Samsung RL33SBNS – Power but not cooling Fridge or Freezer

Hi,

I have a Samsung RL33SBNS. When I can to the F/F the other morning I noticed the fridge was warm and the items in the freezer were defrosting. The light was on when I opened the door and the cooling power LEDs on the front of the fridge were lit as usual; the F/F was silent.

This model has an electronic control at the top with an on/off button, cooling power button, and 5 LEDs to indicate the power setting. I held down the on/off button to power off, when I powered back on the F/F came back to life and cooled the fridge back down to 3-4degrees C.

I left turned on for roughly 6 hours while I went to work. On my return, the F/F was silent and the temp inside the fridge had risen to 6degrees C. I didn’t leave it any longer to see if the F/F would kick in again and start to cool as I have items in the freezer I don’t want to waste. Instead I power cycled the F/F again which then started to cool. I’m pretty sure if I left it turned on it would not have cooled.

For a short term measure I have set a plugin timer to power cycle the F/F every 90 minutes as doing this re-activates the cooling. This is keeping the temp in the fridge at a steady 3-4degrees C and the items in the freezer are still frozen. I’m sure power cycling this often is bad for the circuits so I’d like to repair this as soon as possible.

Is this likely to be the thermostat sticking?
And does power cycling force the fridge to turn on even if the thermostat gives a satisfactory reading?

Ben