How To Fix A Noisy GE Refrigerator / Freezer Fan (temporarily) 

Ten years later this video is still giving back to the community.

That noise has triggered an unbound rage within me, but thanks to the tips in your video, the sound and accompanying rage have been vanquished. Thank you!

12 years later and this video is still relevant🤦🏾‍♂️. You are a money saver as I was just scheduling my service for a 1 year old fridge. I have the:GE - 22.1 Cu. Ft. French Door Counter-Depth Refrigerator for reference

Dear Mr Wizard Knows, Thank you zillions! My husband was up all night worried. All he could feel was dread. He was going to just shoot it - it was so horrible! We have zilch money for any repairman. So this morning he found your video and followed everything you said! It works! We are thrilled. I hope you can feel our gratefulness and smiles :) And, Mr Wizard Knows - your name suits you perfectly!

Thank you!! Our fridge woke us up at 4 a.m. this morning and we unplugged it until getting up at our regular time, bleary-eyed and expecting the worst. My wife was shopping for a new fridge when I found your video so you saved me a lot of money! :-)

All these years later and it still works. Thanks for this. You're definitely a wizard!

Thank you for saving me time and money with this video. In twenty minutes I fixed the vibration with a hairdryer as recommended! Now all that is left is for me to eat the ice cream that didn't fit in the downstairs freezer that is melting! THANK YOU for returning piece and quiet to my kitchen.

It's no coincidence that the condenser fan is the ONLY part I ever needed to replace on my trusty old GE fridge. It's 28 years-old, yet still runs flawlessly. And unlike my new "state of the art", "modern" GE fridge, that ancient old thing still manages to defrost itself completely; no hairdryer needed! Amazing. ;-) (continued...)

This video was literally an answer to prayer. I had the same frost build-up, took a wood mallet to tenderize meat, smashed (gently) the ice apart, and right away the noise went away. Thank you for making this video ten years ago, it's still helping folks out here.

Thank you! My husband woke me up and said we had to buy a new refrigerator because ours was making a horrible noise. I found your video and used my hair dryer to melt the ice buildup. The refrigerator is working fine now. You saved us from spending money on a new one. Great job!

Thanks so much! This worked for me today! So happy! I removed all food from freezer, used the blow dryer for a couple of minutes, left the freezer door open and went about some other chores, repeated the blow dryer a couple of times, left open for a couple of hours, plugged fridge back in and back in business!Thought I was going to have to buy a new fridge! Have had my fridge for less than 2 years and it began making that exact noise! Just had to replace a washing machine less than 2 yrs old--same manufacturer! Never again!!!

Awesome video! I was freaking out when this started tonight. I thought my refrigerator was getting ready to go out. The blow dryer worked like a charm!

So thankful found your video. I have a side by side GE 3 yrs old. We heard that awful noise for hrs after turning water in back to house from week long freeze. Ice buildup was in back. We ordered new fridge and then decided to get appliance repairman quote. He said $500 for new ice maker and water valve. So I just found your video and will try it first. Cancelled the new one.

Great video! This worked to fix my GE fridge which is less than two years old. GE was going to charge me $99 PLUS parts and labor. I owe you a cold one!

OMG I just called a repair guy and he can't come out for another week. I just watched this did it and it worked. Thank you so much! I was losing sleep over how loud my frig was.

I tried this today and it worked like a charm. Thanks to this video, I avoided a costly repair call. Well done.

Ha! THANK YOU! Woke up to "the noise" this morning. First time in a 20 year old GE that looks just like yours. My wife figured we needed a new fridge.. Not me! I guessed ice or a new evaporator fan motor... I'm think this icing is one of the effects of climate change here in New England., its been crazy rainy all summer, and the humidity in the house went way up when I turned off the air conditioning this month. I took the more scenic route and emptied the freezer, tore the covers off, removed the ice block near the fan, and another behind the back cover. My big win from your video was finding the screws that let me remove the cover hiding the motor! With all the ice gone, I cleaned the whole freezer, made certain the problem was fixed, and reassembled... Thanks again!

