Customizing my fridge for noise issues

[Nola]

Hi I'm new here so my apologies if this is not in the right thread. I couldn't really find a thread that applied. Anyhow full disclosure I don't like noise and have a very low tolerance for it. 10 years ago we built a new house on a crawlspace and to minimize the noise of the fridge we had the compressor, evap fan and condenser moved to the crawlspace. The silence was beautiful. Well it was for 8 years and then it developed a refrigerant leak so we had to toss it. We bought a new fridge and commissioned a customization to again have the'guts' if you will, moved again to the crawlspace. Well this time around the fridge is making this strange ghostly/breathing sound so the refrigeration guy has been playing with the volume of refrigerant thinking that the pressure of the refrigerant going through the filter drier is causing the sound. If the level is too low it sounds great but doesn't cool, when he increases it it cools but the sound comes back. Never had this problem the first time around so don't know what it is. I will pay anything to get this to cool without the noise. Any out of the box type thinkers out there that have any ideas on what further customizing could be done to alleviate this issue? Sorry this isn't very technical, I'm not a refrigeration gal, as if you needed me to say that. Thanks in advance!

[Rob White]

.

Wow, fair project for anyone who is interested and living in Canada,
unless you are prepared to fly people in

Seriously though the noise you are hearing, as rightly assumed is the refrigerant
passing through the system. For the most a gurgling, hissing or low drone
noise is not too bad but in your case it is an issue.

Without seeing the system I would be surprised if it was the dryer making the noise,
it is not impossible but the noises tend to be in the evaporator.
Sometimes the type of compressor can make a difference, reciprocating (piston)
type compressors tend to be the noisiest and that is one of the reasons why
some manufactures choose not to use them on their AC systems because
of the noise they make. A small rotary compressor or a small scroll compressor
(if they do a scroll small enough) might make a difference.

Failing that some systems have noise baffles just like car silences, exhaust systems,
you might call them mufflers? Anyway some manufactures put small noise
baffles into the system to help minimise the noise.

Failing that other types of metering device (restriction systems to regulate refrigerant flow)
could be used. this sometimes tends to be the noisiest part (other than the compressor)
A lot of noise heard could almost certainly be due to the type of metering device. If it is a
capillary tube there is little control and the tube connects straight to the dryer so that could
add to the confusion of where the noise is coming from.

All this would be experimental though and not guaranteed to be totally successful first time
due to the nature of different component designs.

My advise would be to move the workings as far as possible away from the fridge as practical
and then ensure the minimum amount of equipment is inside the fridge, you will need
at least the evaporator and maybe a fan.

Another alternative is to have the workings of the fridge as far away from the fridge and then
blow in the cold air through insulated flexible ducts, then most of the noise could easily be eliminated.

A very interesting one, please return with an update to let us know how you get on.

All the best and I hope it works out for you.

Regards

Rob

.

[Brian_UK]

I would agree with Rob and ask do you know what type of refrigerant was used in the old system and what is in the new one.

I have a domestic fridge/freezer at home that runs on the newer R600, hydrocarbon, refrigerant and it makes all sorts of odd noises.

The noise ranges from hissing through gurgling to the occasional squeeze/pop type sounds so I do sympathise.

[monkey spanners]

Lots of new design fridges are very noisy with sounds of gurgling, hissing, cracking, etc common. Seems to be more the ones that run hydrocarbon refrigerants.

[r.bartlett]

Firstly can you take a few pictures of what you are talking about and upload them. this always helps.

I wonder if a new larger drier would be a help as it would act as a semi receiver as well as altering the dynamics of the system.

[frank]

Get yourself anAbsorption fridge. No moving parts and silent operation

[r.bartlett]

Get yourself anAbsorption fridge. No moving parts and silent operation

good call but unlikely to have the drink dispenser and ice maker American fridges which tend to be of choice on that side of the pond..

