This wasma really great series of videos. I'm gonna try this tonight and see if that's the issue, and if it is, we'll have all night to let it thaw. Thanks!
This is a permanent solution, so seat tight and enjoy my analysis. The root cause of the problem is ice built up and then clogged up the cold air vent holes and jammed the fan. There are multiple reasons for ice build up: 1. Where did the ice come from? To minimize the ice we need to keep moisture inside to the minimum, which means covering up glasses of water, milk, opened sod cans, soup, cut open water melon, mango, fruits, wet vegetable, raw meat, etc. . The humidity inside the refrigerator is quite low, and so anythings that can be dried up will release moiture and this will form ice, and too much ice will out win the defrost heater short heating cycle (short cycle to achieve the Energy Star) and the net result is a slowly ice build up. 2. The other moisture source is the bottom Pantry tray that collected water. You need to pull out the pantry and clean this bottom tray every month or so, or after a spill from trays above. Any liquid spill not cleaned up will ended up as ice inside the fan box -- no magic about this. 3. The bottom drainage hole is clogged up with ice. Once this happened, every degrost cycle will release the water down into the bottom Pantry and pool there. This water then evaporate and form ice inside the fan box eventually. (Hint: to melt the drain hole ice fast, fill up the "pond" above the hole with water then place a 15 watts soldering iron hot tip into the water and make sure to keep the hot tip from directly touching the plastic part. Add more water if the "pond is dried up. The hot water will melt the ice and clear up the drain hole. You need to keep an eye on this and remove the iron as soon as the hole is cleared. So how do we solve these problems? It is unrealistic to have zero moisture inside the refrigerator, but if we can keep it to the minimum as I pointed out in (1) above, and with a modification to the design that prevents the drain hole clogged up then the problem will be eliminated permanently. To solve the problem (3), I used a 6 inches long, 3mm diameter copper (or aluminum) wire, wrapped around the black heater pipe (just above the drain hole and running across left to right) 3 turns, and extended the wire down into the drain hole. If you don't have large gauge wire then just use two smaller gauge wires, wrap them on the left and right side of the heater pipe and extend the wires down into the drain hole about 1.5 to 2 inches. I used to fix the iced up fan every year, but after implementing the 3 steps above, it has been running over 2 years and still no problem. My unit is RF266AB. Brian
Thanks. My fridge samsung rf23, having freezing problem of foods in fridge part (even set at +7°C). Does your solution fix my problem ? Or do I need to change both thermis sensor and defrost sensor at the top part of the cover, above the fan? Please help.
I found a long term fix. Here is how. I have done the opening up 3 or 4 times and got tired of it, thinking of throwing the fridge away. Then I got inspired by the part 6 of the video here. I used a wire-type heater of 25 Watt, 110 V, 3 mm thick, 2.5 meters long. I wrapped the wire in the chamber where ice may build and fed the ends down the drain hole. Whenever there is noise of fan hitting ice, I simply plug the heater for a few hours.
+Liqian Li .... Very Good. I figured someone was going to try this technique eventually. This technique will actually work. I would only recommend it if you have some skill in electrical work and soldering, though. I would probably not wait too long to use this defroster. Maybe like every 2 weeks you should run it for 20 minutes. Why wait until there is 2 inches of ice built up on everything?
+Santiago Perez..... I figure the water head of 2 feet will be powerful enough to blow open any clog in the pipe, as long as there is no ice. Actually the drain pipe has a rubber gap of about 0.2mm by 10mm at the bottom. I guess this gap is for letting the water through yet limiting the air breath, so that the heat efficiency is not affected.
+jakeguitar01 ... thank you for the videos. Yes, you should have some electrical knowledge to be safe. My heating wire was from a broken yogurt maker. I use a GFCI power bar to protect any insulation failure, and a timer to prevent from over warming. Actually the GFCI is so sensitive that I have to unplug the refrigerator during the de-ice. The refrigerator is safe to touch though. I have a few photos taken, but I don't know how to send them to you.
Also, just so everyone knows, and to remind everyone, it is a very good idea to either turn the refrigerator off while defrosting with a hair dryer or using this makeshift heating element. The reason is that you dont want to try defrosting while its still cooling.... ti just makes it extra hard and an even longer process than it has to be. If you leave it cooling, you will notice that it makes it even more difficult to melt the ice and in fact you will watch it re-freeze the water as it melts off the coil. So, unplug or turn it off...