Thank you Mr Wizard the freezer fan was so loud I had to turn fridge off overnight and thought that I would need to purchase a new one, however a few minutes following your instruction with a hairdryer fan noise gone!! Hoorah

I can't thank you enough for this video. Started making that noise Thanksgiving night about 11:30. Wife started moving stuff to old fridge just in case it went out during the night. Called repairman early this morning, said it would be Tuesday before he could come out. RU-vid search led me to this video. Your solution fixed it up!! Saved me a repair bill. Thanks again.

Thank you - Thank you - I shut the frig off, emptied the bottom freezer, used the hair dryer on it and then left the frig unplugged for about 6 hours. Not only does it work just great but it's now super clean! Thank you again.

Thank you for this. I live in a studio apartment and this noise has been driving me nuts for a year. It happened so often that I got used to it, but then I saw your video and realized that not only is it not normal for this kind of fridge, but that it can be fixed pretty easily too.

Very, VERY helpful. I did take everything apart and defrosted the whole coil assembly behind the column and sheet metal wall. No more noise, at least until it happens again. With removing all the food, doing the work and cleanup (also pulled the fridge out from the wall and cleaned/vacuumed all the dust bunnies) it took about an hour. Saved a call to the appliance repairman.

I have a 2 year old hotpot I've wanted to shoot for about a month now. Tried multiple things and was about to call for a repair when I found this video. hit it with a dryer and you know what I hear? nothing, and it's magical. thank you! !

I cant be thankful enough for youtube and this video. I was freaking out and was almost going to buy a new fridge. I have a GE Profile Artica. I removed the whole inside and used a blow dryer and Wala! No more loud hum! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! This video saved me a lot of money I don't have to really spend right now!

Thank you for your clear instructions. Done and dusted in an hour. Panel off, hairdyer applied, ice goneand panel on. All now quiet and I've saved £185.00 on the Samsung repair charge. Nice little job for a Sunday morning and the wife is really pleased to have her quiet kitchen back. Would not have known where to start without your video. Will look you up again if I have any future problems. Bless you Mr Wizard.

I was ready to go out today and buy a new 'fridge over this problem but when I watched this video, the sound your 'fridge was making is EXACTLY the sound mine is making. Thank you so much for taking the time to post this video. I feel confident now that I can "fix" the problem. Oh, another thing that's great about GE is their water filters that use an RFID tag so that you have to buy replacement filters from them at triple the cost of regular filters. I just move the RFID tag over from my original filter to a new generic filter each time I swap my filters out. I'll never buy another GE product. Thanks again!

I wanted to thank you for posting this video. I have a GE fridge/freezer (slightly different model but same basic design) that was making that horrible grinding noise. I bought it in December of 2016, and as you mentioned, it took about six months for the ice to build up to the point where it was sounding like a buzz saw. Fortunately I looked around on RU-vid before calling a technician, and found this video. I emptied out the freezer and sure enough, there was some bad ice buildup on the inside, even blocking some of the vents. I left the unit unplugged overnight so that all the ice could melt, and the next day, it was back to normal, quiet operation. I'm grateful for you and all the other knowledgeable people of the "Academy of RU-vid"!

Thank you, thank you!!! My GE is over 20 years old, but this is the first time this has happened. I'm a 67 yr. old widow. I was already looking at the ads to buy a new one, and when I saw the prices, I decided to check you out. Wow! took less than 5 min. (I'd already put the contents in my big chest freezer) it was amazing. Thank you SO much!

This 12 year old, roughly shot video save my life - and wallet. As someone said before, this is the first tip I ever got off RU-vid that I was actually able to apply. It worked like a charm. My only additional advice is to remove the outer plastic case that protects the fan. Pointing the hair dryer directly at the exposed fan made all the different. The first time I tried it with the fan covered didn't work. Also blow dry the fan for a least 5 minutes. Thank you!!

Our GE freezer (FUF 20DMCRWH) was making a weird noise, similar to the one you showed, though not as loud. After watching your video we removed the metal cover inside the freezer (only 8 screws) and discovered that the drain plug was frozen and ice had formed under the basket. After defrosting the freezer with a hair dryer and clearing the drain plug with warm water we were back up and running. Thanks for the video and we enjoyed your humor.

