[jberenyi]

I own a Frigidaire Model FGHB2844LF4. Yes this is the infamous one with the lousy icemaker that people on the net have reviewed poorly. But let's get to the problem. I am hearing a creaking/small tapping noise from the ice maker but not all the time. I removed the outer white housing which is held by two screws and slid it out. I noticed on the ice maker there are two copper pipes. One is small and the other larger in diameter. The noise seems to be coming from one of these two copper pipes and if I grasp them I can feel the creaking as well as hear it. Does anyone know what is going on or what is causing this sound? The only thing I did recently was remove the housing like I just described and lowered the ice maker unit thinking I could remove the whole thing. I did this because we've had so much trouble in the past that the wife said just remove it and we can have more room in the fridge. Well, easier said than done. I realized this ice maker was not coming out due to the copper pipes. Now I may have put a very slight kink in the larger line but not much. Could this kink be causing the sound that we did not have before I messed with anything?

[jberenyi]

What the heck! I can't believe no one will help me. What good is this forum then. I go through the motions of explaining in detail and nothing. This forum sucks eggs.

[traderges]

Read your thread because I have the same issue with my ice maker. It would be great if someone knows what is causing this and can give both of us some help here.

[jberenyi]

Originally Posted by traderges

Read your thread because I have the same issue with my ice maker. It would be great if someone knows what is causing this and can give both of us some help here.

Hey Traderges,

I talked with a service repair guy today who has 30 years experience and he noted I may have caused the noise problem because of the kink. According to him, that copper line has another line inside it and when a kink occurs it restricts the ability of the refrigerant to move swiftly while boiling in the line. Thus the purcolating sound I am hearing. I asked him if this line can be repaired and he said that when these new fridges went to a foam backing liner you cannot subject any heat there anymore like they used to years ago when fiberglass was used. Basically I am screwed. We have a factory repair guy scheduled to come to the house on Feb 5th but I fear the worst. So tonight, the wife and I went to Lowes to look at a new fridge for about $2500. We plan on giving our $2000 1.5 year old fridge away and the wife is very upset because we can't afford a new fridge and who would buy it if I put it in the local classifieds except a hard of hearing person. The purcolating sound drives me nuts and I'm sure it would someone else as well unless he was deaf or hard of hearing.

[richappy]

If the fridg temperatures are "normal" you can cover the tube with a sound absorbing material designed for evaporators. should be available at a refrigeration/ heating parts store.

[jberenyi]

Originally Posted by richappy

If the fridg temperatures are "normal" you can cover the tube with a sound absorbing material designed for evaporators. should be available at a refrigeration/ heating parts store.

Yes maskant is available, however if the root cause of the sound is just inside the exit/entry hole for the piping there is now way to access it short of tearing or cutting the back side of the fridge's sheet metal to get into the foam board.

[traderges]

Thanks for the update and sharing the info from your repair guy. It is annoying but mine is very intermittent and doesn't do it so much that it is driving me crazy enough to buy a new fridge. I couldn't believe the average cost of a refrigerator now. Seems to me they jumped up about $1000 in the last few years. Having read your post I realize mine is probably because the line is frozen. I've had issues with the control box being faulty and freezing things in my fridge. I have the new part on order and hopefully after I install the new control box, and thaw out the water lines to the ice maker over a few days, the problem will correct itself.

[jberenyi]

Originally Posted by traderges

Thanks for the update and sharing the info from your repair guy. It is annoying but mine is very intermittent and doesn't do it so much that it is driving me crazy enough to buy a new fridge. I couldn't believe the average cost of a refrigerator now. Seems to me they jumped up about $1000 in the last few years. Having read your post I realize mine is probably because the line is frozen. I've had issues with the control box being faulty and freezing things in my fridge. I have the new part on order and hopefully after I install the new control box, and thaw out the water lines to the ice maker over a few days, the problem will correct itself.

There is a product you can buy which I did today that is made by Parker. It can be had at your local HVAC store. Its called insulation cork and it comes in a roll. Mine looked like black tar with bits of cork in it. Wrap this on the larger copper line to keep it from freezing up and it also acts as a sound insulator. I haven't put it on the pipe yet but the guy said this is a popular item for those new fridges which have the newer type refrigerant. I'm buying an LG fridge this week for about $2100. American Express is refunding my money because I had one week left on my warranty through them. Thank goodness. Not sure what I will do with the old fridge...maybe I will sell it for a cheap price just to be rid of the headache. For what its worth the applicance store owner owned our fridge for about a month or two and it drove him nuts too with a breaking ice maker and noises. He said that the extended warranty companies won't even spend money anymore to fix them and that the customers are now getting full refunds for their units. Its a horrible mess for them.

[jberenyi]

Well I did it. I got all my money refunded by American Express with their warranty program with two weeks left. This week I buy another fridge and I am so happy! LG here I come....Frigidaire get lost and out of my sight forever. I put the scrap heap fridge on the classifieds for a nuclear fall out shelter.