If all the parts involved in the fresh food defrost cycle are working, the cause of condensation and ice built up around evaporator coil and fan is the defrost drain clogged with ice. In that case, when the refrigerator goes on defrost, the fumes from the ice melting without proper draining create condensation around the evaporator fan motor and that condensation will be ice building up stopping the fan blades. There is a substitute metal clip (DA61-06796A) that goes deeper inside the drain hole, helping better heat transferring from the defrost heater during defrost cycle, please be careful during metal clip replacement, the old one can fall very easy trough the drain hole and the refrigerator may be unrepairable. Another area that needs to be cleared is the drain pipe at the drain pan by the compressor area, there is a grommet that collects dust and obstruct the drain pipe, that is very important to check too, off course, DISCONNECT THE POWER TO CHECK.
Jake, I like your idea, but what do you think the root cause of the ice buildup is? 1.) Cold air from the freezer clogs the drain hole with ice? 2.) Defrost sensor top right is broken and auto-defrost cycles are not occurring? 2b.) Heading element burned out. 3.) Another root cause? How can I check if the defrost cycle is occurring, the heating element is not burned out, and the sensor is working? I have the same exact issue, but this is my first time to take my fridge apart. Sincerely, David King
+dlk5730 dlk5730 ---> all the parts on my fridge tested out fine and they are working, yet there still is a problem. There are some people who say that changing the thermostat will fix it. I changed mine and it still freezes up. I theorized that there is a fundamental flaw in that cover which sits over the coil and fan. It's a legit possibility since I have improved the situation by insulating a part of the coil and sealing the cover with aluminum tape. See part 8. I just recorded the video in the last few days....
My fridge does theis every 4 to 6 months. I use a steamer to melt the ice and it works like a champ. I can get the thing defrosted and cleaned out in 30 mins or less. I use a shop vac to get extra moisture.
Wow. All of those evaporators have a temp sensor. It basically tell the coil to heat up and melt ice away. First pour hot water down drain. If you see it empty it self than it is the temp sensor. It is the white wire on the right side of the coil. It is about 3 inches long and cost about 8 bucks.Another idea is to hook up the frig on a timer do that it can shut it self off at night when no one is using.Time to defrost it self.Just do not go around snipping wires from inside frigerator.
No, I wouldn't recommend it since there is absolutely no way to terminate the defrost cycle. Defrost heaters are controlled by a "Terminating or Defrost Thermostat" to shut down the coil (this is done with a bimetal switch that responds to the amount of heat) if you forget to manually unplug the heater, you will have a fire. It's better to just unplug the refrigerator and let it defrost manually, preferably at night when door openings are at a minimum. This is a much safer way, primitive but safe.
I actually found an easier solution, I was having the same issue with my 2016 Dutch door model...after the warranty expired of course. I tried the manual defrost on my but my computer in the frig must be different and it didn't work, so I just left the top part of the frig doors open for 6 hours; about 5 days after I did that the fan hitting the ice noise came back. Ok, so I defrosted it again for 6 hours, then I decided to play around a bit with the temp settings, first I raised the top part of the frig temp to 40 degrees instead of 38 where I had it, then I raised the middle drawer from the meat setting of 29 degrees to the drink temperture of 33 degrees...so far so good, no ice build up that I can tell for 3 months. I think either Samsung put a poorly designed defrosting capability in their units, or the internal thermometer that is suppose to keep the temp at whatever temp you select is off by a few degrees, so when I had the top part of the frig set for 38 it probably was around 32 to 35, and the drawer likewise was probably running at 25 or so instead of 29.
all of you don't hook nothing up. it's a drain issue. air is coming from outside the fridge up and through the drain on the back bottom of the fridge where the compressor is. there are new drain pieces you have to swap out to fox the issue they have like a check valve on it so air can't go back into the fridge any moisture or hot air that originally gets pulled up through the faulty ones creates that issue.
Remember, the fan wont run with the door open, and once the door is closed, it is hard to tell because you cannot see it. You gotta find a way to bypass the door switch. Holding the button in does not work. Someone mentioned a magnet in the right place which activates the door switch. If you can activate the door switch, then the fridge will run like it does with the door closed. Then, you will be able to see if the fan is working or not. Other than that, you can try opening the door really fast with the panel off to see if the fan was spinning. You will be able to tell, if you see the fan spinning and then coming to a stop.
