Ice in Vegetable Trays of Samsung Refrigerator

Samsung Refrigerator RF217ACPN Troubleshooting & Repair ...

If it is still under warranty, I would not waste time trying to get Sears to fix it.

Our Whirlpool freezer quit making ice and three different "repairmen" diagnosed three different problems, two requiring parts to be ordered and NONE of them fixed the problem.

The customer service is non-existent and off-shore and nobody in the USA cares about your stinking problems.

Turn off the water to the icemaker, turn off the power to the icemaker and get some ice cube trays. Quick, cheap, and easy fix!

I bought a fridge in 1968 with a small top freezing compartment. It started to behave badly in 2000 and ice were deposited in the drawer.

That was fixed by replacing the sensor unit and securing it tightly to the metal freezing compartment.

I replaced the fridge / freezer (with separate control) roundabout 2007 and the new one just lasted the guarantee period and then started to form a glacier at the top back of the fridge compartment next to orifice where the cold is generated and water accumulated in the vegetable drawer.

Replacing the temperature control unit did not help. My conclusion was that the sensor was incorrectly placed and simply did not register the true temperature when defrosting or freezing.

There were not enough space to modify the design and I scraped the idea to improve the control with a microprocessor.

I eventually solved the problem by buying a new one.

After replacing the fridge I realized that the plastic drain leading water to the motor was loose and the fridge may have sucked in moist air. It may be wise to check the drain pipe.

Take this piece of metal rod and wrap it around the defrost heater and down the drain line, when the defrost heater comes on it will defrost the drain line as well...but blow out the drain line with some compressed air first to make sure it's not clogged....

https://hdsupplysolutions.com/shop/p/ge-refrigerator-drain-heater-probe-p644545?gclid=Cj0KEQjwouW9BRCN0ozIifTI6_cBEiQAD9gNsVPCzdDHz_jkeTzFxcL0sL5xxWA4SMa78_VcYpwnCBcaAuuW8P8HAQ

Whirlpool has something similar,it was a flat piece of aluminum that was wrapped

around the defrost heater,and stuck down into the drain tube.

I installed it,but still same problem.

I know copper is a better thermal conductor than aluminum,so I am thinking about

using a stranded copper #10 wire,and separating the strands at the end at the

defrost heater,to allow easier bending of all strands around the element,but leaving

them twisted together at the drain tube end.

The tube has been thoroughly blown out,and once cleared of ice,water runs freely

through it.No restriction there.

Are you sure the defrost heater is working? Have you ever timed it to see how long it stays on? I might consider changing the board in case there has been a revision....they may not admit it because they don't want to pay to fix them all....but if it is determined that there is a problem, they might adjust the timer in the board through a revision....just a thought...Some of these have a thermostat to initiate defrost and a klixon thermo as a defrost termination control, but some are just timed...I might check on the board to see if the timer is adjustable...

I believe if the heater was not working,the coil would be iced up,but it is not..it is clear of ice.

I have been on line and there are a lot of complaints about this problem,on this particular model,but no on has really solved it yet.

A real PITA to get to the drain tube..must remove all shelves in order to remove the back cover for access.

Next time I pull it apart to de-ice the tube,I will investigate the possibility of installing

a baffle to keep the air off of the condensate.

It may be the frigid air coming off of the coil that freezes the water in the tube before it can drain.

Gonna be a lot of trial and error to fix this I guess.

Seems like S. Korea has a problem finding good engineers,at least Samsung has problems.

Frost free is a mature technology,and my old 35 year old refrigerator did the job perfectly,and was a lot quieter.

Now they have CAD/CAM and computer modeling simulations that should have found this problem before they went into production.

Thanks a lot Samsung!

Yeah it's almost more trouble to fix then it's worth....one last suggestion comes to mind, you might move it out to the garage and get another fridge....that way you can screw around with it till you either give up or stumble on the problem...You might be able to sell it an recoup some of your losses....

In your original post you wrote: "After about a year, it started accumulating ice"

Does this mean that for a full year there was no problem?

Can you put your finger on changes in the frig, location, usage, etc., that may have contributed to the sudden accumulation of ice?

It's only a guess, but I'd investigate the smoothness of the inner wall of the drain tube, like a thin caching of rough matter that slows the flow and encourages ice buildup.

I've been involved with the domestic refrigerator market for 65 years. I agree that quality and reliability have been deteriorating since the late 70's or early 80's. But, Samsung is probably one of the best. As far as quality of service, that can vary considerably from market to market.

Good luck!

Zvi

Good point. Frozen peas have a way of getting to those tubes. Not the first time I've seen that.

The drain tube is wide open when not frozen.

It will pass water nearly as fast as I can pour it in from a water bottle.

No debris or clogs.

In desperation,it has been blown out with compressed air at 100 PSIG from my shop compressor,just to make certain there were no clogs.

