Baffled
10-06-2013, 06:22 PM
I'm not an engineer but at one time in my life helped run a bit of an engineering company.
I recently bought a Beko Fridge with a low noise rating but since we've had it when it's on its chill cycle it makes intermittent squeaking noises like air escaping from a baloon while the hole is stretched, or snoring sounds. These are not sounds I'd expected - in fact they are really irritating so I had the engineer out today. He told me this is not unusual and it's to do with the compression of the refigerant as it turns from liquid to gas (or vice versa), that loads of modern fridges do it and there's nothing to be done about it. He further said that he gets lots of call outs from people in small flats who buy what they think is a quiet fridge but has these sounds.
Now it seems to me if what he says is right then there is either a shoddy bit of engineering going on with these units (some fridges don't make these noises, so it seems to me it doesn't smack of inevitability), or the noise rating on the fridges is misleading and doesn't take into account irritating squawking.
At the end of the day if I'd known I would not have bought this fridge and it sounds like I'm not alone, so I'm a bit annoyed with the manufacturer.
Has anyone got any insights into this problem?
I recently bought a Beko Fridge with a low noise rating but since we've had it when it's on its chill cycle it makes intermittent squeaking noises like air escaping from a baloon while the hole is stretched, or snoring sounds. These are not sounds I'd expected - in fact they are really irritating so I had the engineer out today. He told me this is not unusual and it's to do with the compression of the refigerant as it turns from liquid to gas (or vice versa), that loads of modern fridges do it and there's nothing to be done about it. He further said that he gets lots of call outs from people in small flats who buy what they think is a quiet fridge but has these sounds.
Now it seems to me if what he says is right then there is either a shoddy bit of engineering going on with these units (some fridges don't make these noises, so it seems to me it doesn't smack of inevitability), or the noise rating on the fridges is misleading and doesn't take into account irritating squawking.
At the end of the day if I'd known I would not have bought this fridge and it sounds like I'm not alone, so I'm a bit annoyed with the manufacturer.
Has anyone got any insights into this problem?