THANK YOU! Our fridge fan had been getting progressively louder since Irma blew through, and this did the trick. You really saved our Thanksgiving!

Don't feel bad about wanting to shoot your fridge. GE should give everybody who buys one of their refrigerators a coupon good for a free class in "anger management".

Thank you!!! Can't believe a noise that sounds like a serious problem had such a simple solution!

Thank you!! This is the first time in my life I ever was able to fix an issue with the freezer! Feel like a real handyman

I had the same issue and your advice worked. What I did is the old fashioned way by how you defrost the old aluminum box freezers that were caked with ice. I put pots of boiling water in the freezer, closed it and let the hot steam defrost all the frost and ice, changed it every hour for 3 hours, wiped off the condensation and put a pedestal fan in front of the freezer to dry it out. Plugged it in and back to normal. Your assistance helped with some innovation. Thanks very much

You're a life saver...or at least saved me hundreds of dollars on a new freezer! Came home to a "not so freezing" freezer making the exact same sound as the one in your video. Mine is an upright Maytag Freezer. Had this thing for many years, but this was my first encounter with a clogged frost free system....it was really iced up!

Un-defrosted ice. Part of GE's bonus plan. Made me laugh. Thanks for the vid. Saved me from the cost of a new fridge. I could not believe the massive chunk of ice I found inside the panel... thanks GE for the Free ice maker!

My hero of the day! I work from home with the culprit only one room away. I first thought the fan was just unbalanced, but turning the temp up stopped the noise instantly. I will try deicing it once i actually have more time to do so, but i will take the time to thank you for your video.

Good lord, THANK YOU. My freezer starting making this unbearable noise that was driving me crazy. Looked this video up, my cynical self thinking this wouldn't work with my fridge, and it did!

Mine just started making that noise tonight at 9:30pm. Thanks so much for the headsup we can now get a good nights sleep when done!

you sir are a lifesaver!! it worked like a charm! i'm in the dominican republic and the technicians wanted to change half the fridge, but I decided to take care of it by myself researching and I found you! THANKS A LOT!!!

Great advice, thanks. We inherited a GE fridge with our condo, and it's given us many problems. Luckily this one could be solved without bringing the repairman out, thanks to this video.

A complete defrost is always a good idea, since it helps the fridge work more efficiently. Just don't be too bummed out when the noise comes back in a few weeks or months (more often in humid areas). Just whip out your trusty blow dryer!

thank you so much for this vid! my freezer door wasn't closed all the way last night, and frost had totally built up! tonight the racket coming from there was crazy loud! i followed your instructions to a T and voila! quiet as a church mouse. and it only took about 10 minutes from start to finish! many, many thanks!! 👋😊❤️

You wouldn't believe it! We bought a new fridge. It was scheduled to be delivered this morning. In anticipation of that, my husband unplugged the GE last night and removed the panel you demonstrated in your video. The coils had normal levels of frost on them, so the compressor was working. The fan, which we could clearly see, was not working. After complete defrost, we plugged her in and reset temp controls. The fan was still dead however. To be continued in second post.....

Thanks Mr Wizard.My GE did this tonight and it is only 1 year old.When I was a kid(62)they ran forever.Coldspot.They could go 20 plus years.Today things are cheap but it's buy and throw away.Thanks.

I refused delivery on the Samsung. Best Buy was great about it by the way. I watched the GE all day to make sure new fan motor was running and temperatures were dropping to normal degrees. At the moment, freezer is 3 degrees and fridge is 39, almost back to normal levels of 0 and 37. Before we replaced the fan motor, the freezer was 39 and the fridge was 62. Thanks for your awesome video and for inspiring us to be brave enough to press on with the fix! God Bless!

