I have a relatively new (5 months from delivery) Fisher and Paykel freestanding refrigerator, model is RF170WLHJX1. For about 3 months, this machine was great. I never heard it. Rarely, it would cycle audibly for 20 minutes, the compressor would hum but I don't recall hearing any noise aside from that and all seemed normal.

About two months ago I started to notice an annoying low sort of harmonic whooshing noise. It would come and go. Well, time has worsened the situation and now the sound occurs seemingly all the time. Just constant all day and the sound isn't smooth it sounds garbled, for lack of any better word. The machine sits at an appropriate distance from walls and cabinet and it's fully open on one side. It is level but does sit a bit higher in the front, as FP recommends. This noise is getting worse and frankly, it's exceptionally irritating. I pulled it away from the wall two days ago, it sounds like the sound is emanating from behind the back panel, not directly from any of the components that sit at the bottom of the unit. Beyond this, things look fine, and this is not at all dirty. Not surprising as it is only 5 months old.

Fisher Paykel: it took three weeks to get an actual person on the phone at FP customer service. I have been run around in circles by AI "assistants", sent many text messages and many emails completely lacking in any substance. I finally located a local appliance repair shop that services FP refrigerators, they can't come to my house for two months. Out of desperation, I tried the phone again this evening. Maybe calling at 7 pm EST is the trick as I was able to speak to an actual person who unfortunately sounded very bored and offered no advice.

So...my question - does anyone have experience with this. Is there a way for me to address this on my own? I've tried restarting it - unplugged for about 30 minutes then plugged back in. The sound didn't start up right away but within a day, it was back. Also, when I unplugged the unit, it took a short amount of time for the sound to stop - it wasn't cut off immediately with the power. Any ideas...?