Fan Noise On A Samsung Refrigerator (How To Fix) - Breezer Freezer (2024)

If you’ve noticed an unusual noise from your Samsung refrigerator, it might be the refrigerator fan that needs to be fixed.

Many reasons can cause the refrigerator fan to malfunction and make annoying noises. If such noises become recurrent, you must rectify them as soon as possible before it leads to something significant, especially if noises are loud and grinding.

If you don’t know how to fix such fan noises, then we’re happy to help. We have brought a detailed guide on fixing fan noise on Samsung refrigerators and the underlying causes for the same.

So, let’s get into the guide and restore your fridge to its peaceful days!

Causes Of Fan Noise On A Samsung Refrigerator

No ailment can be cured unless a proper cause that feeds the problem is identified. In the same manner, you need to properly assess the underlying causes of a fan noise coming from your Samsung refrigerator to rectify it successfully. Otherwise, the problem would keep recurring.

Therefore, to guide you and other people who have been suffering from the same issue, we have made this list of causes that lead to fan noises in Samsung refrigerators. Once you identify what’s causing the “blowing” or “whistling” sound from your refrigerator, follow an easy remedy, and the refrigerator will be back to normal.

1. Unlevel Fridge

People often follow extreme measures before doing simple checkups that can solve the problem in a matter of seconds. The same is the case with people dealing with fan noise from Samsung refrigerators. Fan noises can be due to simple causes like improper alignment or an unlevel fridge.

The reason is that the refrigerator fans spin off-center and create noise when the fridge isn’t leveled properly. Thus, to ensure the fan doesn’t make weird noises while operating, you should adequately level the fridge to the ground. The fridge must be raised to a proper height and aligned from left to right to ensure the proper working of the fan without making noises.

However, if that isn’t the case with your fridge and it is perfectly leveled, then the fan noise might not be due to this reason. Check out other reasons to find the actual cause.

2. Improper Door Seals

We start huffing for breath when we run a mile extra than our current potential. The same is the case with refrigerator fans if they grind themselves to work extra hard. Don’t know what it means? Well, read carefully.

Our refrigerator door is airtight to ensure the fridge’s insides remain cool. However, if there’s damage to the seals or if they aren’t cleaned properly, outside air can pass freely into the refrigerator, making it lose its cool (pun intended)!

Accordingly, the refrigerator fans have to work harder to maintain the cooling, which leads to loud and weird noises. But if that isn’t the case with your Samsung refrigerator and it’s spotlessly clean, then you might want to look at the other reasons below.

3. Ice Buildup

If none of the above reasons were causing the obnoxious grinding noise in your Samsung refrigerator, then the culprit is surely the good-old ice buildup around the fan. It is the most common reason which causes Samsung refrigerator fans to make noise. This happens because the ice buildup near the fan jeopardizes its normal functioning.

The condensation of water on the evaporator coils or faulty thermostat leads to ice buildup, which drives the freezer fan to make noise. This noise can depend on the size of your refrigerator, but most french door Samsung refrigerators either make a whistling noise or loud grinding noise. But the noise stops once you open the fridge.

Other reasons which cause ice buildup around the fan in the Samsung refrigerator are listed below.

A. Moisture

If you weren’t dozing off in your science lessons, then go back in time and try to remember the relationship between cold air and moisture. Do they fit into the same picture? They don’t, and that’s the phenomenon our refrigerators vow to maintain.

So, what happens if the food stored in your Samsung fridge releases too much moisture? It will try to condense such moisture, which leads to gradual ice buildup.

This gradual buildup due to excess moisture is faster than the short heating cycle of the defrost heater. This means the ice doesn’t defrost properly, and buildup continues to bug the functioning of the fan, which leads to noise.

Therefore, people are advised to cover up food and drinks well to stop excess moisture in the fridge as the natural humidity is low there. If not, the fridge will always work to secure the balance to maintain optimal cooling, which only leads to excess ice if the moisture is too much.

B. Water In The Pantry Tray

Another cause of ice buildup is the pooling of water in the bottom pantry tray of the fridge. But that’s not an issue that can’t be solved easily.

Just by pulling out the pantry tray and cleaning it, you can get rid of the ice buildup that may be causing a noisy fan.

C. Accumulation Of Dust

Vents ensure proper air circulation between the freezer and refrigerator compartments like the ice maker to make things cool and dry in the fridge. However, at times, the vents can accumulate dust, disrupting this airflow. This, later on, leads to ice buildups.

That’s why vents must be clean to ensure the proper functioning of your Samsung fridge and to avoid disturbing noises.

D. Clogged Drainage Hole

If the drainage hole from where the water is released after every defrosting cycle is clogged up, the water won’t properly drain. Instead, this water will again condense and freeze in areas where it shouldn’t.

That’s how ice gradually builds up when the drainage hole is clogged. Therefore to avoid such a situation, you must ensure your Samsung fridge isn’t clogged and is working efficiently.

