Samsung RSA1WTMH -fail- compressor not running – help please

[KBCFC]

Hi all,

New on here today, so hope this is OK and how I should ask my question seeking some guidance on my failed Samsung (yep another one!

I have a Samsung RSA1WTMH/XEU side by side where the unit has failed and I am looking for any advice that will help me locate the actual cause of the problem.

The compressor is not live at all and so we have no cooling in the fridge or the freezer. Both sides are now warm and we have lost the product that was in there 🙁

I am not an expert by a very long way but I have a limited knowledge of how to “poke about” with a multimeter.

Here is where I am with it at the moment, with my very basic fridge freezer fault finding “skills” ….

The compressor is not operating at all but electrically it checks out OK I think – so 30 Ohms plus 16 Ohms plus 14 Ohms across the 3 pins on the compressor (so 16 add 14 giving the 30)This as I understand it, means it is good, electrically at least?

I have checked the thermal overload (fixes behind the PTC relay onto the top pin of my compressor) for continuity, that checks out fine on my multimeter.

I have checked the start capacitor (could be a run capacitor not 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} sure) and get 4.95uF on my multimeter, against a rating of 5uF, so that seems to check out fine too.

I thought it might be PTC relay failed as I was getting a resistance across the 2 terminals of 1700 Ohms at room temp when removed form the fridge/freezer and bench tested for resistance. The PTC relay unit is rated at 33 Ohms at 25 degrees (this is included in the actual part code but alos on the data sheet for the item) and so my guess was that as my unit showed 1700 Ohms at room temp, then it had an issue.
However, upon receiving the new PTC (part No. PTHTM33OMD3 or DA35-00103D)I first of all measured the resistance across the 2 terminals and got 1369 Ohms, so still way above the 25 Ohms I was expecting. Needless to say this didn’t help to start the compressor when I tried it on the machine.
Now I don’t know if the new relay I received was faulty itself?

As far as I can see on the www I should see 25 Ohms and not the relatively high readings I am getting, both on my original PTC relay but also on the new one I ordered as a replacement.

Anybody know the answer to this one for me ??

Beyond this, I have pulled the fridge and freezer internals apart and tested every sensor there is. All the thermal sensors work fine from room temp to hot water temp to block of ice temp. I get variable resistance up and down the scale as I would expect on a working piece?

The condenser fan, next to the compressor and facing the coils at the bottom rear of the unit, runs on start up
The fan in the freezer area top works on start up (a few seconds after)
The lights work fine in both the fridge and freezer area.
The control panel display on the freezer doors works fine (apart from it is showing high temperatures in the fridge and the freezer – but that will be because they are both now warm?

I have checked the mains into the main PCB situated on top of the fridge/freezer. 240 volts into the small pcb (noise filter system) and 240 volts our from there which disappears into the body of the fridge/freezer presumably straight down to the compressor and other parts associated with it.

I have now taken the spade connectors off the thermal overload pin (red wire) and off the 2 terminals of the PTC relay (sky blue wire on one and pink/blue wire on the other)I can only find 9 volts here ?

I would have expected 240volts to be getting to the relay/start system to the compressor ?

If this is the case I seem to be losing well over 200 volts somewhere between the pcb and the compressor start system ? Where can that go ?

My uneducated guess then leads me to presume that the PCB may be at fault plus my issue with not actually knowing if the PTC relay I have are good items at 1400 Ohms and 1700 Ohms ?

There are 2 fuses on the main PCB which check our OK for continuity.

Beyond that I don’t know here to start with trying to find out if the many parts on the PCB have failed in some way. If they have I guess it could maybe be a reason for the loss of the mains voltage to the compressor? Unless the compressor should run at low volts but I don’t think so ?

So there we are. I have never looked into the workings of fridge/freezers before but after a few days researching, I have learnt a lot but not enough to solve my issue.

Any amount of technical and fault finding advice or instruction would be very gratefully received.

I couldn’t see how to add images this time but only had a quick try. I have taken a load of photos on my pulling apart of the unit so have plenty available of every part on the machine. When I click “Img” on the tabs I get this but I can’t see how to upload images from my pc from there.

Looking forward to your help to help me find the problem with my Samsung.
I don’t really want to take it to the dump. It cost £750 and is only 4 years old. 😥

I have a gut feel it’s something simple needs replacing but of course it’s only simple if you know the answer – and right now I do not.

Thanks
Kevin

[Linus]

Re: Samsung RSA1WTMH -fail- compressor not running – help pl

Hi KBCFC,

I have exactly the same problem as you described it with exactly that fridge. Because of the clicking noise, I thought it was the PTC Relay (although it didn’t rattle). Like you described it, it doesn’t work with the new one. A new overload protector did not do the job either (the new one rattles as much as the old one).

Although not starting, the compressor draws a high current and gets hot after a while, so I assume (and hope) it is not the compressor itself that is broken. As you stated, I find it more likely that it does not get enough voltage to start.

As it is now more than a year later, did you get your problem solved?

I’d be grateful to learn how.

Kind regards,

Linus

[Author]

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