have a service call.
Once I couldn't get water from the filtered spout on the fridge, but I kept trying. Burned the motor. Paid $. Repairman said the thermastat had been changed and froze water, and I'd burned the motor....So, now if I can't get water, first thing I check is the thermastat which is poorly placed so it can easily be moved when putting stuff in or removing food from freezer (bottom freezer).
This is just a WONDERFUL site for so many reasons--meeting so many different needs! Thanks, again, Joan and all you helpful friends.
Consumer Reports did an article years ago which talked about how easy it was to have significant bacterial growth in those water dispensers and icemakers. Their conclusion was: don't buy a refrigerator with them, and if you have those features, don't use them.
Yes, simpler is better. The more complex operations your appliance does, the more chances it has to break.
MarilyninMD, I believe I am the only person on planet Earth without an icemaker. I'll be 61 next month and have NEVER owned one -- guess it's my sole claim to fame! We had friends visiting last year and their little granddaughter had never seen anybody take ice cubes from a tray. She thought I was Martha Stewart!
I bought a retro style crank type ice crusher last month at Sur La Table and have really enjoyed it. Now am thinking I would like an electric one. Anybody have a recommendation on this?
Weejun, you're not the only person without an ice maker. We don't have one either. When we bought our new fridge, it came with one but DH wouldn't hook it up. He said it was just something else to go wrong. Oh, well, we survived without it. But now I'm the guy stuck with taking care of the ice cube trays because he doesn't remember how any more.
Don't have an icemaker. Neither can anylonger work ice trays. Just go get a bag of ready made. For a punch bowl, make larger blocks with the juice or punch in the drink. That way the punch doesn't get watered down. Use clean yugurt cups or pint size freezer boxes to make them in.
I have never used a electric ice crushes but I have a hand crank one to be used in times of sickness. My refrigerator has a dispenser for crushed ice but when we use it it clogs up. I would think it would have to have a good size motor to work very good. I love crushed ice. Let me know if you get one.
Personally, I don't think it would be a good idea to spray either. Just buy a new one. cheap. un oh, see you have a over the range job and it is a bit more expensive. Still I don't think it would be worth it to pay someone. In the meantime, buy one of those $50. on the counter jobs from WallMart and worry about your other one later.
Zibby...betcha that plastic thingy under the glass plate DOES pop out.....mine does. Might need cleaning and hence the noise. Just wiggle it around after you get it all greased up with the Pam or whatever.....just don't force it in case yours ISN'T meant to pop out like mine, okay?
I THINK the problem with the fridge is solved. I eased it out a little from the back wall and I remembered i have a long brush I use to clean the lint trap in the dryer. I used that as far as I could reach under the fridge and so far so good. No gunshots.
Darn we are good! I'm impressed with all of our learned skills. I use the word SKILL with confidence. Jean I'm glad the gunshots are gone, at least for now. Zibby, I checked and my plastic thingy comes out too. Soak around yours with a strong grease cutter, like Greezed Lightening or Cinch...and let it sit for awhile. I think thereason your turntable is making grinding noices is because something is stuck in the turny-thing and that's causing the noise.
We are good at taking care of things. The only thing we lack is the "correct vocabulary". But who needs that as long as we know what the "turny-thing", "gizmo", "shrinky bar", etc. are. In the long run, as long as the food cooks, drinks chill, clothes wash and dry, and the computer works, we're good to go. Plus, we have our "handy" helpers to brainstorm with us when something does go on the fritz.
I think I need to stop reading this string..or stop being superstitious. After reading about refrigerators, I was congratulating myself on continued good luck wth our built in refrigerator after initially having apparently purchased a huge lemon. We replaced the top unit a about three years ago with great success...until yesterday..happy 4th of July! IT DIED! Just said goodbye without even any notice. Guess what I've been doing since...throw, dump, clean, mop, stash in coolers, discard, blah blah. GRRRRR! Now I'm waiting for the last shoe to drop as either our fax machine or the dedicated phone line also died a couple of days ago. Superstitious? Who me?
I think everything comes in 3's and I pray your refrigerator was Number THREE. Hurricane Ike took mine....electronically. The power surge when all the power blew out in Greater Houston fried the compressor, ice maker and some other gadget that shouldn't even be in a refrigerator/freezer.
Shanteuse--Never heard of the bacterial accumulation, makes sense, though. Weejun--we had to have icemakers for DH--he loves ice cubes, so we always bought refrigerators with them. This is the first one that gives you a choice between crushed and cubed, and has a water dispenser. I thought it would encourage me to drink more water--not the case. Filling an ice tray a day hasn't been such a big deal! Cute story about the little girl!
Kathi--so sorry about your fridge. It it really dead? Steve had (accidentally) turned ours off a few years ago--is it possible that's what happend to yours?
OK, everyone! Let's get Joan to close this site. It IS CONTAGIOS! Yesterday, one of my air conditioner compressers burnt up, it's fried, dead! ... finit! I've been on the phone getting additional bids and it seems like I'm stuck with a $1500 replacement cost. We're still in the triple digit heat wave in Houston, so we have NO choice.
Now I have to deal with repairmen coming in and out of the house today. Each time, DH thinks they are different people and he doesn't like for strangers coming in without knocking first. No sense in trying to explain anything to him....his "explanation receptor" is also broken.
Looks like it's going to be a MONDAY....all day long! :-)
Nancy, good luck with that. You really need it there. We got married in Houston in July, so I KNOW. Plus, visited friends and relatives (hers) many times.
