What is the loud humming or rattling from my refrigerator?

Salt shortens the life of a fan motor in a way heat never does. The bearing picks up moisture-holding residue, the shaft turns rough, current draw rises, and the motor runs hot before it finally stalls. You can often hear the whole sequence coming: a faint whirr that becomes a grind, then a rattle when the blade starts running out of true. Any Del Mar owner who catches a fan at the whirr stage is buying a fan motor. Whoever waits until the refrigerator goes warm is buying a fan motor and a warm-up call, and sometimes rather more than that.

The noises mean different things and they are worth telling apart on the phone. A rattle that changes when you touch the grille is debris or a blade. A steady low hum through the floor or the cabinets is compressor mounts that have hardened. A buzz for a second or two at start-up is the relay. Gurgling and the occasional tick after a cycle ends are normal, that is refrigerant and the cabinet contracting, and nobody should be selling you a repair for either of them.

What we do about it. Grille off, fan blade inspected and turned by hand, motor checked for play and for draw. Compressor mounts inspected, since replacing hardened mounts is a fraction of the cost of the noise complaint that eventually follows them. And because the grille is already off, the condenser gets cleaned while we are in there, which on a house near the water is worth the visit on its own even if the noise turns out to have been a stray piece of packaging against the blade.

If that matches what your appliance is doing, say so when you call — it tells us which parts to bring, and most of these are finished in one visit.