How to deal with a loud fridge when staying in a studio apartment/hotel?

Question

I'm currently staying in a studio so the fridge is close to the bed. Unfortunately the fridge is quite loud, which is slightly annoying during the day but can make it hard to sleep during the night. I could of course turn off the fridge altogether, but I have food inside that I'd like to keep refrigerated.

How can I deal with this loud fridge while keeping some food on the inside?

Update: a maintenance man took a look and there's nothing wrong with the fridge, it just happens to have a loud compressor out of the box. Therefore I've resorted to turning it off at night.

Update #2: the fridge's compressor ended up breaking down completely a couple of days after, so I've received a replacement fridge which is a lot more quiet. So looks like something was wrong with that fridge after all.

Wax earplugs? (Not even enough for a comment, even less for an answer.) — Willeke, Dec 25 '19 at 14:32
@Willeke unfortunately I can't sleep comfortably with earplugs on — JonathanReez, Dec 25 '19 at 14:32
Have you tried wax ones? They are really comfy and do not put pressure on the ears. — Willeke, Dec 25 '19 at 14:33
This seems that kind of sound almost perfectly blocked by earplugs — Cris, Dec 25 '19 at 22:46
I find foam earplugs both more comfortable and effective than other types. Bought in quantity, they're cheap. — DavidRecallsMonica, Dec 25 '19 at 22:56
Probably an obvious comment, but there aren't glass containers close next to each other inside? Older (and possibly some of the newer) fridges vibrate. By itself they don't create large noise, but if you have a couple of bottles inside that are touching or almost touching, they're guaranteed to make fridge noise TONS louder.. — Gnudiff, Dec 26 '19 at 21:54
JR, if this is AirBNB. (Or indeed any other system.). You should be sure too politely yet very firmly complain about this. It's totally, completely, unacceptable, and they literally must replace the unit. You hurt other customers by not making it a substantive issue - go for it ! Politeness be damned. — Fattie, Dec 27 '19 at 22:26
RE: Update: "it just happens to have a loud compressor out of the box" — which means the compressor failed quality control and needs to be replaced. The maintenance man is working for the owner, who wishes to avoid expense. Sure, the thing may work just fine for a while, but there is definitely something wrong with the compressor if it is noisy. (Source: I was a in-home appliance repair professional.) — Dúthomhas, Dec 28 '19 at 01:28
@Fattie nah, I'm not annoyed enough to bother. It will be mentioned in the review though — JonathanReez, Dec 28 '19 at 02:10
@JonathanReez: in this case, put it at max, and then turn it off when you go to sleep. — Quora Feans, Dec 28 '19 at 21:46

score 39 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 27 '19 at 19:32

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When faced with a noisy fridge in a hotel room, I unplug it when I go to bed. If unopened during the night, my experience is the fridge will stay sufficiently cool inside to preserve food overnight.

Take note of @PLL's comment below about food safety. In part:

...[O]ne should be careful with foods that spoil particularly quickly e.g. raw fish, or unpasteurised/lightly-pasteurised milk. E.g. I would trust typical US supermarket milk for a few nights like this, but not farm-bought milk or UK supermarket milk.

And @Matt comments: Another to watch out with is raw chicken.

edited Dec 27 '19 at 19:32

T.J.L.

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answered Dec 25 '19 at 15:58

