Hi everyone,

I have a new maytag refrigerator (2005) model PBB1951HEW which makes a very loud knock/pop even when the compressor isn't working. It's so loud that it wakes me up during the night.

It's as if somebody is throwing stones at it:D... very strange and annoying.:confused:

Any ideas out there?

Oh please tell me you found an answer for this. I am completely lost with the same issue! Any help please! I need my sleep. :)

Thanks

I believe I found a solution... well, sort of.

By raising the temperature of the freezer, the noises seem to be less loud and less frequent. Just make sure you don't raise the temp too high so that food doesn't thaw ;)

Hmmmm. OK. Do you have any idea what is causing it?

I'm just glad I'm not alone. Lol

I believe that it's condesation on the lining of the inner walls on the freezer that separates when it's too cold.

I'm not sure but this is my guess. Please let me know if this works for you.

Hmmm... Im tempted to rip off the back and set up a video camera and just "watch it" and see if it happens.

Did you call maytag?

Yep!. they didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about. And I phoned twice to make sure I didn't get the same person (tech)

If you read the mannual, it says on most refridgerators, that hissing, poping, humming, and almost any loud noise you can think of is normal. At least it is working. Our new has broken 5 times.
My advice is to always buy the extended warranties.

I did see that in the manual but when popping sounds are loud enough to wake you up at night, is something, at least to me, way out of the ordinary.

Our Maytag is over 10 years old and has been doing this for a few months now. It did not make loud pops before. They are loud enough to hear a couple of rooms away, and loud enough to send our dog running for cover, they scare the heck out of her. Sometimes, the loud pop will be followed by a series of lower volume pops. I still have not seen a solution, nor can accept that it is normal when it has not happened previously. Perhaps Maytag is trying to keep their repairman a bit busier.

I agree fully with Yorba. The time has come to rip off the backing and see what makes the popping.

My Maytag is over 10 years old and has been making that cracking/popping sound since day one. Obvioulsy when the tech came by there was nothing to be heard. Being a tech myself, with a wee bit of refrigeration back ground, I quickly found that the heating element (a quartz lamp)that was the actual defrost element heated too hot, too fast. The sudden surge of heat on the ice in the freezer was too much and caused the ice to crack and make those loud sounds, also waking us up in the middle of the night. It's harmless to the fridge itself but is very annoying to the person(s) hearing it. I called Maytag several times in the beginning and they were in denial and refused to fix it. I emptied the freezer and placed a shield over top the lamp to reduce the immediate heat just to slow the process. It seems that wasn't good enough. Just recently I'm on a new mission to conqure this again. Everything about my fridge and freezer is perfect, never had a problem, aside from this ANNOYING noise, hence I'm on a mission.

My next approach is to either buy another new heater lamp of lower wattage or to introduce a resistor in series of the lamp to reduce the overall affect. If my experiment works, I'll be sure to post the results. I only wish that some manufactures would listen to their customers

Wow... great troubleshooting Jerry... it looks to me that Maytag could learn from you.

My maytag mtb1956de is popping so loud also.. what a joke, ready to buy a new one and for sure won't be a Maytag.. ugggg

My maytag is popping so loud we can't sleep at night.. normal. I think not.. what a joke maytag.. my next refrigerator sure won't be

Glad to know I'm not the only one with the same problem.