I have found that 95% isopropyl alcohol works pretty fast to defrost,followed by canned air.

There have been no changes in position or ambient conditions near the refrigerator.

There is no way for food to get to the refrigerator coil,it has a large plastic cover secured with screws,and it is a tight fit.

I have not found food of any kind behind it.

All the gaskets check good,including the T Astragal in the center.

I have tested them all around by using a thin strip about 2 inches wide, of notebook

paper placed between the door and gasket when closed and there seems to be a

good seal with no loose spots.

Wish I had a non-toxic smoke tester so I could pressurize the interior with smoke.

I might just pressurize it by applying air to the exit end of the drain tube,and listen

and feel for leaks,or by passing a lit candle around the gaskets.

I will find the problem and fix it eventually.

Either that,or use it for target practice.

I will let everyone know what I find.

Good posts so far, I Thought I'd just post this..., with newer refrigerators they have now, a lot of people don't or no longer realize this

Have you tried unplugging the unit for 5-10 minutes and plugging it back in?

I love British Humor...

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I unpwug evwy tyme I werk on it.

I werned dat werkin az an injunear wid NASA.

Learned not to do it during launch seqwuence.

Have you checked to see if the indoor(evap) fan is working?

I had a similar problem with a fridge and I discovered the indoor fan wasn't working, it was replaced under warranty and problem solved.

It so happens my fridge also originates from S Korea!!

Experience with a Sears oven/range that would crap out at the most inopportune times suggests to me that the control circuit board is at fault (after about 5 instances wife insisted time for a new simpler oven/range)

• Checked the link that Lyn posted, found that water inlet valve requires a minimum of 20 psig to shut completely. Any possibilities of problem with S/O valve or water pressure?

• How about high humidity condensing during refrigeration cycles?

Don't know about your model, but it may be possible to adjust defrost timer as you propose.

Ice maker/water valve is not the problem.

It works fine.I have 70 psig water pressure.

No condensation on inside of refrigerator.

Door gaskets are good.

Defrost timer is non adjustable.Everything is controlled by CPU.

Coil is being defrosted,but the drainage from coil re-freezes before it totally drains out of the catch-tray below the coil.

The water thereafter accumulates every defrost cycle until it runs over,down the inside back wall,and into the vegetable trays.

It only takes one bad cycle to start the process,and it will continue to leak until the tube is manually thawed out.

I drilled 2ea 6mm holes into the rear bottom of the trays to prevent build up in the trays,but it keeps building up in the bottom of the fridge below the trays.

Temperature of the bottom freezer and the refrigerator are set at factory recommended values.

I'm sure you've looked at this, but nobody's mentioned it yet; does this model have an "eco mode"? I know on most modern fridges, in order to get a bit better efficiency, they limit the defrost time/frequency to a bare minimum. I've also seen this called "low humidity setting", meaning if the fridge is in a low humidity environment, this mode can be set. The result is the same, limited defrosting. I normally never use this mode, for the above mentioned reason. I've had to manually "de-ice" drains in the past, no fun!

Tom D.

Thanks for the informative feedback.

"Everything is controlled by CPU."

Based on this observation, I'd be suspicious of the CPU.

• If your unit came with a decent parts list (at least mine did) you might see a several part numbers, in your case the CPU, depending on the model application.

• One other thought - is it possible that the drainage tubing is too small, or has bends that prevent the defrost water from completely draining before the start of the next refrigeration cycle?

Otherwise it's back to the drawing board for me.

Let us (and Samsung!) know the eventual outcome.

Casper

Have you Check the small fan by the compressor underneath or at the back....make sure fan blades and nearby coil fins are clean /free! They help cool down the compressor motor at the same time keeping a warm surroundings that helps keep a frost free drain line /accumulated condensate water to evaporate!

I believe this fan should always be on and running!

No , what you describe is the condenser motor that forces air across the condenser coil as part of the refrigeration cycle....It cycles on and off with the compressor...The water in the condensate tray is evaporated with heat, either from the hot gas line from the compressor discharge, or with the aid of a electric resistance heater element in the tray... There is such a thing as a double trap that can occur and keep the line from draining...this occurs when the drain line does not have a steady decline, but goes up then down then up again, the air bubble formed in the raised part of the drain line stops the water from flowing due to back pressure...It's a tricky problem that is hard to spot especially if you don't know it can happen...We used to get this problem all the time with PVC drain lines run in attics that were not properly supported...

Worth a looksee....↑

There is no way to know the routing of the drain line,it is all concealed in the insulation within the walls of the refrigerator.

If I had a set of engineering drawings,I could tell the routing.

It appears to go straight down from the catch basin below the evaporator coil.

Once thawed,it runs freely with water poured into the basin from a water bottle.

At any rate,engineering is inadequate on this and apparently,many other brands.