DavidRecallsMonica

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You can also crank up the fridge (lower the thermostat) during the day when you're out to get it a little colder before turning it off for the night - though in my experience hotel fridges in particular don't ever get very cold – A C Dec 26 '19 at 02:35
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Also good is to fill the otherwise unused space in the fridge with containers of water. Water has a very high heat capacity. With large amounts of water in the fridge, the interior will stay cooler for a much longer period while the power is off. – Makyen Dec 26 '19 at 06:39
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I do exactly this in probably 50% of the hotels I stay in. Thankfully to date I've yet to find one that the hotel had placed raw fish in, so it hasn't been a problem yet. – Doc Dec 26 '19 at 07:09
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@Makyen, preferably put the water in already cold, or at the time of day you're least bothered by the compressor noise... – Lamar Latrell Dec 26 '19 at 08:35
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Another to watch out with is raw chicken. – Mast Dec 26 '19 at 11:23
@Matt Very good. I added this to the answer as well. – DavidRecallsMonica Dec 26 '19 at 15:23
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Milk won't spoil in a way that hurts you, unlike fish or meat and it doesn't spoil that quickly at all. Not quite as forgiving as eggs (that you don't intend to eat raw), but certainly no problem in a refrigerator that's periodically turned off for 10 hours. – Nobody Dec 26 '19 at 17:43
Farm bought milk is a lot safer. The fats will drift up and form a layer keeping it sealed off. And it will smell significantly before going off. (That is farm bought as in milked and untreated). Also: +1 for turn it on high during the day, possibly filled with water or soda bottles. Then unplug during the night. Worked relative well for me. – Hennes Dec 27 '19 at 15:04
Another one to watch out are the current trend of smart fridges with automatic customer billing. The management/hotel upkeep wont be very happy with people messing up with them. – Rui F Ribeiro Dec 27 '19 at 18:33
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@Hennes: "the risk of outbreaks linked to raw milk is at least 150 times greater than the risk of outbreaks linked to pasteurized milk". (And that's quite conservative: the majority of milk-related illnesses and deaths in the US were from raw milk, despite the fact that it makes up less than 1% of milk consumed; other sites estimate it's about 850 times greater risk.) – Nick Matteo Dec 27 '19 at 18:46
Guys, it costs as much as $100s a night to stay in some studio. If a $3.47 piece of chicken is wasted ... nothing. – Fattie Dec 27 '19 at 22:28
@NickMatteo - but who cares !? Actual milk tastes about 19 billion times better than the crap sold to us from processing. Note that drinking say wine, beer is surely unbelievably worse for you than the miniscul risk from unpasteurized milk! Who wants to live forever eating crap? – Fattie Dec 27 '19 at 22:30
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@Fattie Not everyone derives as much hedonic benefit from eating as you likely do, given your username. I'd rather drink milk that tastes a bit worse if it means that I'm not going to get sick. – nick012000 Dec 28 '19 at 03:37
@NickMatteo COuld be. I never checked the statistics. Grandad had a farm, traditional 3 leg chair, hand milking into a bucket. That milk tasted far superious compared to supermarked milk. And usually it was max 1 day old (new milk at 04:00 daily). BUy fresh milk like that, keep in in an urban home when you are used to keep regular milk for days and you probably have a point. I would still claim user error rather than unsafe milk, but as long as it goes wrong that much (relitively), then you got a point. – Hennes Dec 29 '19 at 00:00
@Hennes - - made me realize I haven't had real actual milk for a coupe yrs - bummer! Maybe in the new year, happy new year all – Fattie Dec 31 '19 at 18:38

score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 25 '19 at 14:56

There's no perfect solution, but some ideas:

Tweak the fridge thermostat to make it warmer. This will reduce the number of times the noisy fridge motor/compressor needs to run.
During the day, place perishable items in the freezer compartment to freeze them solid. At night, when you go to bed, disconnect the fridge power. You'll get a quiet night, and your frozen food should still be cool in the morning. Obvious caveats: not everything freezes well, and defrosted items should never be refrozen. You may also need to deal with condensation/melted water , so a strategically placed towel may help.
As a variant of the above, place perishable items in a cooler bag with some ice parks or other frozen items, then turn off power. The fridge will slowly warm up, but the cooler bag contents should stay cool until morning.

Freeze alot of water in the freezer section, and move it including its container to the fridge section during the night, it keeps the cold longer without risking freezing damage to items — Ferrybig, Dec 25 '19 at 23:53

score 11 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 26 '19 at 00:52

Hotels

In a pay/per/night kind of establishment like a hotel, go to the front desk and complain. They should be able to accommodate you (either by moving you to a new room or by swapping the fridge or by reimbursing you some amount).

In the future, be sure to specify that your room be not noisy — away from elevators and the like — when booking it. This will ideally prevent the desk clerk from shrugging and saying, sorry, tough beans.

Apartments

In a landlord kind of establishment like an apartment, inform your landlord. Unless stated otherwise in your contract (US only, IDK about other countries), the landlord is responsible for the general working upkeep of appliances in the apartment.

I've been in apartments where the fridge was crap, and I got a better one off of the local paper / exchange / whatever for cheap. The landlord had always approved the swap for a newer, better model. (But make sure you get permission! Because you can lose your deposit, among other, worse, things if you do it without first getting approval.)

Refrigerators

There are only a very few things that will cause a refrigerator to make loud noises:

physical damage / bending
maintenance / de-icing cycle problems
failing compressor
something worse that means the fridge is bricked

In the first case, listen to the machine to determine where the noise is coming from. It could simply be that the compressor is causing something to rattle, such as one of the refrigerant lines to knock against the housing. If that is the case, only a very small push or pull to bend the line a little away from the thing it is contacting is all that is needed to quiet it.

(This happens when someone is not careful when transporting the unit. The frame itself can be bent or twisted, or the metal panel around the compressor compartment, or the refrigerant lines themselves — all in ways that are not immediately obvious to the casual observer.)

Fortunately, the lines are very malleable and are designed to bend. Don't be aggressive, though. Just push it only enough to prevent it from striking the frame. If you break it you are liable, and any competent professional who looks at it will know full well that you broke it if you do. And a refrigerant leak is not your friend.

In one case, the compressor was just old and rattling everything. A hard rubber ball from the dollar store jammed between it and the support frame was all that was needed to quiet it down.

