Samsung SR-S20

[Dave_Conway]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

You know, I nearly posted a response to your 18th May post regarding this.

Excessive ice build up nearly always has an underlying cause, please let us know the outcome 😀

Dave.

[admin]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

HI all.
Ive just come across this web site and felt until now I was the only one with this trouble of ice build up, however I was told that this fault is well known, (in repair engineer circles) I’ve even been told that Samsung produced a “Modification Kit” that solves the problem, but my engineer currently investigating the cause cannot get any information on the subject. Ive even had a run in with samsung who refuse point blank to accept this is a design fault, well if they did produce a “Mod kit” ? is that not in itself admittiting they have a problem with this machine. 😕

[admin]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

Have you had any progress in find out about the mod kit or details (such as the Part Number) of the frost sensor?

I’m currently suffering from this problem and having to defrost every 6-7 months. However each time I remove the internal rear panel the insulation is being damaged 🙁 .

Ian

[88alastair]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

Hi, Yes, I too had this problem and eventually had to bite the bullet and get an engineer out to my fridge. It cost me £65.00 a couple of years ago for him to come out, free off the ice around the recirculation fan, and put it all back together.
He claimed that this problem was unusual (not according to this forum), and was caused by a small piece of electrical insulation falling onto the evaporator. “Now I’ve cleaned that off you won’t get any more problems” he claimed.
3 months later, I had a frozen bottom shelf, and a warm top shelf ’cause it had happened again. 😡
I’d seen how he got the covers off last time, so I rfemoved the panels with the help of my wallpaper steamer to free off the ice, I was able to un-stick the fan again.
The problem reoccurred, and I too tried switching to ‘vacation’, but this didn’t stop the refrigerator.
Eventually, I emptied both the fridge & freezer and switched the appliance off for one week (with the doors open) whilst on holiday. This was 9 months ago, and so far everything is OK with that problem. 😀

Now I have a problem where the freezer section temperature display shows -26 degrees, but the temperature inside is much warmer. Turning the power off & on again re-sets things, and it freezes again, but once cold and the compressor turns off, the display remains at maximum cold as the freezer warms up again, and the refrigeration doesn’t re-start.
I’ve tried swapping the temperature sensors from ‘fridge to freezer, but this hasn’t helped.
Please has anyone any sugestions? THe official engineers want £60.00 call out fee, this covers the initial 15 minutes, with subsequent 15 minute’s being charged at £20.00 a time. So at £80.00 per hour, plus parts, I think this could work out expensive! 😡

[gazr600]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

Hi ALL
maybe i can help the main cause for this problem is component failure normally the heater in the fridge or the thermal fuse go open cicuit causing ice to build within weeks of defrosting also the plenheims can become pourous causing them to freeze new plenheim req or evaporator defrost sensor goes out of calibration preventing defrosts all above may require a service call

[3stars]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

When the engineer returns get him to test the thermal fuse, it is located on the right hand side of the evaporator (red/black wires). You should get a circuit when testing for continuity, if open circuit also test the evaporator heater.

[FrustUser]

Can any of you guys write some instructions on removing the panel (with the words Ref Evaporator on them)? I’ve defrosted the fridge for more then a day now but have problems removing the cover. The clips on either side of them are majorly difficult to remove. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Weirdjam]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

Post removed, too much info given in a public forum.

gegsy UKW Moderator

[berrys]

Re: Samsung SR-S2026CVW

We’ve had exactly the same problems described here almost since the F/F was new. Have defrosted regularly but obviously root cause has remained. Today replaced the whole evaporator cover panel and fan with one from a later model. Everything fitted except the wiring from the fan which was swapped over with the old wiring after a minor adaptation was made.

Aparently the insulation was a problem on the old model, one of the vents in the insulation which was always blocking on the old one is considerably bigger on the new one. I think Samsung should own up to this design fault, we have thrown away many, many pounds worth of spoiled food over the years and only last week I paid £50 to call out an engineer who unblocked & defrosted fridge side but could not find a fault. Does anybody from Samsung have a response?

[Mike-in-Horwich]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

I’ve had problems with my Samsung side-by-side, frost-free unit for the past 3 weeks. It’s only 2 yr 8 months old so I’m reluctant to scrap it but have found it very difficult to get an engineer to come out and those that will want to charge quite a bit.

The freezer side’s OK (for now) but fridge is very cold at bottom, warm at top. The “cool-wall” panel inside the fridge side, on the back wall, low down has a fan inside to circulate cold air upwards and hence out of the vents set at differing heights on the back panel.

