Samsumg RL39WBMS1 fault

[IanMason]

This is a standalone fridge freezer, fridge on top. It has electronic controls, not electromechanical ones. It’s just over 5 years old.

Symptoms:

As far as I can tell the fault is a sudden failure, there’s no evidence of a creeping fault building up over time.

If power cycled, either from the mains plug or from the soft ‘power’ switch, it runs and then after approx 45 minutes to more than an hour it stops running. It does not restart of its own accord. Power cycling restarts it.

I’ve tried both short (2 second) and long (1 minute) power cycles.

Freezer (or fridge) temperature indicator flashes while it is running, becomes steady once it stops. (These would normally mean too hot and at setpoint respectively).

Neither compartment chills down to the setpoint. Setpoints are 4 and -18, it only achieves 9 and -4 respectively.

Fridge and freezer fans running properly.

Cooling coils get as hot as they ever have. The coils are buried behind the side walls which reach approx 35 ËšC. Therefore I think the compressor is running fine.

While operating, fan nozzles in freezer section are at circa -10ËšC – I don’t have a normal comparison as I’ve never measured this when all has been operating normally.

What I take to be the freezer thermistor is ice free. (Glass encapsulated device behind a slotted grille in the upper right quadrant of the freezer inside back). I the fridge thermistor/sensor is also ice free and is where it couldn’t possibly get iced up expect in truly extreme circumstances.

As best as I can tell without dismantling everything the evaporator coils are ice free.

No fault code appears on the LED display.

Questions:

Digging around on the net I’ve failed to find anything much associated with this model.

One thing I did find was instructions on how to force start it by holding in the “Fre. temp” and “Ref. temp” buttons simultaneously for about 3 seconds. If you do this it displays FF, the cooling cycle runs and it beeps continuously. So that seems to do what it says on the can.

If you hold those buttons for another 3 seconds the cooling cycle stops and it displays Fd. Does anyone know if this is, as I suspect, a forced defrost? This would seem obviously useful if you’re using a forced start to keep it working and need to force a coil defrost from time to time.

So, can anyone suggest what’s up and, more importantly, how to fix it?

My immediate suspicion is a failed thermistor. Can anyone tell me the normal resistance characteristics for this so I can slap a meter on it?

Thanks in advance for any help,
Ian

[robocog]

Re: Samsumg RL39WBMS1 fault

Hi Ian
I don’t know what the faults or codes mean- but I have the same machine – same fault and the same button presses replicate what yours did

Have put it on its back for a few hours (unplugged and empty) on the advice of my father in law- he said he has done this several times in the past with fridge freezers and it “cured similar faults- something to do with assisting the gas and liquid seperate” I then let it sit upright for a good few hours and plugged it back in
It’s still doing the same 🙁

Did you ever get to the bottom of what went wrong?

Regards
Rob

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