Samsung Refrigerator Freezing Up

[Gregg]

I had this same problem a year ago. in fact I had to let mine thaw for several days before I could get the plastic cover off the evaporator coils. When I did what I found was the plastic cover is to direct the airflow over the evap. coils. Intake is at the top of the cover on the sides. air flows down a channel on each side then back up throw the evap coils. the problem was the seal between the outer air flow channel and the evap. coil compartment was non existent. so I added some very soft foam seal material to make sure ALL the air flows over the evap coil instead of bypassing it. I have not had a problem sense.

[jimc100]

Having had a Samsung in my home I can confirm that they have a problem with the drain freezing, otherwise a good refrigerator. Wow Drago, do you make house calls?

[masterdrago]

Originally Posted by jimc100

Having had a Samsung in my home I can confirm that they have a problem with the drain freezing, otherwise a good refrigerator. Wow Drago, do you make house calls?

Been there, done that for over 40 years. Nearly 20 of that was working on LG and Samsung. About the time I retired, the company dropped the Whirlpool line but still sold the Kenmore line made by Whirlpool. Now relaxing and helping others fix them from my keyboard only The fix to the drain freezing is make sure all the ice is removed, drain is flowing (squirt hot cloroxy, soapy water down drain with a turkey baster). Then add a 6" or so aluminum #12 (I sometimes used copper) wire bent into a shepherds hook over the defrost heater hanging down into the drain tube. Hang it loosely. Do not twist it or tighten it onto the defrost heater - that will cause it to slowly creep along the heater and pull out of the drain. The original little tail that Samsung uses does not scavenge enough heat into the drain.

[glendodom]

I have a Samsung french door, RF18HFENBSR, in a 2018 Montana 3721RL.


I have been monitoring posts about Samsung refrigerator issues since we got the trailer coming up 2 years end of this month. Now two weeks ago the refrigerator coil iced up extremely bad. I emptied the frig. and let it defrost 24 hours and started it back up and it has been cooling fine, until today. The frig temps started rising (freezer working fine). At this point I don't see the frost/ice in the vents but no doubt the coil is freezing back up.



Other than another defrost, any suggestions? No doubt a service tech needed.


I looked at my Samsung dimensions and due to depth, it looks very limited on finding another brand to replace it. My frig doors belly right up to the center aisle already which means 28.5" depth max which seems to be hard to find in other brands.


I have heard others do brand replacements. Does anyone have any insight to brand replacement if I end up having to go down that road. With me being on the edge of the 2 year warranty, I am not real sure what that will bring.

[masterdrago]

If the entire evaporator is freezing up, there are 3 possibilities assuming the fan is running. And if enough frost builds up, eventually the fan will hit that frost. Either the defrost sensor is out of range, the heater is open or the PCB is failing to cycle the defrost cycle. Without a wiring diagram it can be difficult to know what connector is for those two parts (sensor & heater). But, with the unit completely defrosted, you can take the evaporator/fan assembly cover off and get to the components directly. The heater will be somewhere between 30-120 ohms. The sensor is higher resistance the lower the temperature. Drop it in a glass of crushed ice and a bit of water. It should read ~12 to 13 kilo ohms. Attached is the chart. If it's not the heater or sensor, then it's the PCB (motherboard). You can run the little fan on a 9 volt battery to test it.

[masterdrago]

When you get the evaporator cleared of frost, you'll see several sensors. One is a fuse. It's either open (blown) or closed (good). The other is a white plastic temperature variable resistor (13,000 ohms @32 degrees).

[masterdrago]

As far as brands and size, make sure you look at only "counter depth" models. I would stay away from anything Frigidaire/Electrolux. Don't let anyone try to make you believe they are reliable. Mostly made in Mexico and have very dirty electronics (not made in a very clean room). Amana/Maytag are now under Whirlpool and in general fairly good stuff. Hard to do today but try to stay away from anything bristling with electronics.

[Ahdmeyer]

while we are on samsung fridges, anyone have this problem? my house samsung the ice maker works fine but the water dispenser will not work at all what could cause this this is a rf4287hars
thx
al meyer
3931 fb
az

[glendodom]

On the RF18HFENBSR model in trying to get that front panel off to check for ice/frost on the coil is there any trade secrets to getting it off? It has 2 screws at the bottom and one that is up center top that was behind a small cover (it was all iced over). Even after removal of these 3 screws and popping the panels out from each side, the panel cover is loose at the bottom area but still tight at the top portion. I didn't want to put too much pressure on trying to pull it away. Other than let it sit for a few hours to hopefully defrost, to then remove the front panel to verify all the frost is gone, is there any other suggestions?

[masterdrago]

Originally Posted by glendodom

On the RF18HFENBSR model in trying to get that front panel off to check for ice/frost on the coil is there any trade secrets to getting it off? It has 2 screws at the bottom and one that is up center top that was behind a small cover (it was all iced over). Even after removal of these 3 screws and popping the panels out from each side, the panel cover is loose at the bottom area but still tight at the top portion. I didn't want to put too much pressure on trying to pull it away. Other than let it sit for a few hours to hopefully defrost, to then remove the front panel to verify all the frost is gone, is there any other suggestions?

It has to be defrosted thoroughly b4 the panel will be easy to remove. It might take a day or two. It should then almost fall off.