It worked!! Thanks. I have had the GE Profile side by side refrigerator for five years. Then all of a sudden I had that annoying vibrating buzzing noise when the freezer fan came on. I was about to call a serviceman when I ran across your video. I decided to give your technique a try with a hair dryer. I turned the refrigerator temperature off. Heated the plastic case covering the fan for 15 minutes and then let the refrigerator reach room temp with doors open for an additional 40 minutes. As I heated the fan area, I could actually hear pieces of ice dropping to the bottom of the case. I then tuned on the refrigerator and the fan came on and guess what....no vibrating noise!!!! You saved me a big bill and now I know what to do. Disappointed to hear that I might have to do this every 6 months. But the more technical they make these appliances, the more to go wrong. My previous refrige rant 20 years without any problems.

You're such a cool dude. I was literally about to have a freaking emotional explosion if the humming noise didn't stop. Woke up in the middle of the night and it was STILL going. This just fixed EVERYTHING! Thanks so much!

Thank you! Great advice that worked right away. We were about to go on vacation and I was stressing that the fridge would give out while we were gone. No noise at all coming from it now, though. Thanks, Mark!

Thanks for this wonderful video! It saved us from buying a new fridge. I shut the fridge off overnight, left the main door closed and emptied the freezer compartment. During the night all the ice melted behind the panel in the fan area and everything was good to go again. I realized we had been putting too much ice cube trays and other steamy items in the freezer, introducing too much moisture. We got a nice plastic covered cake pan that holds 4 cube trays and we fill them now and put them in the freezer in the covered cake pan. When the ice cubes are made and you take the cake pan out to dump the ice cubes, all the moisture that was released from the freezing cubes is now on the inside of the top of the cake pan instead of on the inside of the fan compartment. Thanks again.

I just used your technique (with a hair dryer) to melt some ice that must have been interfering with the freezer fan and making it very loud. I have a Kitchen Aid, not a GE. The result was immediate---no more loud fan noise. I'll keep my fingers crossed (here in humid central Florida) that this fix will work for awhile and that we won't have to replace the motor or fan or whatever. Thanks for your helpful video.

Got home from being gone for a few days and as we walked in the refrigerator was making a horrendous sound! Quick, to RU-vid! "ge profile refrigerator troubleshooting loud noise" Watched one video. Not the same sound. As soon as the sound came up on yours, we said that's it! We did what you said and it's now back to its quite self. Thank you very much

Great video. The sound was driving me crazy and you hit the nail on the head when you said "or maybe you are hearing it right now". Taking my girlfriends hairdryer to that fan tonight!!

THANK YOU!!!!!! I am a mother with three sons. I homeschool them full time. I also work part time and am in my 4th year of college. I am a busy woman. At the end of the day my nerves are racked and listening to that fridge was killing me!!!!. I used two hair dryers and cleaned the inside with ammonia, wiped it dry and placed everything back in the freezer. It is purring now and Im so excited I cant stand it!! God bless you for uploading this video!!!

Super helpful and effective. A twist of my own: I took everything out and used the hair drier to blow hot air as you suggested. Patted myself on the back, only to hear the sound come back when fan went to high. Second time I left it running and only cleared out top shelf to give me room to direct hot air into the louvers at the top. About 5 minutes in it quieted down so I knew I’d melted the ice.

We bough new GE fridge back in 1984. Full size self defrosting fridge with refigerator. This thing is bullet proof. Never had it serviced. For the past 10 years we have been using it as ice cream/soda/beer garage fridge. In winter we don't even unplug it, with temp dropping below 5 F, and this thing just keeps going, and very quiet. We keep settings below "Norm" as this fridge cools so well. It's not as efficient as the new fridges, but it's going strong now for over 28 years.

Thank you, was able to fix this without having to wait till Monday for maintenance man. My food surely would've spoiled by then. I live in Mississippi and have had this icebox for 5 years, didn't think this was possible with "newer" models!

Glad to hear it all worked out! And thanks for sharing your experience. It's a good reminder that sometimes what sounds like a bad fan, sometimes really IS a bad fan! Although, the GE evaporator fans are high quality brushless motors made by Pansonic (not GE!), so failures are probably rare. But when they do fail, they easy to replace. In fact, your husband just needed to remove two more screws (on the fan bracket). It then just lifts out, and unplugs from the wire harness.

Thank you soo much. I live in a rental and I already have other issues with my unit's incompetent maintenance team as it is. The fact that I don't have to call them for yet another issue great! Thanks for the informative video!