[The Viking]

Hmmm,

Without seeing the installation, hearing the noise and being able to put our hands on the system is it difficult to find the cause.
A couple of things to check;
- As the pipes been extended, did the technician carrying the work out increase the refrigerant charge to allow for the added internal volume?
- We are also talking Canada in the winter, what is the temperature in your crawling space?
- If the noise is coming from the drier, is the outlet from the drier to the capillary tube the lowest point of the drier or at the top. (for the system to operate correctly, the capillary tube need liquid refrigerant entering it. If there is a mixture of liquid and vapour then it might cause noise)

Happy hunting!
(And if you are near a ski resort I am more than happy to come and investigate providing my travel costs are covered.)

[MikeHolm]

Where in Canada are you?

[r.bartlett]

Hmmm,

Without seeing the installation, hearing the noise and being able to put our hands on the system is it difficult to find the cause.
A couple of things to check;
- As the pipes been extended, did the technician carrying the work out increase the refrigerant charge to allow for the added internal volume?
- We are also talking Canada in the winter, what is the temperature in your crawling space?
- If the noise is coming from the drier, is the outlet from the drier to the capillary tube the lowest point of the drier or at the top. (for the system to operate correctly, the capillary tube need liquid refrigerant entering it. If there is a mixture of liquid and vapour then it might cause noise)

Happy hunting!
(And if you are near a ski resort I am more than happy to come and investigate providing my travel costs are covered.)

might help your chance if you had read her post first before applying

[Nola]

Thank you so much for all of your replies, I appreciate it very much. I don't have a lot of time right now so I won't get into all the details but what I will do on Sunday probably is try to take a video and/or some pictures of the machinery so you can get an idea of what it looks like and what it sounds like. I hope that some of you will indulge me in looking at the pictures and listening to the video and hopefully come up with some ideas. Again, Thank you so much!

[The Viking]

might help your chance if you had read her post first before applying

Well actually...
What she did state in her original post was that they tried taking gas out but it isn't clear if he added more than the original charge.

If the level is too low it sounds great but doesn't cool, when he increases it it cools but the sound comes back.

[Nola]

Where in Canada are you?

In Victoria, BC

[Nola]

Well actually...
What she did state in her original post was that they tried taking gas out but it isn't clear if he added more than the original charge.

[/COLOR]

I'm not sure of that. He put the refrigerant in, and it was noisy. He backed it way off, then it did not cool, not even a little bit. He came back and kept adding until it made the noise and then left it. It took 3 days to get to temp which makes me wonder if he's just at the borderline of minimal refrigerant, maybe he needs to actually increase it, not decrease it. Is there a chance that more refrigerant = less noise, or is it more likely more refrigerant =more noise. Refrigeration guy thinks more refrigerant= higher pressure which = more noise. I guess there's no harm in getting him to top it up and see if noise persists? Thinking if it took 3 days to cool then it will have troubles maintaining which will = longer run times?? Sorry my lingo is so simple��

[Nola]

Cannot upload videos��. The sound does appear to be coming from around the evaporator coil area, but I'm certain it did not make this sound prior to the relocating of its guts which leads me to believe it has something to do with the installation. Any thoughts on low refrigerant being the cause of the noise? And with that explain why it took three days to get to temperature and why it seems to never turn off?

[install monkey]

upload it to you tube and post a link to it

Cannot upload videos😭. The sound does appear to be coming from around the evaporator coil area, but I'm certain it did not make this sound prior to the relocating of its guts which leads me to believe it has something to do with the installation. Any thoughts on low refrigerant being the cause of the noise? And with that explain why it took three days to get to temperature and why it seems to never turn off?

[The Viking]

Any thoughts on low refrigerant being the cause of the noise?

Short answer is yes,

If there isn't enough refrigerant it will at times be a vapour / liquid mixture entering the capillary tube and this might cause gurgling/whistling noises.

A shortage of refrigerant will also cause a lack of performance, explaining the long time to reach temperature.

[Nola]

Short answer is yes,

If there isn't enough refrigerant it will at times be a vapour / liquid mixture entering the capillary tube and this might cause gurgling/whistling noises.