[masterdrago]

Originally Posted by Ahdmeyer

while we are on samsung fridges, anyone have this problem? my house samsung the ice maker works fine but the water dispenser will not work at all what could cause this this is a rf4287hars
thx
al meyer
3931 fb
az

List is long.... water lines near the tank can freeze, switch or mechanical issue in dispenser console, open solenoid on the water valve, PCB (control board) relay issue. If the unit can be pulled out, take voltage reading on the coil of the water valve for the dispenser. Should be 120 when lever or button is pushed. Can you hear a buzz tone when you activate the water dispenser? If so, you have power to valve. It's not very loud and depending on where your valve is, can be difficult to hear. I think your valve is a dual valve mounted low at rear bottom left side from the front.

[masterdrago]

Your water tank and associated lines are under the crisper drawers. Link to exploded view. http://diagrams.samsungparts.com/RF4287HARS-XAA.html

[glendodom]

Originally Posted by Gregg

I had this same problem a year ago. in fact I had to let mine thaw for several days before I could get the plastic cover off the evaporator coils. When I did what I found was the plastic cover is to direct the airflow over the evap. coils. Intake is at the top of the cover on the sides. air flows down a channel on each side then back up throw the evap coils. the problem was the seal between the outer air flow channel and the evap. coil compartment was non existent. so I added some very soft foam seal material to make sure ALL the air flows over the evap coil instead of bypassing it. I have not had a problem sense.

In adding the soft foam to create a better seal, I presume you put it on the outside edges of the cover panel, on all 4 sides?

[texastwostep]

As a followup to my original post, we replaced the two parts masterdrago posted pics of, the repair guy called the yellow wire one a thermistor, and the red wire one a bimetal defrost sensor. He determined these needed replacing by running a self diagnostic that is part of the refrigerator. I did not pay attention, but perhaps masterdrago or someone else knows how to do that. We also put shims under the front to elevate the, front slightly higher (this was Samsung’s recommendation). Also the refrigerator had not been moved 4 years, so we pulled the fridge out of the slide and cleaned the coils. So far we are pushing 5 months since the last fix and it is holding its own. A couple of 1x 3s and a piece of plywood and the fridge slides out fairly easily once you get it over the slide lip.

[masterdrago]

When I had to move mine out for a recent repair (inverter board), I built a pair of 3/4" plywood panels with two 1x6 decking (true 1") under each side where the rollers would come off the slide floor. I had to remove the 1x2 black trim at the front of the slide floor since it stuck up 3/8" and the reefer would need to come over it. Both of the parts your tech replaced were easy to check but I doubt that the models in our RVs have the diagnostics. Since they will normally spot the fault during operation.

[texastwostep]

None of the parts that were replaced turned out to be anything a reasonably handy owner could not do. The original certified Samsung guy replaced the thermistor, and wanted to replace the drain tubes (which I don’t believe had anything to do with the issue). The second guy was an independent repair tech and was interested in resolving the problem, not just performing some blanket solution. So far, he seems to have resolved the issue. After seeing the amount of crud on the fridge coils, I will pull out the fridge annually and clean the coils. It could not have been helping anything. I also discovered that on my rig, Keystone removed the leveling legs because the slideout is not deep enough to accommodate using them. But the fridge mount has enough play in it to allow some shims, if needed. As always, I really appreciate the expertise and experience available on this forum.

[masterdrago]

Interesting about the dust. In a heavily carpeted indoor environment, those coils get dirty very quickly. Outside in a garage or workshop, never. In our 3791RD that we picked up in Oct. 2017, the coils looked almost new. No dust, dirt, peanut packing nuts, etc. The reefer has been run nonstop for just 2 months shy of 3 years now. I'm not even sure our model has or ever had leveling legs. Look like fixed rollers. In homes, it almost always has one of the rear corners low due to the way concrete people do their job. Most unit do not have a way to raise one rear corner and it always requires some shims of some sort.

[Gregg]

When mine froze up it sat 48 hrs with doors open. I then removed the fan cover and the evap coils were still about 2/3s a block of ice. when I put the foam on it was not on the outer edge but the inner to prevent intake air from bypassing the coils. I have not done the electronics troubleshooting prescribed that will be my next steps.
Mine still if plugged in from a complete defrost it takes about 4 weeks to freeze solid. We are not full timers so just unplug it when we get back from the lake.

[jcurtis934]

Had the water in and under crisper drawers. Problem is that Samsung built a large number of fridges with an aluminum clip on the heater line that Didn't have enough length to go down into the aluminum water drain tray. This results in the water freezing in the tray. There is a new part that is easy to install to fix the issue. Also tube videos to show the process to fix.

[Dave W]

Originally Posted by jcurtis934

Had the water in and under crisper drawers. Problem is that Samsung built a large number of fridges with an aluminum clip on the heater line that Didn't have enough length to go down into the aluminum water drain tray. This results in the water freezing in the tray. There is a new part that is easy to install to fix the issue. Also tube videos to show the process to fix.

That new clip si very esy to install. Getting to it isn't a project for many that are not good DIYers. You can buy that mod on AMAZON or a "compatible" version, identical to the OE part but about 1/2 the price on ebay. So far on the Samjunk in our S&B, that mod is working just fine