Your air conditioner making a lot of noise

Have you been hearing unusual sounds from your air conditioner for some time? Noise in the pipes, cracking, whistling or grinding... A noisy air conditioner often means a technical issue, but that doesn’t mean it’s serious! Find out what steps to take to identify the possible causes your air conditioner being abnormally noisy.

THE POTENTIAL CAUSES FOR THIS FAULT :

• The filter is full of dust

• The turbine is rubbing against some frost

• The turbine is damaged

• A contact point between the pipes

• Noise in the pipes

• Tubes expanding

WARNING
Before carrying out any work on your appliance,
make sure you properly disconnect it from the mains electricity supply.
There is a risk of an electric shock.

The filter is full of dust

Air conditioning moves air around, so over time dust naturally accumulates in the air conditioner's filter. This accumulation of dust can lead to unusual noises. The solution is simple: clean all of the dirty filter!

Purchase a filter for an air conditioner

The turbine is rubbing against some frost

To cool the air in your room, your air conditioner dries the ambient air by sucking out the moisture (from the top of the appliance) and then by blowing out this air once it has been cooled by the evaporator (from the bottom). This air exchange process is carried out by the turbine in a unit inside your air conditioner. This turbine is usually surrounded by the evaporator (the compartment that produces the cold). If the evaporator is too iced up, ice or frost interferes with the fan turbine and causes a noise due to friction. To check this, after disconnecting your air conditioner, remove the air con's covers (there will be screws to remove!). Check whether the evaporator is not too cold near the centre. If this is the case, de-frost your appliance , by leaving it unplugged for several hours. Then you just have to turn it on again!

The turbine is damaged

Is the turbine still making a noise despite the check in the previous step? This means your fan turbine is probably bent or broken, resulting in a loud noise due to the vibration. You'll probably have to replace this part. To do so, remove your air conditioner's casing (remember to unplug the appliance), then remove the turbine that you can usually access from below.

Pipes are too close together

Do you hear vibrations or clonking? Coolant fluid is what makes your air conditioner work. This fluid flows through watertight pipes. If the pipes are too close to each other, they can start vibrating or even produce clonking noises. After removing your air conditioner's casing, you can go along the pipes inspecting them to see if this is the case. If so, you can try to gently increase the distance between the tubes.

Noise in the pipes

Can you hear a whistling noise in your air conditioner's pipes? Sometimes the coolant circulating can cause whistles, whispering noises or wave sounds. These sound effects are completely normal and means the fluid is circulating properly in your pipes. If you are hearing them frequently however, and they're getting louder, you will need to contact a fridge technician to fix this.

Tubes expanding

Can you hear slight clonking in the pipes? This sound comes from the expansion or contraction of the tubes as a result of the temperature change they undergo. If these sounds are occasional, there is no need to worry. If not, you will need the assistance of a fridge technician.