A shortage of refrigerant will also cause a lack of performance, explaining the long time to reach temperature.

Thanks Viking, the fridge barely, if ever turns off. It might be struggling to maintain temp. So I guess when it made no noise, the refrigerant level was maybe too low to even get up to evaporator coils, now it's just enough to maybe get there, so hopefully more refrigerant will make it go away. Fingers are crossed. Thank you to everyone!

[r.bartlett]

Thanks Viking, the fridge barely, if ever turns off. It might be struggling to maintain temp. So I guess when it made no noise, the refrigerant level was maybe too low to even get up to evaporator coils, now it's just enough to maybe get there, so hopefully more refrigerant will make it go away. Fingers are crossed. Thank you to everyone!

so the refrigeration guy has been playing with the volume of refrigerant thinking that the pressure of the refrigerant going through the filter drier is causing the sound. If the level is too low it sounds great but doesn't cool, when he increases it it cools but the sound comes back.

Err didn't you say he had already tried that??

[Nola]

Err didn't you say he had already tried that??

Not exactly, maybe he didn't put enough in? Look, obviously I'm not a refrigeration person so my terminology or explanation might be lacking. if you have a theory or suggestion as to why it took 3 days to get to temp, and why it never turns off I'd love to hear it

[r.bartlett]

Not exactly, maybe he didn't put enough in? Look, obviously I'm not a refrigeration person so my terminology or explanation might be lacking. if you have a theory or suggestion as to why it took 3 days to get to temp, and why it never turns off I'd love to hear it

Maybe he did maybe he didn't, no one here has a scooby as to what your man has or hasn't tried. No one here has any idea what your fridge looks like or how it is set up so it's the blind leading the blind..

However some how I doubt he has not 'not put enough in' as most engineers do this automatically. The curse of the overcharge is rife, especially by junior engineers or those less knowledgeable. I would expect he added refrigerant until it was obviously overcharged and then removed some. I know I would have if I was trying 'stuff'

I am not willing to cast aspersions about his technical abilities until I've heard his side of the story but If you don't trust him eff him off and try someone else.

[Nola]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GKErf1...ature=youtu.be
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...&v=wWbG49rIHQ0

Here are some videos. I hope they work. To be really clear I'm not at all looking to bash my fridge guy. This project is way out of the box so of course there's going to be trial and error. I'm simply looking for some suggestions, which he is aware of.

We had a co-worker of my spouse come take a look this AM. He has his ticket or accreditation.... His suggestions were TXV Valve to replace cap tube but he leaned more to maybe needing a bigger compressor as he figures there's maybe 18ish feet of line the refrigerant needs to go through and the tiny compressor just isn't powerfull enough. His other suggestion was to get a scroll compressor as they are quiet, more efficient, and do not pulsate like the piston driven ones are. Yes I know they are expensive, I don't care about that...just want weird noise gone!

Any thoughts?? Thanks again for sharing your knowledge with me

[Rob White]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GKErf1...ature=youtu.be
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...&v=wWbG49rIHQ0

Here are some videos. I hope they work. To be really clear I'm not at all looking to bash my fridge guy. This project is way out of the box so of course there's going to be trial and error. I'm simply looking for some suggestions, which he is aware of.

We had a co-worker of my spouse come take a look this AM. He has his ticket or accreditation.... His suggestions were TXV Valve to replace cap tube but he leaned more to maybe needing a bigger compressor as he figures there's maybe 18ish feet of line the refrigerant needs to go through and the tiny compressor just isn't powerfull enough. His other suggestion was to get a scroll compressor as they are quiet, more efficient, and do not pulsate like the piston driven ones are. Yes I know they are expensive, I don't care about that...just want weird noise gone!

Any thoughts?? Thanks again for sharing your knowledge with me

I said that in the very first reply

Rob

.

[Rob White]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GKErf1...ature=youtu.be
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...&v=wWbG49rIHQ0

Here are some videos. I hope they work. To be really clear I'm not at all looking to bash my fridge guy. This project is way out of the box so of course there's going to be trial and error. I'm simply looking for some suggestions, which he is aware of.