You don't have to take of nothing. Check what is forced defrost command on your type of fridge and do the command from time to time. If you want to fix the fridge just buy the repair set from e bay. Funny videos man
I'm glad you find these videos funny. So, here is the deal: 1. The forced defrost does not work. 2. The repair set does not solve the problem either. Tune in for more hilarious videos about Samsung refrigerators that don't work correctly.
Defrost system is maid from one temp. sensor (the little white thing on right side clamp on cooling pipe on top), one thermistor (left hand side hide in the back of cooling pipes), defrost resistance (pipes in the front connect with wiring) and defrost tray on the bottom where the wather should drain. Take one voltmeter an mesure on temp sensor resistance (must go up and down when you put your hand and take of on the sensor), thermistor Should not be discontinued, defrost tray and defrost resistance must have continuity and a certain amount of resistance each. My working on 220V so on your should be diferent because of 110V. This is for corced defrost mode...... fixitnow.com/ this is for testing the defrost sytem (is for different type but defrost system is the same, ignore reaistance value)
On each door is a pushing button.. So if you hold that buttons push is like the doors are close _lh3.googleusercontent.com/MTeVTmrpFil72C8bx6xRrLPsfW18RnJMy-9_sqr69_aM6krDT2eGtaYaHg1vkMI-ikyccLxfcA_
The spare parts for defrost.. Al of them cost about 40£ if you want to change everything if not check each one and see which one is faulty. Check an youtube how to do this
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This wasma really great series of videos. I'm gonna try this tonight and see if that's the issue, and if it is, we'll have all night to let it thaw. Thanks!
This is a permanent solution, so seat tight and enjoy my analysis.
The root cause of the problem is ice built up and then clogged up the cold air vent holes and jammed the fan. There are multiple reasons for ice build up:
1. Where did the ice come from? To minimize the ice we need to keep moisture inside to the minimum, which means covering up glasses of water, milk, opened sod cans, soup, cut open water melon, mango, fruits, wet vegetable, raw meat, etc. . The humidity inside the refrigerator is quite low, and so anythings that can be dried up will release moiture and this will form ice, and too much ice will out win the defrost heater short heating cycle (short cycle to achieve the Energy Star) and the net result is a slowly ice build up.
2. The other moisture source is the bottom Pantry tray that collected water. You need to pull out the pantry and clean this bottom tray every month or so, or after a spill from trays above. Any liquid spill not cleaned up will ended up as ice inside the fan box -- no magic about this.
3. The bottom drainage hole is clogged up with ice. Once this happened, every degrost cycle will release the water down into the bottom Pantry and pool there. This water then evaporate and form ice inside the fan box eventually. (Hint: to melt the drain hole ice fast, fill up the "pond" above the hole with water then place a 15 watts soldering iron hot tip into the water and make sure to keep the hot tip from directly touching the plastic part. Add more water if the "pond is dried up. The hot water will melt the ice and clear up the drain hole. You need to keep an eye on this and remove the iron as soon as the hole is cleared.
So how do we solve these problems? It is unrealistic to have zero moisture inside the refrigerator, but if we can keep it to the minimum as I pointed out in (1) above, and with a modification to the design that prevents the drain hole clogged up then the problem will be eliminated permanently.
To solve the problem (3), I used a 6 inches long, 3mm diameter copper (or aluminum) wire, wrapped around the black heater pipe (just above the drain hole and running across left to right) 3 turns, and extended the wire down into the drain hole. If you don't have large gauge wire then just use two smaller gauge wires, wrap them on the left and right side of the heater pipe and extend the wires down into the drain hole about 1.5 to 2 inches.
I used to fix the iced up fan every year, but after implementing the 3 steps above, it has been running over 2 years and still no problem. My unit is RF266AB.
Brian
Thanks. My fridge samsung rf23, having freezing problem of foods in fridge part (even set at +7°C). Does your solution fix my problem ? Or do I need to change both thermis sensor and defrost sensor at the top part of the cover, above the fan? Please help.
I have a samsung RB 194 and it seems that I have the same problem ! I'm starting the repair today with the help of your video ... I cross my fingers !
I found a long term fix. Here is how. I have done the opening up 3 or 4 times and got tired of it, thinking of throwing the fridge away. Then I got inspired by the part 6 of the video here. I used a wire-type heater of 25 Watt, 110 V, 3 mm thick, 2.5 meters long. I wrapped the wire in the chamber where ice may build and fed the ends down the drain hole. Whenever there is noise of fan hitting ice, I simply plug the heater for a few hours.