Perhaps they should hire some retired REAL Baby Boomer engineers to solve their design problems.

My old frost free never gave this problem.

Obviously,the new generation of engineers in this area is lacking common sense and basic engineering knowledge,skills or abilities.

Or possibly,the refrigeration industry only hires from the bottom of the class.

I can hear it now:"Let Dufus design that drain line.He won't monk that up..

How hard can that be?"

Tsk! Tsk! What a revolting development this is!

Try just very slowly pouring water, any force will push the water through the drain line...as I said it's very tricky to spot....If this is the case try pulling the drain line gently from the bottom to stretch it out...

I install appliances and you are NOT alone. This isn't the only model with a defrost problem from Samsung. I hear reports all the time of the icemaker freezing up a solid block in the ice maker and freezing the door dispense screw in place and burning the motor or stripping the gears.

Whirlpool sells parts to Samsung, and perhaps this is one of those parts. I doubt it though. The whirlpool parts I see in Samsung stuff is usually the most reliable of the parts. The stuff that breaks in the samsung stuff is the stuff they made themselves or stuff involved in their own engineering and design.

I realize I am not alone,there are literally hundreds of complaints about this problem with Samsung and other brands.

In this case,misery does not love company.

I replaced my ice maker with an after-market brand,and it is quieter and works better than the original.

Only about a 10 minute job to replace.

After replacing the original I found that the original had the wiring improperly routed,so that when the tray dumped,it would eventually abrade the wiring and cause a fault.

I repaired the original,and am keeping it for a spare,just in case.

The problem I am having does not involve the ice maker,but the defrosting of the refrigerating coils,in the top of the cooling section.

Another problem with Samsung is (was) the noisy operation,especially during the fill cycle of the ice maker.

I discovered that the refrigeration tubing was making contact with the water solenoid,amplifying and sending the 60 cycle noise through the whole machine.

I simply bent the tube slightly,about 2.0 mm away from the coil and it silenced the hum during the fill cycle.I don't think this occurred during shipping,because the tubing is steel,and very hard to bend.

This should have been caught at the QC,presuming they have a QC at Samsung.

It still makes noise during the dump cycle,the ice landing in the collection bin,but I think this is due to the "high performance" thin wall insulation used in newer model refrigerators.

Overall, no progress has been made in the last 35 years in the home refrigerator technology,as a matter of fact, IMHO, it has gone downhill,at least as far as Samsung is concerned.

I know it will not make any difference to Samsung,but I will never again buy any Samsung product of any type.

I know they have many different divisions, but the money still goes in the same pockets.

It is all I can do in protest of their low quality product.

Hopefully,anyone who reads this will spread the word and warnings.

Caveat Emptor! When the vendor is Samsung.

If you can remedy this problem.... Maybe a good idea to bullet point a trouble shooting list. ^{for the future of mankind sake}

"I know it will not make any difference to Samsung,but I will never again buy any Samsung product of any type."

Who knows who is the manufacturer of any brand these days?

Casper

If they put their name on it,they own it,regardless of who the suppliers are.

They get the credit or blame,as the case may be.

They are responsible for specifying the parts and ensuring that the parts are in spec and operating properly together.

Samsung is a dirty word in my vocabulary.

I have a Samsung HARS27 French Door-Bottom Freezer and have had the same problem but my result has been an ice build up under the freezer drawer section. It becomes apparent when either you hear the drawer rub against the ice or the ice starts dripping out the front corners. All trails point to getting a piece of copper wire, wrapping it around the defrost heater and threading it down the drain line. Waiting for a good time to try this. From all I've seen researching the problem, Samsung sucks as far as service. Annoying part is that when I researched this prior to purchase, nothing showed up and even Consumer's Report gave them a high rating. I've given Samsung a bad rating on the CR Survey ever since.

CR can't be trusted any more. Everyone I talk too with this (and other samsung problems) has the same complaint. CR rates the $1200 waterwall dishwasher high as well. I have seen more leaks and failures of this model than anything else I have installed. Next up is Viking! Worst way to spend your money.

You could of course build your own separate drain line heater with a separate control....

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http://www.dewbuster.com/heaters-nichrome.html

You might find one of these that might work, it's for heating windows to remove fog...↓↓↓

http://www.produal.com/shop/web_cable_temperature_sensors/sku-1175220

Evidently the problem of water accumulating at the lowest part of self-defrosting refrigerators is quite common, regardless of brand.

When I brought up your problem at dimmer the other night, my daughter noted that the refrigerators in several apartments she and her husband lived in had the same problem, as well as one that my mother owned (and replaced).

You-tube is replete with a number of videos on the subject, so I've got a feeling that you've expended more than enough time and energy as well as gotten everyone on this forum to put on their thinking caps,

I was able to do a Google search by entering the term "Samsung Model RF217 ACPN" .

And......