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Every three weeks Our Samsung Side by Side Refrigerator starts making noise. I have to take everything out of the fridge for 12 hours (Keeping everything in the freezer during that time), then I put everything back in the refrigerator and everything is back to normal. Something is causing our blower fan in the refrigerator to freeze, once I unfreeze it everything is fine for another 3 weeks or so. I would like to have it repaired but sometimes service personnel need a little help diagnosing the problem so I wanted to find out what was wrong so I can tell them what needs to be fixed.
Hi @samsungbonnie , What is the model number of the refrigerator? It sounds as though the evaporator fan in the refrigerator is being frozen over due to a problem with the auto defrost in the refrigerator compartment. Given that you say that it occurs in the refrigerator compartment, your model is probably one that has two evaporator units. One in the freezer and one in the refrigerator whereas a lot of side by side refrigerators only have the one in the freezer compartment. Search online for Samsung (insert refrigerator model number) parts to find suppliers that may have parts diagrams that can verify this. (partselect.com and searspartsdirect .com are two that usually do have these) Also search for Samsung (insert refrigerator model number) service manual. Sometimes you can be lucky and find the service manual (for free) and this details how to run diagnostic tests which may also help to know what is happening Defrost problems can be caused by a faulty defrost heater, located beneath the evaporator unit, a faulty defrost thermostat which is used to signal when to end the defrost cycle, a blocked drain which leads from under the evaporator unit to the evaporator pan under the freezer compartment near the compressor unit or a faulty control board which initiates the defrost cycle. Not sure how often a refrigerator defrost cycle occurs but a freezer defrost cycle occurs approximately once every 10 hours to melt the ice build up on the evaporator unit allowing it to drain away. After 10 hours of normal operation there really is not that much ice build up anyway or not enough to freeze over a fan which is located near the evaporator.
I have seen a number of refers build up ice over a long period (weeks) and it was caused by leaking door seals. This mostly happened in the freezer section, but could be in the frig section also.
There is a thermistor on the evaporater line that needs moved over to the other line. It is sometimes faulty but no all the time. It is not staying in defrost long enough. Remove the plastic cover on the back wall. All the ice should be removed and then move thermistor. Usually has yellow wire and a small clip to attach to the copper line.
