Samsung RS7567BHCSL side by side fridge freezer trips RCD

Normally people post with problems and questions, but I thought it might be helpful to post this solution of a problem.

My American style side by side Samsung fridge freezer was tripping the RCD in the consumer unit, not always immediately on powering up, but within 15 – 20 minutes. It is 4 years old. I read on here and other places that this is commonly caused by a failed defrost heater. There are two evaporators on these fridges, one for the fridge and one for the freezer, and hence two defrost heaters. Both are accessible by taking the back panels out from the respective compartments inside the appliance. After taking out the obvious screws, it’s a bit fiddly finding the snap in plastic latches which hold the panels in place, but with a bit of exploration you can find them and release them. I found a car trim removal tool useful for this – it’s like a screwdriver with a bent end which you can get behind the panel and push against the latch to release it.

I tested both defrost heaters by measuring the resistance between the coil and the casing, i.e. one probe of the test meter in one of the connectors and the other on the outside of the heater. You don’t need to get them out from the evaporator coils to do this, you can just unplug them and do it in situ. The freezer heater showed no continuity, so that’s a pass, but the fridge one was showing 1 M Ohm, so that’s a fail. Getting it out from the evaporator coil involves bending a few aluminium tabs out of the way, but no big deal. I bought a new fridge defrost heater and installed it. This solved my problem.

This job should be no problem for somebody with average DIY skills.