Gotta tell you this.. THANK YOU!!! Our GE refrigerator was making the same noise. Used the hairdryer and the noise is now gone.PROBLEM FIXED!!!

You are a total ROCK STAR ! We have the exact fridge and the exact noise coming from freezer area. Did exactly what you said...and BAM it's fixed for the win ! Love it, TU

THANK YOU!!!! We told our landlord about the noise and she said it was NORMAL! But of course we knew it wasn’t. Then she had the nerve to imply it was because our apartment was too hot even though the fridge’s job is to stay cool! Then she said it was strange because it was a brand new fridge even though we have had the fridge for over 10 years! So she was no help but you’ve been tons so thank you so much! Ours too is a GE fridge.

Thank you thank you thank you!!!! I came home to a horrendous sound and starting sweating bullets worrying over what could be wrong. I have a pretty modern GE model and after I watched your video and tried it out myself (with a hair dryer) it's running super quiet. You saved me a sleepless night!!! Good man!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Silver linings of COVID quarantine... people like you who help the rest of us! I am not a lady who fixes much and now I have fixed a sink and a freezer. I think my landlord is happy to stay away. I am grateful to you!

Thanks a lot for the advice in your video. As the owner of a 4 year old GE fridge, I'm glad I got finally rid of the buzzing. However in my case, just using a hairdrier on the back panel was not enough. I had to remove the back panel like you suggested to reveal the evaporator coils in a kinda-frozen state. Then using the hairdrier directly on them made all the ice melt and that did the trick. :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Saved me a call to my GE repairman. The noise is gone. And my sanity returns!!!

I have a 15 yo kelvinator that started making the same noise. my wife wanted to replace the fridge but after seeing your vid, I decided to pull the freezer apart and whatyaknow, it was iced up. defrosted it with a hairdryer, cleaned the gunk out. put it back together, 1 hr later... blissful silence from both the fridge and the wife😉. just so you know, as she's now not getting a new fridge, she hates you. 😑

My Whirlpool fridge is also noisy. I fixed it with a hairdryer also. Whirlpool didn't want to help me with the problem, unless I paid a service guy $89 for first 15 minutes and $29 for every 15 minutes after that just to diagnose the problem !

Thanks. Was at a rented cottage and awoke one morning to this noise. Your video solved the problem. Owner notified.

This video saved me a ton of money. Quick and easy fix for my fridge running very loudly. Thanks for the help.

you are a life saver, my freezer did the exact same noise after power got restored in a blackout. I turned off my freezer though and let the ice wherever it was melt and it was back to nice and quiet mode. thanks!

Thanks for this video! It solved the problem after I accidentally left my freezer door ajar for the day. :(

"If you own a GE refrigerator, there is a good chance you have heard this sound before. Possibly you are hearing it right now..." I did a double take when he said that! My fridge was making the exact same sound as he said that!!! lol... Thanks for the post!

thank you,not only was i going to call a repair man,i would have had to go to a payday loan to cet the cash to pay him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i googled it,your fridge looks and sounds just like mine! so i did as you said ,so far so good...thank you!!!!!!!!!!

This fixed mine for over a year. Coming back to double check this before doing it again today. Thanks!

THANK YOU! I used this method on my freezer and worked like a charm! I owe you a Coke, or a Pepsi if that is more of your thing.

...continued. The part number for the GE evaporator fan is WR60X10228, and cost about $50-$60. I'm sure there are videos on how to swap them out. But for $150, you got a new fan installed, and didn't have to wait for delivery, which is worth the extra cost. Again, thanks for sharing your story. It will help other people who have a noisy GE, and need to figure out what to do.

My fridge isn't a GE but I tried your method anyway and it worked, thank you!

Thank you posting this video! I'm relieved to know there is something I can do to stop the persistent noise that is shattering my peaceful evening.

Thanks! My GE is only 4 years old. I had been hitting the panel hard for the past few months and it would stop. But today it kept making that loud noise. So I unplugged and used my dryer. Cleaned the back of the frig and the inside. Working good no noise.

thanks Mr. Wizard! my ge fridge was driving me batcrap crazy. i didn't think this would work, but BAM! a 5 minute fix.