De-icing and compressor problems are best fixed by a professional. And a failing refrigerator will be properly diagnosed by one.

In all cases, the owner is responsible for the proper maintenance — he/she just needs to know that maintenance is required.

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 25 '19 at 14:51

Some ideas:

Move the fridge
Move the bed/mattress
Wear earplugs (e.g., custom silicon earplugs)
Wear earmuffs or noise-cancelling earphones
If outside is cold enough, move food to balcony and shut down fridge
Add sound barrier screens (but that's hard to carry around unless traveling by car)
Add white noise

score 4 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 26 '19 at 20:54

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Check the laws of the country you're staying in. A particularly loud fridge that keeps you from sleeping might be a reason for reimbursement of parts of the payment or the contract in total. With that go to the desk and tell them the fridge is too loud they need to replace it otherwise you refuse payment.
By German law this would enable you to reimburse.

Even if not go to the desk. Getting bad ratings is much worse than a missed payment these days.

edited Dec 26 '19 at 20:54

Willeke

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answered Dec 26 '19 at 00:13

steros

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I've stayed in 4 star hotels in the US with a loud fridge... It's not considered to be an issue for most patrons. Same with air conditioning, unfortunately it's considered acceptable for it to be loud: https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/132971/why-dont-hotels-mount-air-conditioning-units-outside-the-rooms. If I don't have food I turn it off immediately after checking in. – JonathanReez Dec 26 '19 at 00:22
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@JonathanReez USA isn't exactly known for consumer protection laws. I recently skimmed regulations about rent contracts for my country and there are defined thresholds for how loud a refrigerator is allowed to be. – Nobody Dec 26 '19 at 17:38

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 26 '19 at 16:53

3M earplugs in 50/100 boxes for next to nothing and I wear them every day, it's just a habit. go to bed, forgot earplugs? run and get them, sleep perfectly. I wear them all day sometimes, out in the street, in the car, I don't notice I still have them... For sleep they are especially essential. If it's only a noisy fridge, sell it to someone who will put it in a basement and buy another one with a low Db rating, or keep the old one and switch it back when you leave and sell the new one. if the earplugs get tarnished put them in soap water they work many times, you can even find what oil people put on them because they come impregnated with silicon oil or someting.

You can make a heavy box for the fridge if there isn't a cupboard.

I have a very noisy home, a cascade on one side and diesel engines going uphill on the other and resonating in a narrow street.

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 26 '19 at 16:39

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get a cooler big enough to hold what you need, put ice in it and use it.

Shut off the fridge and turn it back on when you leave.

Very simple and inexpensive.

I do not suggest ear plugs when staying in a rented place(hotel/motel/hostel/B&B) as you do not know the other tenants or employees and their ethics...and I want to be woken up if someone comes in the room or an alarm sounds/gunshots in the hallway, etc...

answered Dec 26 '19 at 16:39

sombebody

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I'm a lifelong motorcyclist, and wear foam earplugs on the road and while sleeping. They help a lot, perhaps as much as 35db, but they do not block all sounds. I can assure you that you will hear noisy neighbors, much less a gunshot in the hallway. – DavidRecallsMonica Dec 26 '19 at 18:56

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 28 '19 at 09:32

Look at the fridge yourself. Don't expect the maintenance men to always do their best and their best is usually medicore anyways.

Try to level it. If everything else fails, paper inserts under it can help.
Look at the compressor and tubing on the rear side. Some noise may be easilly tracked to particular parts bumping each other. These parts can be bent or otherwise neutralized.
Try to move the fridge to a place away from bed (if such place exists).
Break the fridge and have the landlord replace it with a new one (electrical skills required in order to make it look broken by itself and also has a moral implications).
Negotiate with the landlord to replace the fridge yourself (the fridge is probably $50..$150 that may or may not be a big deal for you).
The fridge is probably the simplest possible ones with a single volume and single evaporator. You can supplement it's heat capacity by placing cooling packs or some water in a plastic container in the evaporator and/or just dial the setting to the coolest possible. Then simply unplug it for the night.

Sure. I never did something like this myself - and I had a lot of unpleasant landlords. But it is still an option. — fraxinus, Dec 30 '19 at 09:41

Nightrider · Answer 9 · 2019-12-28T17:25:31.573

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If you do not have much food, it is often possible to put the food on the window shelf from the outer side for the night. and switch the refrigerator off. For the day, when it may be much warmer and you may not like the food to be visible from outside, you can put it back into the fridge. It works better if you have as single plastic box for all food that stands reliable on the shelf and closes well.

edited Dec 28 '19 at 17:25

answered Dec 28 '19 at 17:20

Nightrider

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How to deal with a loud fridge when staying in a studio apartment/hotel?

9 Answers9

Hotels

Apartments

Refrigerators