4. Issues With Evaporator Fan Motor

Now comes the issues within the technical realm, which you have no control over. All other reasons could be handled by you in one way or another but not when it comes to issues with evaporator fan motors. The evaporator fan motor draws air over the evaporator coils when the compressor is working. However, in cases where the evaporator fan motor becomes faulty, loud noises can be heard.

But how do you know the problem persists in your fan motor and nowhere else? Well, there are signs that you can look out for. If the noise is grinding or clicking, or your refrigerator isn’t cooling properly, there might be an issue with the fan motor.

To remedy this problem, you can get it checked with a professional and replace it before it starts a chain of other problems within your fridge.

5. Damaged Fan Blades

Damage to the condenser fan blade or evaporator fan blade is one of the causes of squeaking and squealing sounds in a refrigerator. The condenser fan atop the condenser fan motor circulates air past the condenser coil while the evaporator fan circulates air past the refrigerator compartment to the freezer. These fan blades are equally important for properly operating your Samsung fridge.

However, over time, these blades can get dislodged or damaged, whereby they start scraping against the panel where they’re located, causing loud noises. You can’t possibly cure this problem with a DIY trick and need the aid of a professional who will replace the damaged fan blades. Once they’re repaired, the noisy sound will cease to exist.

How To Fix The Fan Noise On A Samsung Refrigerator

Once you’ve identified the culprit of your sleepless nights due to loud noises, it’s finally time to make some necessary adjustments. We have made a list of actions that you can perform to fix the fan noise on your Samsung refrigerator.

So, without further ado, let’s see what these necessary fixes are.

1. Maintain Proper Airflow

Maintaining proper airflow in the fridge is a must, and any such cause which disrupts it should be tackled as soon as possible. You might have already known by now that vents ensure airflow in the fridge, and dust accumulation can jeopardize their working.

That’s why you must vacuum out the dust from vents to stop the crackling noise from the fridge. Moreover, you must also ensure that they don’t frost over. If items are placed too close to the vent, they could freeze, requiring a manual defrost (more about this later.)

So, you must ensure your vents are always clean.

2. Maintain Proper Leveling

Improper leveling makes the fan spin off-center which can create noise at times. That’s why you must ensure your refrigerator is adequately leveled from left to right and raised to a proper height.

So, you should do a one-up of your fridge and see if the noise is occurring due to improper leveling. In such cases, the fan noise is usually slight and not loud. If the fan noise is indeed due to this, then rectify the cause, and the problem will surely cease.

3. Maintain Proper Sealing

Airtight sealing of the refrigerator door entraps the cool air inside the fridge while ensuring the outside air doesn’t penetrate through cracks. If it does, the fan has to work harder to cool the air, leading to noise. That’s why you must ensure the seals are properly cleaned and undamaged otherwise, the fan will continue to make loud noises or even give up altogether.

4. Defrosting

Ice buildup is the major cause of loud noise in the refrigerator, which can only be remedied by defrosting. Manual defrost or forced defrost can melt the ice surrounding the fan, so that’s what you should do. In Samsung refrigerators, this buildup occurs behind the rear panel where the freezer fan is located.

Therefore, you have to:

• Turn off the fridge.
• Take out the perishable items from the fridge.
• Empty the shelves.
• Open the screws of the rear panel.
• Wait for the ice to melt.

However, note that the panel might be hard to remove due to the ice behind it. So, you mustn’t pull too hard as it can damage the panel.

Once you’re done removing the panel, let the ice melt naturally, and don’t use a blowdryer or hard metallic equipment to scrape off ice. Doing this will only damage your refrigerator. After 24 hours, the ice should be melted, and the noise will surely stop.

Apart from that, you can even do a forced defrost, and this procedure will only take about 20 minutes to complete. To do that, you should:

• Press the Energy Saver + Fridge button for 8 seconds.
• Keep pressing the Fridge button until “fd” appears.
• The fridge will go under forced defrost after this.

Note that the button combination will be different for different Samsung models.

5. Contact A Professional

Sometimes only a manual defrost or forced defrost doesn’t help. In such cases, the chances are that the problem exists with the freezer fan blades or fan motor, which you can’t remedy yourself. Therefore, a professional who can carefully analyze the problem and provide a significant fix for the issue is needed.

So, if your Samsung refrigerator fan noise doesn’t stop, don’t try to shoulder everything yourself. You might end up damaging your fridge.

To Sum Up

Sometimes our Samsung refrigerator fan makes rattling noises which can be as loud as pouring Ice cubes into a glass or like a tone-deaf grinder about to blow up. These become annoying if they keep recurring, so you should know how to fix them.

We hope our detailed guide was able to help in identifying the underlying causes of such noises and how to remedy them. If you weren’t successful in stopping the noise yourself, don’t forget to call a professional for help.