We had a co-worker of my spouse come take a look this AM. He has his ticket or accreditation.... His suggestions were TXV Valve to replace cap tube but he leaned more to maybe needing a bigger compressor as he figures there's maybe 18ish feet of line the refrigerant needs to go through and the tiny compressor just isn't powerfull enough. His other suggestion was to get a scroll compressor as they are quiet, more efficient, and do not pulsate like the piston driven ones are. Yes I know they are expensive, I don't care about that...just want weird noise gone!

Any thoughts?? Thanks again for sharing your knowledge with me

I also said that.
Seems your guy was reading my reply

Rob

.

[Rob White]

.

I have listened to both your videos and I think I hear what you
are on about. The low drowning noise is a combination of all the
noises but I can just about hear the swishing pulsating noise
of the refrigerant.

First prove it is not short of refrigerant and not overcharged.

I would suggest the cheapest option and the easiest option would
be to move the capillary tube as far away from the fridge as possible
I would ask the engineer to move it to the compressor end of the
pipe but this will create hugh losses so the pipe after the dryer and
capillary must be extremely well insulated to ensure correct heat transfer.

This would not be a permanent long term solution but it would help
eliminate the dryer and capillary tube from the equation.

At the moment the capillary tube is installed correctly so that should not
be the cause of it.

The noises you are hearing are quite normal, I know you don't want
them and that is something you are prepared to pay to eliminate, but
if it was me I would have moved the whole refrigeration system away
and kept only the bare essentials or like I said in my first post, duct
the cold air in.

Regards

Rob

.

[Nola]

.

I have listened to both your videos and I think I hear what you
are on about. The low drowning noise is a combination of all the
noises but I can just about hear the swishing pulsating noise
of the refrigerant.

First prove it is not short of refrigerant and not overcharged.

I would suggest the cheapest option and the easiest option would
be to move the capillary tube as far away from the fridge as possible
I would ask the engineer to move it to the compressor end of the
pipe but this will create hugh losses so the pipe after the dryer and
capillary must be extremely well insulated to ensure correct heat transfer.

This would not be a permanent long term solution but it would help
eliminate the dryer and capillary tube from the equation.

At the moment the capillary tube is installed correctly so that should not
be the cause of it.

The noises you are hearing are quite normal, I know you don't want
them and that is something you are prepared to pay to eliminate, but
if it was me I would have moved the whole refrigeration system away
and kept only the bare essentials or like I said in my first post, duct
the cold air in.

Regards

Rob

.

Thanks for all of that Rob . Yes it seems you and my spouses co worker are on the same page. I will discuss your thoughts on this with my refrigeration guy because I understood about 5 words lol. I'm not sure about what else to remove though, the compressor, condenser and condenser fan are in the crawlspace already. The evap fan and evap coils are still in the fridge. Are you suggesting that they be removed also? Is that possible? Where would the cold air duct into? Again, I appreciate your time very much!!!

[mikeref]

Read through most of the ^ posts, and listened to the vids. Apologies if i'm stepping on any toes.
Spun copper driers in domestic fridges aren't responsible for "Ghosting."

Domestic refrigerators use capillary tubing with a liquid/ vapour flow of refrigerant that eventually leaves this tube and enters the cooling space tubing...where most of us expect to find a cold Beer, a stock pile of Captain Morgan Jamaican rum... or chilled food.

It's the Capillary tube feed to the chilled enclosure pipes that creates this noise.

[Rob White]

Read through most of the ^ posts, and listened to the vids. Apologies if i'm stepping on any toes.
Spun copper driers in domestic fridges aren't responsible for "Ghosting."

Domestic refrigerators use capillary tubing with a liquid/ vapour flow of refrigerant that eventually leaves this tube and enters the cooling space tubing...where most of us expect to find a cold Beer, a stock pile of Captain Morgan Jamaican rum... or chilled food.

