Ghost living in my refrigerator

[Gyppo]

Hello, I've been looking for guidance on how to deal with a possessed fridge. It's a 30 year old Dometic 2807. Works great, at least at the time of this writing. In the past month it started making a ticking sound every time the boiler cycles. From what I've read this can be an untoward side effect of internal corrosion in an old boiler. The weird thing is, when it started up I lightly tapped the boiler with a hammer (emphasis on lightly) and the ticking goes away for 5-10 seconds, then comes back. Any ideas what is actually happening?? Is it worth trying to fix?? Any insights would be much appreciated...the unintentional 3am ghost-boiler alarm clock is not my favorite

 

[Kirk]

Ticking is hard to say. If it is that old it may well be on it's last legs. You can get a copy of the service manual from this link.

 

[Henry J Fate]

Thermal expansion of materials will create noises. It can be more pronounced when different materials are involved. It could be that the interface of the cooling unit to the cabinet (evaporator/s) has become slightly loose and is expanding and contracting moving ever so little and causing the noise. Could be within the cooling unit itself. Mine is 22 years old and will make the expected noises during start up and shut down of the heating source. I use that noise as a gauge to let me know that the fridge is working but if it got to the point where it was affecting my sleep time, I guess I would need to do something about that. A 30 year old fridge may not be easy to fix something like this but if you wanted to try and change its course, take a look at the mounting of the evaporator inside the lower compartment and the freezer. The freezer evaporator is usually fastened in with screws from the inside with the evaporator mounted to the outside of the compartment but be careful trying to tighten those screws as they could break off. The lower compartment is usually mounted inside the cabinet.

Defrost the fridge completely before making any adjustments

 

[JayArr]

Mine 'ticked' as it failed. I tried tapping it, turning it 360 degrees to unplug it etc but in the end I had to buy a new cooling unit from the RV Cooling unit warehouse.

RV Cooling Unit Warehouse

rvcoolingunit.com

 

[whiteva]

My Norcold also made strange noises before I changed to a residential model.

Just for fun it made real loud sounds when shot by my old trusty 357 pistol before it's trip to recycle the carcass.
Really enjoy the new fridge with solid, cold ice cream on our trips.

Reminds me of a story about the first turkey I shot, scared the heck out of the other shoppers....... I am not allowed back to Winn Dixie (Just kidding)

 

[Gyppo]

Thank you everyone...I suspect I'll be in the market for a new fridge soon. May I borrow that 357??

 

[Kirk]

After 30 years of service, I'd say that it held up pretty well.

 

[8Muddypaws]

30 years old? That refer deserves a Viking funeral. With honors.