My fridge (20 years old; $2000 msrp whirlpool / Kenmore elite). I recently noticed that it’s making a faint whirring type noise; never been there before.

Sounds like maybe something wrong with a fan or a motor - something that spins.

Does this sound familiar? Something I can clean? Fix / replace? Or should I start saving for a new fridge? The fridge otherwise is in great condition.

Clean the evaporator fan in the bottom back and order that fan and the interior fan. Bith easily replaceable and cheap compared to service .

^^^
Sound advice

A bit of a whirring noise from the compressor is normal. The question though is why you are just noticing it now after 20 years? Did your house get more quiet, your hearing get better, or the fridge get louder?

If you had put $100 a year away at 7% a year for the last 20 years, you would have almost $4,500 for a new fridge now. It’s too late to start saving for one, but you should certainly plan on replacing it in the next five years or so.

Sounds like the evaporator fan motor bearings are going.
I keep a spare for my downstairs fridge.

Awesome guys. As usual, quick and precise and I love when you guys concur.

I think I found the part online (but there are reports saying the part didn't match the original - not sure if these people ordered the wrong part for their fridge or if something else going on).

Problem is that the help video suggests that getting to the part is a little tedious. Need to take out interior drawers, supports and interior panels (maybe ice maker too). But I think I should verify that the part looks the same as online before ordering.

I'll clean it first as suggested and confirm the part.

slight update:

I was checking the access to the evaporator fan (which I presume is behind one of the back panels in the freezer interior). Yup, looks tedious

But I tried localizing the sound a little more and it seems like I can hear it coming out of the grill down at the bottom of the fridge. The sound is louder if I put my ear near the floor. Is there a fan or motor (other than condenser) outside the fridge down towards the bottom?

BTW, it's filthy down there. Lots of dust. I vacuumed what I could but there is a metal grill (that collected much of the dust but I can see lots more behind it) at the bottom of the fridge. This is a metal grill behind the cosmetic plastic grill that I can pull off at the bottom of the fridge.

Side note - I noticed a pan that is collecting water down there too. I assume that it filling with water is normal (for frostless freezer). Looks pretty clean consider 20 years of use. Never knew it was there.

quote:

Is there a fan or motor (other than condenser) outside the fridge down towards the bottom?

we had a 15-ish year old 2-door GE with an ice maker never hooked up. It made odd noises now & then despite being 'turned off'. Gradually it got louder/more often, to the point it was annoying.

Plus the compressor itself was getting louder. Plus the salad drawer would freeze stuff despite various adjustments. Etc. Despite a couple home visits by now retired service guy.

In any case, we ended up buying new Whirlpool.
The simple smooth white single door models are way cheaper than the other models, and really hard to find. After making the switch to the new model, the time we saved alone not having to bitch about the faults of the old one, made the $1900 seem like a deal.

Theres 2 fans, 1 approximately in the middle of the fridge behind the draws and some panels. The other in the back bottom behind a grill panel, that area usually needs to get vacuumed occasionally ( fan,coils,compressor).On mine the evaporator fan(middle fan had a design change. Went from three blades to five or six). The evap fan only works when the door is closed so it doesn’t blow cold air out.lots of youtube vids out there.The evap fan is usually accessed from the front