My Kenmore Model # 60162990 freezer on top/fridge on bottom is 10 yrs old. Discovered noise this morning and so I turned down freezer setting to "warmer" (no change) then turned fridge setting to "warmer" and noise stopped. I set back to "colder" and loud humming kicked on in 5 minutes. Unplugged and removed lower back panel which exposed dusty areas but not terrible. I carefully vacuumed up the dust and then plugged back in and bottom fan turned on and no noise. Over the next 5 minutes a real small amount of water dripped from hose onto water pan. Then kicked in loudly again and noise seems to be coming from the black ball shaped part (I assume this is the compressor). It shut off after 5 minutes and I had thought the fridge died since fan shut off too and no air circulating from fridge or freezer fans. Then while I was on the phone with the Sears service department the fridge came on loud again and has been running for the past 3 hrs. I have a service tech coming tomorrow but will cancel if this sounds like an expensive repair that is not worth it. Instead of spending $75 for a service visit, $220 just for a new compressor and then the labor I would rather not waste the $75 and just get a new fridge. However, the fridge appears to be working, it's just loud. What do you think this sounds like? Will the fridge likely die soon? Worth repairing? Any fixes I can try?

Thanks,

Chris

It has almost been 3 hrs since last post and about 30 minutes ago I noticed the loud humming noise was gone. I went to kitchen to find that this simply meant that the compressor was not running. I opened the freezer and fridge to see if the fans were blowing and although I felt a slight amount or air I think it was just the cold air moving on its own in the fridge but the freezer fan was definitely not on since I have felt that before and it was not moving any air anymore. I also heard nothing running. My first thought was "Don't tell me my fridge died at 9pm!" After about 25 minutes I heard the compressor come back on and the freezer fan is blowing air.

Does a fridge compressor and freezer fan normally cycle on and off? Since I am not used to how loud the compressor now runs, I don't think I ever noticed if it cycled before when it was not this annoying.

Thanks

Chris

Gene,
Thanks! I am finding that the noise cycle is on about 6 hrs and off about 20 minutes non-stop. The fridge seems to be working fine and it is not a terrible noise but is pretty loud and definitely would not be acceptable if bought new since it can be heard throughout the house lol. The best way to describe it is it sounds like a loud garbage disposal. Just out of curiosity what happens inside a refrigerator compressor that can make such a noise? Obviously there has been a change internally which leads me to think "Hmm this thing could go at any time". I am not sure if my rational here is correct since sometimes a new noise from a mechanical part is just a noise hindrance and nothing else. I canceled the repair visit since I am pretty sure I would be spending $75 to hear "Yep, thats your compressor and it would cost at least another $300 to replace and install". I guess there is no specific answer as to how long the fridge could last. The constant threat of it maybe dying and wasting food or wasting a day trying to keep food cool and rushing to get a fridge is enough to start shopping. What are your thoughts about Maytag? Specifically Model # M1TXEMMWW which is a basic freezer on top, 21 cu ft fridge which is about the same size as my Kenmore Coldspot. It even comes with an ice maker which I currently don't have but is not the selling point. Home Depot has free delivery and on sale for $598 looks like a good deal.

Chris