|
The compressor is there to compress the cooling gas in your fridge. Some law of thermodynamics states that expanding gas gets cold, because it has to take in external energy to decompress. It's the same effect as with the NO2-Cartridges that are used for making whipped cream. Once you screw them into the fitting, they quickly release the stored compressed gas and get freezing cold. And that is exactly what your fridge does: It compresses the gas with it's compressor (hence the name), pumps the liquid into pipes running through the cool part of the fridge and expands it there. The gas gets gaseous again, and to accomplish that it takes in the thermal energy from inside the fridge. Then the gas is put back into the compressor and it starts over. So, to be precise, the fridge doesn't cool stuff, it actually takes the heat out of it. Because cold is just a lack of heat. Or very little heat.
That description is probably not 100% accurate, but I guess you get the idea that is behind the system.
As to the rattling, that depends. Older fridges make a lot of noise, since the compressor never runs all the time. It just gets turned on if the temperature inside the fridge raises above a certain level, and gets turned off again if it falls below another threshold. And when starting, there's no pressure in the compressor, so it will rattle very likely. The same applies to newer models, but the rattling should be a lot less.
So, if the noise started recently, I'd say your compressor is about to die. You should check the temperature every now and then, to see when it's gone for good. But I think you can get replacement compressors either at eBay or at any other real-world-junkyard. At least in Germany you can, that is.
iHawk
__________________
Die Welt ist dumm und ich erst recht
|