It’s a song coming every few hours from our garage. Only thing capable of making noise in that part of the garage is our Whirlpool upright freezer (WZF56R16DW00) or our very turned off weekend car (and I already checked with the service dept - no such chiming song is made by this car).
It’s a 7 note chime. Like a song.
Totally random times.
Pretty loud. We actually hear it in the house. Though one day I was sitting IN THE CAR and heard it.
Everything in the freezer seems fine. Freezing well. No buzzing, motor noises, extra heat, red lights or beeping, or any sign anything is amiss with the freezer itself.
I’m having the same problem. Did you ever figure out how to make the music stop? Mine seems to do it at the end of a compressor cycle. But not everytime.
It’s the control board being inadvertently affected by noise it’s picking up on the wires feeding the rather distant alarm piezo (which happens to be located at the bottom right rear of the chassis behind its cardboard shield). You need to find Technical Service Pointer W10854827 which lightly describes this, and then install W10861568 (which currently supercedes W10846247).
After many months of bewilderment, THIS WORKS! (and I’m an electrical engineer). Who would have guessed that these wires, running along side many other wires within the freezer’s interior would create such a problem. The tune will be the same tune that you can recreate by manually turning off then on its cooling function via the interior “Temp Setting, Cooling ON/OFF” button for 3 seconds. Yes it does seem to coincide with the end of a compressor cycle, but that is only because any off/on cooling command to the control board begins with the compressor turning off for some minutes (which is a normal programmed-in period to protect its compressor).
You will notice that if you unplugged and plugged back in the freezer, that will produce a different tune. Don’t confuse your problem with that and think that you have a mains power problem. As mentioned above, the tune is the same tune as you’d hear by manually turning off then on its cooling function. That’s what the noise on wires is causing the control board to think you want it to do. It’s a darn good thing that it at least defaults to turning the cooling back on!!!
Hi Nitram987, I had a whirlpool tech in yesterday and he replaced the part per your description. However he spliced the new part onto the wires of the old part after cutting off the old alarm piezo. He did this because the new unit has a plug in end while our freezer’s original unit was physically wire connected and not a plug in interface. The problem persists despite the unit having been replaced, and I suspect this is because all of the wires from the original unit are still there with the new unit spliced onto them.
Question: when you replaced yours did you fully remove the original unit and it’s associated wires or did you splice in the new part?
I’m sorry “Guest”. Even cutting the old wires that exit out of the controller box to the piezo, and then installing the piezo inside the controller box using just short wires, DID NOT solve the melodies. They came back. So, after too many hours, and without any additional manufacturer info, I have given up. I am currently using a Govee WiFi Thermo-Hygrometer to ensure that my freezer is keeping my food properly frozen at all times. I also installed a 120-volt box-fan pointing at the compressor and wired into its 2 power lines in order to keep the compressor from getting too hot. I’m hoping to get another 4 years out of this strangely temperamental Whirlpool upright freezer.
Nitram987, where does this piece, W10861568, go in the freezer?
Did you find instructions for installation?
(I have spent so long to find this information, now i have the piece to install, but dont know where to begin)
Also, it sounds like you did this, AND it still did not work. Is that correct?
When the cpmpressor turns off, the flyback spike causes the control board to reset and issue the melody. This is happening as the control board varistor slowly degrades towards a short.
As it turns out, only an expensive new control board assembly solves it. BTW, you’ll likely find that the resets are not allowing auto defrost to ever occur.
I have the same problem hear the same ‘song’ that drives my dog crazy at all hours at random intervals. Replace the control board for $400 and it still sings to me. HELP!
So does mine, and it’s starting to drive me insane! The issue started about 6 months ago, and back then it was very random and we could hear the song every once in a while. I actually suspected we were having some electrical issues. But it has since gotten much, much worse. Now it sings several times a day at all hours. NOT. FUN. Very often, it does coincide with the end of a compressor cycle… but not always.
I had an appliance tech come today for another repair, so I mentioned this issue and asked for his thoughts, and also if he could disconnect the “speaker” to stop this madness! On the latter, he removed the control board to check, and the bad news is the “buzzer” (he called it that) is built into the board on the version that I have, so he said it couldn’t be disabled!!
He went on to suggest I replace the control board. I mentioned this thread and tried to explain the best I could how others had attempted that without success, and that the issue appears to be in the wiring. He didn’t seem too convinced, and still suggested I replace the control unit.
Which I would be happy to do if I had assurance it would fix it… but at 400$ it’s a pretty expensive guess. And now I can’t even disable the chime!!
Has anyone figured this out or can offer a working solution? Please?
These Whirlpool Sidekick units have been quite unpleasant to deal with so far. Ugh.
It has been driving us nuts for years to establish this melody was from the freezer … as opposed to the other appliances and equipment in the room. Wish someone could give a definitive explanation and resolution on this.
Great, our fridge just started playing this song, but at the end of the song the power cycles, then the song starts again. Can’t even use the fridge. Fridge is only 15 months old. JUNK!!!
Update:
Unplugged fridge for 30 mins, plugged back in, no song, shut off ice maker (its in the door), fridge has been working for the last 2.5hrs - fingers crossed that it had something to due with ice maker.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one experiencing this! It used to just play the tune once a week or so. Now it’s like 3-4 times a day. It’s in my laundry room and I have to keep the door shut or it will wake me up at night. I’ve had my freezer for 9 years though, so definitely gotten my use out of it. I would replace it, but it’s in a super tight space and it’s a giant pain to get it in/out. I’m just glad to hear I’m not the only one. And likely won’t be looking at a new Whirlpool one!
I have been having this same issue for quite some time. This seems to be the only helpful thread around about it. I have a Whirlpool WSZ57L18DH00 upright freezer. It does a 4 tone song. It started doing this about every few weeks and now it seems to do it every time the compressor shuts off. It always stayed cold so I didn’t think too much of it. Now it appears to have a high amount of moisture inside the unit and ice build up on the coils and is running warmer then it should (20s) at times.
What I have checked:
Thermistor - checks fine
Defrost heater assembly - checks fine
evaporator fan - checks fine
door seal - checks fine
Per this thread I am looking into the control board. This is a pricy fix at $300+. The PN is W11382528. It seems like some have tried this and it has not solved the issue. Per the post talking about the degradation of the varistor. Has anyone tried replacing just this component on their control board with success? I saw the markings of S14K385 on the part which links to a TDK/EPCOS part B72214S2381K101. They are on Digi-Key for $0.43 each. That is a lot less that the $300 control board part and I feel is worth a try.