Really helped a lot I have a kenmore refrigerator and I was having the same problem last night and today I decided to do research on how to fix it on my own and came across your video and it saved my day .

MR WIZARD you saved the day in less than 10 minutes. Blow dryer - Genius!!! Thank you!!!!!

Thank you so much, as I had heard this once before, and forgot all about it till seeing your video, low & behold you saved me... I think GE should give a rebate to everybody, not to mention resolving this problem. I'll bet the Service repairmen love this glitch!!!

Wow. Thank you so much! I took a blow dryer to mine, plugged it back in and the noise was gone! I was going insane. Thank you so much!!!!

I came home this afternoon to my GE fridge sounding just like this. I followed all your advice and now it's working fine again. THANK YOU! I was about to panic when I walked in and heard all that racket.

Thank you for this informative video. I saved myself $900 from replacing my refrigerator and a $100 GE service diagnostic visit. My freezer is working properly, I've reduced the temp to normal and the noise has subsided. #newhomeOwner #grateful

My Kenmore fridge started this morning making that loud noise I thought that I would have to buy a new fridge but your suggestions saved me time and money. Thank you soooo very much.

You just saved me probably 100s of $, thanks so much! My LG fridge started going into this noisy "propeller" mode after my kids left the freezer drawer open one too many times and apparently that caused the same issue because the hairdryer trick just cured it! Wow! Don't you just love youtube sometimes?

Thank you so much for this video!!!!!! That sound was driving me crazy and I decided to give your tip a try... it worked!!! Tomorrow I will empty the freezer and defrost it really nice. You are a life saver!! I was calling the technician tomorrow so as a single mom with low income I thank you!!!

Thank you so much. I know this video is quite old but I'm so glad it's still available. Was in the process of buying a new fridge until I came across your video and your suggestion worked tremendously. that buzzing noise was driving me nuts. Again thank you

Mines is not a GE but it was making the same noise and after watching this video, that's what it was it was, it was on the coldest temperature and I don't need it that high. I was able to turn it down the noise stopped, thank you so much for the video.

Man, thanks a mil. My old Hotporint could be heard from the bedroom to the porch! How you got 79 thumbs down is a scooby doo mystery but I subscribed. Why? I didn't even watch your damn video but heard you mention the hair dryer and the appropriate warning! I'm a single brother, but picked one up at thrift store for various projects and electronic repair. So i tried it. You saved me some grief. The maintenance men here don't keep their word and are practically on strike for "non essential repairs" like a damaged window. Merci! Sounds like new, Obi Juan. (.:

Thank you so much! Saved me $100 too!! This solved my problem, but what was strange was there was hardly any ice built up! I could not find any build up at all in my GE side-by-side. Un-plugged it, left the freezer door open for about 20 minutes, plugged it back in and ta-da: no noise! Small bit of melt-off, but not much at all. (Kind of surprised me it did not take much!) Thanks again!

I owe you $100. Thanks pal!

Thanks so much!!!! I have GE Stainless steel bottom freezer and I had the exact same noise. Happened the 1st time after 4 years of having the fridge. I could not even see ice at the back. The sound was coming from the back bottom where my freezer is. But I used a hair dryer and applied it for a few minutes and got ride of any ice I could find (hardly any). After this my noise is gone!!! So thanks so much!!!!

I don't have the exact same unit as the one demonstrated on in this video, but the one I was fixing is a GE. At first the Blow Dryer worked perfectly. When the noise came back after 5 minutes, I knew it couldn't be ice. I removed 2 screws to the inside freezer panel and exposed the fan. The left mounting screw fell out and the fan was hanging by just the right side screw! I had to wrap the screw with some electrical tape because the screw would not tighten well. Problem solved. Thanks.

You are awesome!!! I thought I was going to have to replace my refrigerator and I saw your video. I tried it and sure enough....the sound is gone. Thank you! Thank you ! Thank you!

Thank you so much for a very clear video. We are blow-drying our GE Free Frost Freezer as I type! Great job, now we're saving about $2,000!!!! Thanks so much!!!