It's the Capillary tube feed to the chilled enclosure pipes that creates this noise.

You chill rum?



Rob

.

[Rob White]

Thanks for all of that Rob . Yes it seems you and my spouses co worker are on the same page. I will discuss your thoughts on this with my refrigeration guy because I understood about 5 words lol. I'm not sure about what else to remove though, the compressor, condenser and condenser fan are in the crawlspace already. The evap fan and evap coils are still in the fridge. Are you suggesting that they be removed also? Is that possible? Where would the cold air duct into? Again, I appreciate your time very much!!!

That will be the ultra extreme case and it would not be simple.
As Mikeref (below) suggests most of the noise is coming from the
capillary tube and if you can remove that or silence that, your
problems might go away.

Read through most of the ^ posts, and listened to the vids. Apologies if i'm stepping on any toes.
Spun copper driers in domestic fridges aren't responsible for "Ghosting."

Domestic refrigerators use capillary tubing with a liquid/ vapour flow of refrigerant that eventually leaves this tube and enters the cooling space tubing...where most of us expect to find a cold Beer, a stock pile of Captain Morgan Jamaican rum... or chilled food.

It's the Capillary tube feed to the chilled enclosure pipes that creates this noise.

Agreed.

Regards

Rob

.

[Nola]

Read through most of the ^ posts, and listened to the vids. Apologies if i'm stepping on any toes.
Spun copper driers in domestic fridges aren't responsible for "Ghosting."

Domestic refrigerators use capillary tubing with a liquid/ vapour flow of refrigerant that eventually leaves this tube and enters the cooling space tubing...where most of us expect to find a cold Beer, a stock pile of Captain Morgan Jamaican rum... or chilled food.


It's the Capillary tube feed to the chilled enclosure pipes that creates this noise.

Thanks, so to clarify, is the txv valve the alternative and if so where should it go?

[Rob White]

Thanks, so to clarify, is the txv valve the alternative and if so where should it go?

Your guy would know how to do it, but it is
a complicated fix with no proof of success.

The trouble is the domestic capillary tube enters
directly into the evaporator and to replace it with
an expansion valve will require a very complicated
and quite tricky connection into the evaporator
from the TEV (we call the TXV a TEV).

It depends on the design of the evap and whether
it is aluminium or copper in manufacture.

Regards

Rob

.

[mikeref]

Listened to the vids again. The sound is rather quiet compared others i've run across. To be honest, a TX valve isn't noise free. There can be a variation of subtle noises depending on inlet pressures, refrigerant type and flow rate.

I would like to see a picture or two of the inner workings of this fridge. Remove the interior back wall panels and expose the pipework. I have to see the upper half of Aluminium cooling coil and Copper connections.... Your Fridgie Knows what i'm talking about.

Rob W. We can't have any matured bottles of Jamaican Spirit sweltering in the Aussie heat.
A chilled glass from the fridge, two cubes of ice with a serving of chilled Morgan's and Soda water.

[Nola]

Listened to the vids again. The sound is rather quiet compared others i've run across. To be honest, a TX valve isn't noise free. There can be a variation of subtle noises depending on inlet pressures, refrigerant type and flow rate.

I would like to see a picture or two of the inner workings of this fridge. Remove the interior back wall panels and expose the pipework. I have to see the upper half of Aluminium cooling coil and Copper connections.... Your Fridgie Knows what i'm talking about.

Rob W. We can't have any matured bottles of Jamaican Spirit sweltering in the Aussie heat.
A chilled glass from the fridge, two cubes of ice with a serving of chilled Morgan's and Soda water.

You want to see the evaporator coils? Not sure I know how to take the panel off but I'll see what I can do. My fridge guy wants to open the fridge up anyways to see if a TXV will even fit. I've been reading up on this stuff and there's some studies that show that a cap tube with a smaller diameter might lessen refrigerant noise and/or the positioning ( horizontal vs vertical) of the cap tube. Any thoughts on that working, if a smaller diameter cap tube even exists. What should our first attempt be? Thanks!

