Do you often hear some weird sounds coming out of your fridge and wonder, “Why does my fridge make popping noises?” It might be the result of a faulty or loose component. And during most of these times, it is normal if you panic and call in a professional.
However, you should be familiar with the possible reasons behind this situation and provide the technician with all the possible observations so that it’s easier for them to think of an approach.
Refrigerators often emit various sounds, and sometimes you could not hear them unless you stick your ear to its sides and you can hear the internal components running. The popping noise can usually be associate with the freezer, mainly due to the ice particles and extreme temperature. Not addressing this issue could lead to severe damage to your fridge.
Reasons Behind The Popping Noise From Your Fridge
To find out what’s going on with your fridge, we should enumerate all the possible causes of this situation and eliminate them one by one. After every reason, you’re going to check if that is what’s currently happening inside your fridge. And here are the possible reasons to satisfy your query, “Why does my fridge make popping noises?”:
Reason #1. Thermal expansion
For this reason, you don’t have to get worried since it’s the nature of our refrigerators to pop because of a sudden temperature change. This temperature change might be due to leaving the fridge ajar or when you turned it on after defrosting.
The metal pipes and coils will pop because the temperature decreased. And these materials contract or expand due to this reason.
Reason #2. Issues with the ice maker
So, after you turn on the power button, ice dispensers will automatically create ice, and you should hear certain sounds from the tray signaling that ice is emptied from the molds. And this sound should not be popping.
When your ice maker pops, it shows that this component is forcing itself to operate despite its current state.
It could be due to the jamming of ice, where they gathered in one place, and there’s no space for other parts to move. Or there’s not enough water supply which could prevent the ice maker from functioning. So, you should start checking from the control board if the ice maker is on, next is the ice trays, then filter and your waterline.
Reason #3. Water inlet valve
In typical scenarios, your inlet valve should pop when the water flows inside the unit. However, it should not pop continuously. So, when you hear your fridge popping non-stop, there might be problems with the valve itself or the waterline.
For example, the valve could pop non-stop when it fails to recognize the water supply, and it will continue to do this until there’s water. So, you might want to check if the saddle valve is on. Depending on where your water supply is, it might be under the sink or in the basement.
Reason #4. Loose fan
The function of your fridge’s fan is to cool the compressor and assist it in converting the refrigerant to its functional state. So, it could be loose when you frequently strain this component or the whole engine. And it could make a sound when the blade hits its cage while rotating. So, fix it immediately because your fridge might not cool, and this component could cause severe damage.
Reason #5. Evaporator coils
This reason is also a common situation whenever you hear a popping sound. As the first reason, the coils contract after defrosting because it is starting to cool its surface again. When this happens after you defrost your fridge, you should not worry.
However, there are certain circumstances when it pops even though you haven’t defrosted it for a couple of days and weeks. It could be due to a broken defrost timer. That’s why it continues to pop because the coils are still in the cooling cycle, and it will only stop once you have it fixed.
Reason #6. Insufficient water supply
Modern refrigerators have various controls and alarms on their control board. And some of them make different sounds, such as popping when it fails to recognize the power source. This situation usually happens after a power outage or there’s a low voltage power supply. And when this happens, you should restart your whole unit by turning it off in the thermostat and unplug the cable.
Wrapping Up
And that concludes the article about “why does my fridge make popping noises?” So, you’ve seen that some causes are simply a part of your fridge’s regular operation, and you don’t need to be concerned. However, address some situations such as a loose fan and ice jamming immediately to prevent further damage. And we’re confident that you don’t want to hear that popping noise non-stop, and it could distract you.
So, we hope you learned tons of knowledge regarding your fridge and the possible issues happening inside it. If you have more concerns about it, like when your fridge seems to smell awful, you should read this article entitled, “Why does my fridge smell?” Thank you!