Okay...it is now official...it definitely works in threes. Woke up this morning to dead telephones!Read instructions and trouble shooting, and no reprieve. That's our three..now..NO MORE! I wonder if Costco is the big bubba in this as that is where I'm headed to replace the phones and fax. :-l
Anybody who has a fax machine, you need a good quality surge protector that also has a PHONE LINE protector. You plug the phone line from the wall into the surge protector, and then you plug a cable from the surge protector into your fax machine. A lightning strike can hit a phone line and send a surge that will kill your fax machine, the same as if it hit an electrical line. You can get a great one at CostCo and lots of other places for less than $20 -- even as low as around ten bucks.
For that matter, you should make sure your computer is similarly protected, whether it's on cable or on the telephone line. I use an Uninterruptible Power Source, also known as a Battery Backup, so that if the power goes off for a second or two I don't lose whatever I'm working one. Most of them have both phone and cable connections built in. You can get a small one for around 35 bucks.
Last year I signed up for whole-house surge protection from our electric company. It's about $8 a month and they say it's the best thing available. Not sure if it protects phone lines, though, maybe just electrical--I'd better check. I wonder if those of you who are having multiple outages are having power surge issues?
Yes it is just electrical...The phone lines and the cable are two other separate issues that should also be protected...Phone line surge protector will protect the phone and or your modem...If you have cable, it is a good idea to include it with surge protection to protect your tv or your network card. They do make a unit that combines all 3 into a single unit.
It's very easy to find surge protectors that have phone line protectors and usually cable protectors included in them so you only have to have one unit. You can find one for less than twenty bucks. You'll probably do better to get a decent name brand, which won't cost you any more than some junky brand that may fail and could cost you the price of a new fax machine. The good brands usually have a guarantee that if a lightning strike or other power surge kills your equipment, they'll replace the equipment up to a value of 10 or 15,000 bucks.
Also, if you check out the discount deal sites like Yugster or Woot, they occasionally have good ones for just a few bucks, if you want to have a spare around. (You should get a surge protector RIGHT AWAY to protect during the summer storm season). I got a nice Phillips one a while back for 6 or 7 bucks.
I was told even though you have a whole house surge protector you should still have computers and such on their own. They can be a surge within your house or when the power comes back on there can still be a single line surge.
It didn't end wih three! My computer died and was not fixable and my car is warning that something is wrong. I sure am enjoying my new laptop, though. I can sit with DH while he watches TV instead of having to hole up in my office.
Microwave update if anyone cares:) (See 7/4ff) Tried housebrand "Pam" and blowing w/ dust remover - no go. Finally called repairman: need new magnitron (?). Expensive; so I checked my registration and instruction book. I hadn't purchased extended warranty, but the regular warranty on this part expires 8/14/09! Five years. Can't build things to last, but at least the part was under warranty by a month. Sometimes things are 1/2 good 1/2 bad. Bad 1/2 it quit working; good 1/2, it was under warranty.
Zibby, the magnetron is the electronic gadget that produces the microwave energy, and wouldn't have anything to do with your turntable making a grinding noise, which, if I remember was the problem you were experiencing. And the magnetron is probably the most expensive part to replace, so it sounds like it could be a ripoff to me. If it was me I'd just forget about the turntable, as long as the unit still cooks stuff -- ours doesn't even have a turntable.
OK Gourdchipper, I need your help! I recently had to buy a new compressor for my AC. I hav 3 compressors in all. I ask the man if he replace the compressor outside, would it be compatible with the rest of the unit in the attic. Absolutely! the problem was the compressor "burned up"..or something ike that. It was fried!........ Over the weekend, the air in that area began to warm up and he came back today. Voila! The unit in the attic for that compressor was iced up! He turned it off, will be back tomorrow to see what the problem is after it defrosts! I'm already out lots of money on this particular unit. Any hints on why that happened?? Why did the unit ice up? I think I'm being taken for a ride, ... and it's scary.
I realized it wouldn't "cook" when we put a cup of water in it when the repairman came to assess the problem. Before that I'd been afraid to try. Yup, the magnetron is expensive, but since it's under warranty, there's no charge. $68 fixed it (house call; we live in the country). Could get a countertop one instead of repair, but then what do I do w/the over the stove one except use light, fan, clock, timer and a countertop one would take up space I didn't want to sacrifice. Apparently, it wasn't the turntable making the noise, I just thought it was the problem because when I turned it on, the noise started. Like a car mechanic recognizes rattles, hums, etc. microwave folk recognize stuff when they hear it, I guess. So many words to say it's fixed :) I appreciate all the suggestions.
Nancy B.....two reasons why the ac ices up...one is poor air flow, such as the fan in the air handler not running, and the other is not enough freon inthe compressor....Now if he changed the compressor, he probably did not charge it properly...another possible offender is a dirty filter.... Here in a nutshell is how the ac workss......the compressor compresses the gas in the system, and it becomes cold, nd travels to the attic air handler to a "coil" (it looks like a big radiator....That becomes cold (like your refrigerator freezer), and then the air handler blows air through the radiator, picking up the coolness in the process...If the air flow is not sufficient, the coil will ice up and then no air gets thru at all until it melts...But chances are that the unit is low on freon gas......The repairman should have a set of guages so he can check the pressure (both the low and the high), and use that to fill it with more gas..... Hope this helps..