[Rob White]

.

What ever you put in don't put it in the fridge.

Keep it as far away as possible. Your guy will know how to do it
but if he is tempted to put it inside the fridge you will be no
better off. TEV's are not quite, the advantage of them is the
control and you will be able to move the valve away from the fridge
(insulate the pipe afterwards).

Don't start messing with the diameter of the cap tube unless
you want to go into the whole science of refrigeration. The
manufacturers pick the size because of the work load and
specifications, if you start messing with cap size you will
be opening a whole different can of worms.

Regards

Rob

.

[Nola]

.

What ever you put in don't put it in the fridge.

Keep it as far away as possible. Your guy will know how to do it
but if he is tempted to put it inside the fridge you will be no
better off. TEV's are not quite, the advantage of them is the
control and you will be able to move the valve away from the fridge
(insulate the pipe afterwards).

Don't start messing with the diameter of the cap tube unless
you want to go into the whole science of refrigeration. The
manufacturers pick the size because of the work load and
specifications, if you start messing with cap size you will
be opening a whole different can of worms.

Regards

Rob

.

Noted, thank you for that. I wonder why he wants to put it in the freezer then. He specifically said he would dismantle the freezer to see if there's room ??? So would you put it on the line somewhere closer to the compressor in the crawl space?? As far as options go, do you think a bigger compressor or a scroll compressor would change how refrigerant goes through the cap tube. This is assuming noise is occurring in cap tube or as result of cap tube leading into evaporator. Thank you

[Rob White]

Noted, thank you for that. I wonder why he wants to put it in the freezer then. He specifically said he would dismantle the freezer to see if there's room ??? So would you put it on the line somewhere closer to the compressor in the crawl space?? As far as options go, do you think a bigger compressor or a scroll compressor would change how refrigerant goes through the cap tube. This is assuming noise is occurring in cap tube or as result of cap tube leading into evaporator. Thank you

Start with the easy cheap stuff first.

If it is the capillary tube that is making the noise, by moving it
out of the fridge all that is left inside it is the evap coil and fan.

If it works then that might be it? If it does not a complete rethink
will be required because changing the compressor or any other
component is not as straight forward as it seems.

Changes always affect the whole system and no one component
can be changed without complications. As you have seen, something
that should be as simple as moving the compressor further away
opens up a whole raft of complications and something that sounds
quite simple on paper, does not always translate when put into practice.

Regards

Rob

.

[Rob White]

.

Just to put your situation into some sort of perspective and to put
a bit of humour to it, in the UK we have a joke about a visitor
to a foreign country and he asks a local for directions.

Visitor, Hello there, I wonder if you can help me, I seem to be lost?
Local, Hello there sir, where is you want to be?
Visitor, Right I'm trying to get to (insert town of convenience).

Local, Ah right then sir, if you want to be in (which ever town) you don't want to be starting from here.

To some of us on here you are the lost visitor asking for directions
and we are the locals advising that you don't want to start from
where you are.

Not much help to you in your predicament but there are so many different
ways you could have done this and some of them may or may not be better than others.

You are now in a position where the only option is to keep at it until you get the result
you want, but that might not be as easy as it sounds. Did the people advising you about
this in the first place explain that it might be a bit more complicated than it looks
or did you just jump in and do it with the hope that it worked last time (with the old fridge)
so it should work this time?

Regards

Rob

.

[Nola]

OK so I'm back. The breathing/ghosting/gas pulsation is back again. My guy had replaced the filter drier with a new and bigger one and at first this seemed to help, but not for long.

Here is a new video atken from the back. It sounds like squeaking in the back but still like breathing from the front. When I put my fingers on the narrow copper tubing I can feel refrigerant going through at the same time the noise makes itself known.

Is this gas pulsations we're hearing?

https://youtu.be/Uw3ZkvuxTwY
Thank you all

[Nola]

Attachment 13479

This is a picture of the insidee back of the freezer.

[Nola]

https://youtu.be/Uw3ZkvuxTwY

Above link corrected.