american style fridge make a noise like a fan is hitting off something?

That's excellent, thank you for your kind words. Don't forget the last bit of my diagnosis though.... keep an eye on it.

Incidentally this is perhaps one for the record books, and certainly a conversation piece.. The fact that I correctly diagnosed your refrigerator problem from more than 2000 miles away in Cyprus !! Good luck.

Trevor
June 2007

THERE WAS ICE AROUND THE FAN. THANKS A MILLION THATS GREAT. PROBABLY WOULD HAVE CHARGED FOR CALL OUT FEE FOR NOTHING

josephine
June 2007

There is very probably a small fan which is used to circulate the cold air around the fridge more evenly. It is possible that there is a door switch which stops this fan when you open the door to prevent it from literally pushing the cold air out. Look for a door switch to press with your finger to prove the point. However, some fridges use an internal magnetic switch which you cannot see, so don't despair if you cannot locate.

As to the problem, it will be one of two things.
The fan unit has come loose from it's mountigs, and the blade is catching on the surround .....
Or (more likely) You have a build up of ice in an area which you cannot see, and the blade is hitting the tip of this.

Remedy : In the case of 1/ obvious, you would have to investigate.
2/ You would need to manually defost the fridge section (switch off for at least 8 hours). If the noise has gone after this time, you will have proved that it was ice.

If as I suspect it probably is ice, a one-off defrost may cure the problem (I will not go into detailed explanation why) If however the problem returns within days after defrosting, then the fault lies with either the defrost timer, or the defrost heater

Trevor
June 2007