+Liqian Li Check the drain pipe by the compressor, it may be clogged with dust, that also affects the defrost drain.
+Liqian Li .... Very Good. I figured someone was going to try this technique eventually. This technique will actually work. I would only recommend it if you have some skill in electrical work and soldering, though. I would probably not wait too long to use this defroster. Maybe like every 2 weeks you should run it for 20 minutes. Why wait until there is 2 inches of ice built up on everything?
+Santiago Perez..... I figure the water head of 2 feet will be powerful enough to blow open any clog in the pipe, as long as there is no ice. Actually the drain pipe has a rubber gap of about 0.2mm by 10mm at the bottom. I guess this gap is for letting the water through yet limiting the air breath, so that the heat efficiency is not affected.
+jakeguitar01 ... thank you for the videos. Yes, you should have some electrical knowledge to be safe. My heating wire was from a broken yogurt maker. I use a GFCI power bar to protect any insulation failure, and a timer to prevent from over warming. Actually the GFCI is so sensitive that I have to unplug the refrigerator during the de-ice. The refrigerator is safe to touch though. I have a few photos taken, but I don't know how to send them to you.
Also, just so everyone knows, and to remind everyone, it is a very good idea to either turn the refrigerator off while defrosting with a hair dryer or using this makeshift heating element. The reason is that you dont want to try defrosting while its still cooling.... ti just makes it extra hard and an even longer process than it has to be. If you leave it cooling, you will notice that it makes it even more difficult to melt the ice and in fact you will watch it re-freeze the water as it melts off the coil. So, unplug or turn it off...
If all the parts involved in the fresh food defrost cycle are working, the cause of condensation and ice built up around evaporator coil and fan is the defrost drain clogged with ice. In that case, when the refrigerator goes on defrost, the fumes from the ice melting without proper draining create condensation around the evaporator fan motor and that condensation will be ice building up stopping the fan blades. There is a substitute metal clip (DA61-06796A) that goes deeper inside the drain hole, helping better heat transferring from the defrost heater during defrost cycle, please be careful during metal clip replacement, the old one can fall very easy trough the drain hole and the refrigerator may be unrepairable. Another area that needs to be cleared is the drain pipe at the drain pan by the compressor area, there is a grommet that collects dust and obstruct the drain pipe, that is very important to check too, off course, DISCONNECT THE POWER TO CHECK.
Jake thanks so much I have same make and model Samsung watched all the videos going to give it a shot tomorrow.
Isn't there a forced defrost function mentioned in the service manual?
Jake, I like your idea, but what do you think the root cause of the ice buildup is? 1.) Cold air from the freezer clogs the drain hole with ice? 2.) Defrost sensor top right is broken and auto-defrost cycles are not occurring? 2b.) Heading element burned out. 3.) Another root cause? How can I check if the defrost cycle is occurring, the heating element is not burned out, and the sensor is working? I have the same exact issue, but this is my first time to take my fridge apart. Sincerely, David King
+dlk5730 dlk5730 ---> all the parts on my fridge tested out fine and they are working, yet there still is a problem. There are some people who say that changing the thermostat will fix it. I changed mine and it still freezes up. I theorized that there is a fundamental flaw in that cover which sits over the coil and fan. It's a legit possibility since I have improved the situation by insulating a part of the coil and sealing the cover with aluminum tape. See part 8. I just recorded the video in the last few days....
It sound very informative and helpful. I will definitely will try it.
This is a great help!
Glad it helped!
did you replace the Refrigerator Drain Tube Heater with the newer longer part
My fridge does theis every 4 to 6 months. I use a steamer to melt the ice and it works like a champ. I can get the thing defrosted and cleaned out in 30 mins or less. I use a shop vac to get extra moisture.
Wow. All of those evaporators have a temp sensor. It basically tell the coil to heat up and melt ice away. First pour hot water down drain. If you see it empty it self than it is the temp sensor. It is the white wire on the right side of the coil. It is about 3 inches long and cost about 8 bucks.Another idea is to hook up the frig on a timer do that it can shut it self off at night when no one is using.Time to defrost it self.Just do not go around snipping wires from inside frigerator.
That's a good idea.. I might do the timer idea..
