How To Reduce Refrigerator Noise: 7 Effective Tips

Last Updated on 31 January, 2023 by Darshan Chana

Everyone loves the convenience of having a fridge until it starts making horrendous sounds. A buzzing compressor, rattling loose condenser coils or fans that sound like jet engines can be incredibly annoying and disruptive. However, there are a few ways you can take care of these issues without putting in too much effort. In this post, I’ll give you some tried and tested tips on how to reduce refrigerator noise. Let’s get started.

What’s making noise in your refrigerator?

There can be several causes of refrigerator noise. The compressor is the noisiest part of a refrigerator, though it’s also the most important. It’s made up of a motor and a pump, and it’s there to circulate the coolant throughout the refrigerator via a system of pipes, fins and fans. Compressors used in newer and most advanced refrigerators are designed to maintain a low profile, but it’s quite normal for the unit used in older refrigerators to make buzzing noises.

Besides the compressor, a few other parts of the fridge tend to make noises as well. They are;

Drip Tray: The drip tray is the small container located beneath the compressor. It usually makes an audible dripping noise. Sometimes there’s a sizzling noise as well, if the water in it is getting drained.
Walls Of The Fridge: Refrigerator walls also passively make noise as the appliance works. They tend to expand and contract because of the extreme temperature changes inside. If you hear any creaking or cracking sounds coming from the interior of the fridge, that’s perfectly normal!
Ice From The Compressor: Whilst the compressor itself makes plenty of noise because of the motor, pump and the liquids running inside it, its byproducts make a little noise as well. The ice in it tends to melt, dripping onto the pan and making sounds.
Unbalanced Feet: If the refrigerator isn’t standing level with the floor, it’ll vibrate, resulting in extra noises.
Loose Components: If the door, handle, or any internal component is loose, then the fridge might make rattling noises.

There’s usually a lot of work going on in the internals of a refrigerator for the appliance to provide proper cooling and insulation. As such, refrigerators are pretty noisy in general. If your appliance is only making a little bit of noise, I’d suggest letting it be. If you still find the sounds bothersome, following the tips I’ve provided might help.

How To Reduce Refrigerator Noise

1. Make The Feet Level

Even if the fridge was level when you got it installed, it’d still be a good idea to check its feet. There’s a chance they could’ve become wonky because of vibrations. If they’re not stable, the fridge can make rattling noises.

To check, simply shake the fridge a little bit. If it rattles easily, then the feet probably need adjusting. Newer refrigerators usually come with adjustable legs, and you can easily level the fridge with them. If your particular model doesn’t come with adjustable legs, you can always prop up the legs with paper or small pieces of wood.

2. Put Fridge On A Mat

The material your floor is made of also influences how much noise the refrigerator makes. For instance, a tile floor will create more noise than a carpeted or wooden floor.

If possible, try putting your fridge on a piece of matting or a soft carpet. This will help absorb the vibrations caused by it. You can get even better results by getting mats specifically designed for such situations called deadening mats. These are meant for reducing noise from car engines; however, they also work very well with refrigerators.

Just make sure that the mat you get doesn’t have insulation, as that’s pretty useless in this case. I’d recommend trying mats from Hushmat- they say that their products are specifically targeted towards appliances like fridges.

3. Add Soundproofing Behind The Refrigerator

There’s not a lot you can do to quieten the compressor directly. As it runs, it releases excess heat energy. Because of that, it can’t be covered up to reduce sound. If you put a cover on it, you’ll risk your fridge as it might overheat and eventually stop working.

However, I experimented a little bit and found a workaround that works well. Rather than covering the back of the fridge, you could get some soundproofing tiles and cover up the wall that the refrigerator backs onto. As long as there isn’t too much space between the wall and the fridge, you could get similar results to what you’d expect to get from covering the compressor. Some sounds can still escape, but the noise reduction from this trick is still pretty significant.

You can also add a little soundproofing to the inside of your fridge with mass loaded vinyl. Just be sure to defrost it before doing that so that you have a dry surface to work on. I’d suggest keeping this idea as a last resort, though, as it might cause complications with space and hygiene.

4. Keep The Fridge In Alcove

If the noise production of your fridge is incredibly high and you have an alcove in the room, you could take advantage of that to get some natural soundproofing. Putting the fridge in an alcove will block out the noises caused by the fans and compressor. Your fridge will be a little further from the main part of the room too, ensuring even more noise reduction.

5. Clean Internal Components

If the fans of your refrigerator are a major source of all the noise production, that’s likely because they haven’t been maintained for a while. A dirty fan can produce audible rattling and grinding noises. Cleaning the fridge’s fan, ice maker (if it has one), and the rest of the interior might benefit you and help get rid of a lot of noise. Not to mention, having a clean fridge might also improve its efficiency, so you’ll be dropping two birds with one stone.

6. Try Anti-Vibration Pads

A great way to get rid of constant noise from your refrigerator is to use anti-vibration pads. They’re easy to acquire, and you can place them under your fridge’s legs after getting them for instant noise reduction. You can also combine these pads with the mats I talked of earlier to get even better results.

Although, if most of the noise from your fridge is coming from its fans and other internal components, these pads won’t be as effective.

7. Get A New Fridge Entirely

If your refrigerator is really old, then there’s probably not a lot of noise reduction you can do. Older fridges aren’t designed to be low-profile at all.

For that reason, I’d recommend getting a new fridge entirely if the noise production is too bad. Most of the best refrigerators nowadays are incredibly energy-efficient and barely make any noise. They run far better than older models, too. I’d recommend getting a model with an inverter for minimal noise production.

Conclusion

There you go- now you know how to reduce refrigerator noise. I hope you found those tips helpful. If you combine some of them together, your fridge will be as quiet as a whisper.

That’s all for now. If you want to learn more useful tips on maintaining your fridge, you can give this article a look. Now go on, give some of these ideas a try!

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Sourav Roy

Chief Editor at Homeliness

Sourav Roy understands the inconveniences people go through after buying a product based on the little information they find or based on what an overeager shopkeeper tells them about it. So, to save them the trouble, he dedicates his time to Homeliness, working with an experienced team to test and review new products, picking out the best on the market.