Silencing a freezer

lm · Post by lm » Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:18 am

I was completely satisfied with my system... until we moved.

Our kitchen does not have any space for a freezer, so we got a pretty old one and put it in the corner of our living room.

Being old, it's probably really inefficient and badly insulated. The effect of this is that the compressor is running almost all the time and the noise is filling our living room and driving me nuts!

I MUST silence it somehow or I'll be throwing it from the balcony. Then I couldn't store ice cream anywhere and my gf would go nuts.

Now, I just can't move it anywhere from the corner of our living room, because there just isn't any other place to put it. I'm really not interested in buying a new one, as we'll only stay here for 3 years or less.

Searching for a freezer gives bazillion posts because of the cpu cooler with that name seems to be really popular.

There's absolutely no point in having 2 uber quiet / near silent computers in the living room with this monster, it drowns out any other noise.

Any ideas, please?

datapappan · Post by **datapappan** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:02 pm

Firstly, have this moved to Off topic, it's not about PC:s.

Now, you should give us some info on what kind of noise it is, and if you've pinpontied it. My experience says:
- worn compressor, or unbalanced, making direct noise
- vibrations transmitted from compressor to frame and hoos of fridge
- worn fan bearing, sitting next to compressor

To make the first go away, you would need an enclosure (think closet), with sturdy walls and insulation.
The second goes away with decoupling/soft mounting, check if the rubber bushings holding the compressor are old and hardened, change them.
Third problem, either grease or unwire the thing.

HTH, datapappan

aitor · Post by **aitor** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 2:38 pm

My grandparents have a fridge (not a freezer, but does have a freezer compartment) that is over 50 years old, still working, and has no moving parts! It's totally silent but I doubt that it's energy efficiency is that good. I asked my grandfather whether it worked using the peltier effect (I thought it might be solid state) but it doesn't; it relies on a chemical (can't remember whether it is a gas or liquid) to exchange the heat with a radiator, then the heat escapes through a vent at the top.

You might be able to find a similar machine somewhere second hand. It is huge but has very limited storage space inside. And I bet the chemical used is not environentally friendly, so it may be difficult/expensive to dispose of when you decide to get rid of it.

It was made by Electrolux in the UK during the 1950's.

andywww · Post by **andywww** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 3:19 pm

I think they still make them for use while camping, there were a bunch of posts about that type of cooler. I think it was called a gas absorption cooler or an Einstein refrigerator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_Refrigerator

Though lm doesn't want a new fridge so its kinda academic.

my 2c, can you move your computers out of the living room

? j/k

malcky h · Post by **malcky h** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 4:43 pm

living with a noise that is driving you nuts already will drive you insane if your going to stay there for upto 3 years, so why not just buy a new one and take it with you when you move...

however, before you go out and buy a new freezer i would like to mention that all the fridge freezers i have had (2) and 2 chest freezers i have had all made noises that i am thankfull that they have always been in the kitchen and not anywhere else because they drive me nuts as well and the one we have now which is the most energy efficient one we have had is also the noisiest bugger as well as it actually groans and hums all the time

. you should see the faces of folk that come round my place and wonder what the hell is groaning (as they are looking around for a cat or dog

)

lm · Post by lm » Tue Aug 09, 2005 12:08 am

datapappan wrote:Firstly, have this moved to Off topic, it's not about PC:s.

Apologies for possibly selecting the wrong forum. Mods, feel free to move this if you feel like it.

datapappan wrote: Now, you should give us some info on what kind of noise it is, and if you've pinpontied it. My experience says:
- worn compressor, or unbalanced, making direct noise

There's a black box near the bottom in the back side of the freezer, that is making a sound like this: "surrurrurrurrur" I think it's basically the noise that they usually make. It must be the compressor as there's not much else there besides it and the radiator.

datapappan wrote: - vibrations transmitted from compressor to frame and hoos of fridge

I think it's just the direct noise from the compressor. It's loudest if I put my ear next to it. Also, the compressor is really hot. I can only keep my finger on it for couple seconds. I wonder if this is ok?

datapappan wrote: - worn fan bearing, sitting next to compressor

I can't see any fan there. The radiator fills the whole back of the freezer except for the bottom part where the compressor is. I've left about 10cm between the radiator and the wall for air to flow.

datapappan wrote: To make the first go away, you would need an enclosure (think closet), with sturdy walls and insulation.
The second goes away with decoupling/soft mounting, check if the rubber bushings holding the compressor are old and hardened, change them.
Third problem, either grease or unwire the thing.

HTH, datapappan

Thanks a lot for the tips!

The freezer is an electrohelios, but I can't seem to find any mention of when it's made, but I think I'm the third owner, at least.

Basically it's dead silent for 5 minutes, and then compressor running for next 5 minutes (repeat), even though I set it to minimum power so it should run as rarely as possible.

Oh, and after opening and then closing the door, it whistles. I assume this is because it sucks air inside as the temperature and pressure drop, but I've never heard such effect before.

lm · Post by lm » Tue Aug 09, 2005 12:17 am

Well, I can't move the computers out of the living room, as there's no room for them anywhere else and the organization of the rooms is perfect if it were not for the freezer.

Malcky H, how can your energy efficient freezer be so noisy? As I understand it, the more energy efficient the freezer is, the better it must be insulated so that it only needs to run it's cooling system very rarely, and in general there has been correlation between energy efficiency and quietness in pc parts but this doesn't apply to freezers?

I'm thinking of buying a new one but it's sth like 250 euros for the cheapest ones, plus delivery (sth like 30-40 euros). And that hasn't taken into account any silencing issues, probably the quietest ones are not the cheapest.

datapappan · Post by **datapappan** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 12:24 am

OK, so it seems you're stuck w an old rickety compressor, too bad.

The whistle you hear is when warm room air goes into the freezer, and contracts upon cooling down, causing low pressure sucking in air through door rim.

/ datapappan

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 8:21 am

lm wrote: I think it's just the direct noise from the compressor. It's loudest if I put my ear next to it. Also, the compressor is really hot. I can only keep my finger on it for couple seconds. I wonder if this is ok?

Basically it's dead silent for 5 minutes, and then compressor running for next 5 minutes (repeat), even though I set it to minimum power so it should run as rarely as possible.

You could probably make it run a lot less if you aimed a fan at the compressors. It might not be all that much less annoying, but it would save elecrticity. The compressor should work a lot better with a fan, and I think it's likely that the heat from it gets into the fridge, causing it to need to run again in 5 minutes.

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:45 am

A more elaborate and far fetched idea for queiting the fridge and cooling the compressor coils:

Seal and rustproof the back of the fridge, and submerge the compressor coils in water or oil.

I don't know if water would blocks or amplify the noise, but as for oil, I think I remember hearing that coil noise could be stopped by submerging the motherboard in oil.

ascii · Post by **ascii** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 7:10 am

You could try searching various second-hand sites looking for old Electrolux freezers. Electrolux used to make at least refrigerators, but possibly freezers as well, that had no moving parts. Instead of a pump, they used a perculator, the same mechanism that pumps up the water in a regular coffee machine. Incidentally, the kompressorless refrigerators where invented by a swede named Baltzar von Platen. He was convinced that the rules of termodynamics could be cheated and spent a large part of his life trying to make a perpetum mobile.

I doubt that a hushbox could silence your current freezer well enough to make you satisfied because compressors are _loud_. Your compressor is probably already enclosed in a noise-dampening case, so yet another case won't buy you that much. I'd say your only option is to buy a better freezer.