No, I wouldn't recommend it since there is absolutely no way to terminate the defrost cycle. Defrost heaters are controlled by a "Terminating or Defrost Thermostat" to shut down the coil (this is done with a bimetal switch that responds to the amount of heat) if you forget to manually unplug the heater, you will have a fire. It's better to just unplug the refrigerator and let it defrost manually, preferably at night when door openings are at a minimum. This is a much safer way, primitive but safe.
there is also a metal clip that goes on the heater that hangs into the drain to keep from any ice building up.
Change defrost sensor attached in white clip to the evaporator coil on the right. And you will be 😊
I actually found an easier solution, I was having the same issue with my 2016 Dutch door model...after the warranty expired of course. I tried the manual defrost on my but my computer in the frig must be different and it didn't work, so I just left the top part of the frig doors open for 6 hours; about 5 days after I did that the fan hitting the ice noise came back.
Ok, so I defrosted it again for 6 hours, then I decided to play around a bit with the temp settings, first I raised the top part of the frig temp to 40 degrees instead of 38 where I had it, then I raised the middle drawer from the meat setting of 29 degrees to the drink temperture of 33 degrees...so far so good, no ice build up that I can tell for 3 months.
I think either Samsung put a poorly designed defrosting capability in their units, or the internal thermometer that is suppose to keep the temp at whatever temp you select is off by a few degrees, so when I had the top part of the frig set for 38 it probably was around 32 to 35, and the drawer likewise was probably running at 25 or so instead of 29.
I change the defrost resistance on my refrigerator, and now is fine. 11£ on e bay
Would you mind sending all of us the EBAY item number? How long has it been working since you changed this part?
all of you don't hook nothing up. it's a drain issue. air is coming from outside the fridge up and through the drain on the back bottom of the fridge where the compressor is. there are new drain pieces you have to swap out to fox the issue they have like a check valve on it so air can't go back into the fridge any moisture or hot air that originally gets pulled up through the faulty ones creates that issue.
Part # ? Photos of old/new?
Do the forced defrost command man. Is easy
my fridge wont defrost, it sais its doing it but there is no heat from the element
What is the forced defrost command on this fridge? It just comes up 00 00 and then a bunch of number when pressing more buttons?
well we got all the ice out plug it up again fan dosnt come on
Remember, the fan wont run with the door open, and once the door is closed, it is hard to tell because you cannot see it. You gotta find a way to bypass the door switch. Holding the button in does not work. Someone mentioned a magnet in the right place which activates the door switch. If you can activate the door switch, then the fridge will run like it does with the door closed. Then, you will be able to see if the fan is working or not. Other than that, you can try opening the door really fast with the panel off to see if the fan was spinning. You will be able to tell, if you see the fan spinning and then coming to a stop.
This is a problem with all Samsung refrigerators. And they were sued for it. Stay clear of this brand.
You don't have to take of nothing. Check what is forced defrost command on your type of fridge and do the command from time to time. If you want to fix the fridge just buy the repair set from e bay.
Funny videos man
I'm glad you find these videos funny. So, here is the deal: 1. The forced defrost does not work. 2. The repair set does not solve the problem either. Tune in for more hilarious videos about Samsung refrigerators that don't work correctly.
Defrost system is maid from one temp. sensor (the little white thing on right side clamp on cooling pipe on top), one thermistor (left hand side hide in the back of cooling pipes), defrost resistance (pipes in the front connect with wiring) and defrost tray on the bottom where the wather should drain. Take one voltmeter an mesure on temp sensor resistance (must go up and down when you put your hand and take of on the sensor), thermistor Should not be discontinued, defrost tray and defrost resistance must have continuity and a certain amount of resistance each. My working on 220V so on your should be diferent because of 110V. This is for corced defrost mode...... fixitnow.com/ this is for testing the defrost sytem (is for different type but defrost system is the same, ignore reaistance value)
On each door is a pushing button.. So if you hold that buttons push is like the doors are close
_lh3.googleusercontent.com/MTeVTmrpFil72C8bx6xRrLPsfW18RnJMy-9_sqr69_aM6krDT2eGtaYaHg1vkMI-ikyccLxfcA_
The spare parts for defrost.. Al of them cost about 40£ if you want to change everything if not check each one and see which one is faulty. Check an youtube how to do this
You have a defrost relay the black little small box on cooling pipe. Check this... On ice should have continuity and when is worm not
DO NOT DO WHAT THIS INDIVIDUAL IS TELLING YOU, VERY DANGEROUS