I’ve had the “cool-wall” panel off, defrosted with hair dryers, refitted and the fam intermittently works – then stops completely.

As my beer’s getting too cold I sidestepped the issue. My local PC repair shop gave me a PC fan, I wired it to a 12 volt supply using a spare variable voltage transformer (not expensive) and plugged this in the mains. The thin wire passes through the door edge and causes no loss or intrusion of air, is reasonably quiet and helps move the air around inside the fridge.

Depending upon the success I may modify this and place the fan behind the cool-wall panel having removed the Samsung original fan first.

Hey, you’ve gotta get your beer at the right temp.

I’ll report back on progress.

[Elmag]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

Errr Mike the fan needs to be off during the defrost

[Elmag]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

Oh and why introduce steam into an electronic system that has a 77 degree safety cutout ?

[Mike-in-Horwich]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

An Update:

The temp. fix with the fan placed on a low shelf was not too successful. However, I’ve now removed the Cool Wall cover, complete with the fan that apears not to be working anymore. I needed to cut the yellow, black and grey wires in order to remove the whole part.

Then removed the Samsung original fan and plastic assemby, taping the PC fan into the recess in the moulded cool-wall panel. Connected back to the 12 volt supply and re-fitted the cool wall and air is now blown up and over the cooling element, and distributed thoughout all levels of the fridge.

Elmag – no idea what steam and 77 degrees means – but as regards defrosting I can manually undertake by switching-of the 12volt fan, remove cool wall panel, heat using hair-dryer then replace all. If I have to do this every 6 months it’s acceptable.

[helo_75]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

well, i think its time someone posted something here that is usefull

you had to snip the wires to get it out? just unplug it from the other end.. basically, u havent taken it apart correctly

why remove the fan? why do you get the idea that running some silly , pc based cooling fan , with wires running through the machine, through the doorseal, and to a seperate plug socket, running all the time is going to cure the problem?

the facts?

youve gota fault, its a simple fault, it might be an idea if you spent some time READING these forums, the cure for your problem has been well documented

i gotta point things out here

as someone has rightly pointed out, the fan is designed to stop during defrost, so as not to blow the warm air around whilst the defrost heater is on, stopping things like BACTERIA from multiplying in ur food, generatin slamonella and lysteria

then, these wires u’ve chopped.. have u insulated them? is it wise perhaps to leave open ended wires dangling near metal evaporators in a moisture intensive environment?

you taped the pc fan into the recess? that”ll not last, it cant, its just silly

i’ll say this ONCE more youve got a faulty termal fuse, thats all… ask the question, or read other threads

im truly glad the majority of people in here take on board what we advise , im saddened that people find it necessary to disregard advice, and then post poor advice, i mean, really, a pc fan with trailing wires..

AND u say ur happy to defrost it once evry 6 months ? the average fridge freezer defrosts AT LEAST once every 24hrs,as and when the DEFROST SENSOR/THERMAL FUSE dictates it (the penny dropped yet)

im not havin a go, only the posts youve made are both unneccesary and possibly dangerous

i really hope this posts helps people understand thats self modification isnt always a good option.. if the manufacturers dont have a modification, it doesnt mean that joe public should, somethings failed, and needs replacing, thats all!

Samsung wouldnt touch your fridge freezer now , under any circumstance, because of your self modification…theyre very strict about using genuine parts , regardless of guarantee status – and any self respecting engineer will probaby want to stay away as well

[Mike-in-Horwich]

Re: Samsung SR-S20

im not havin a go, only the posts youve made are both unneccesary and possibly dangerous

😆

Let me know when you are helo_75 just in case I miss the fact from your sharp prose and well structured rant :rolls:

I snipped the wires as it was easier than removing yet another panel in order to gain access to that connector. I also wanted to see if I could solder the 12v power supply to the original fan. This failed – I presume the fan requires other than 12v dc – you might know the answer to that.

Hate to tell you mate, that silly PC fan is shifting sufficient volume of air to force a mild outflow at the uppermost part of the fridge. The temp. throughout is now quite even and food such as green beans are no longer developing mould – pity really, the benefits of penicillin are legend.

Prior to applying my “self-modification” I read these boards in detail. There is a wealth of helpful advice – provided by professional refridgeration experts in many cases. However, I had explained the difficulty in organising a call-out from local engineers – many refused to deal with Samsung units.

You might be interested to know that when I removed the Cool-Wall panel and exposed the cooling unit it was quite frosted and a serious amount of ice (I’d estimate 1/2 a litre if melted) had built-up on the left side of the cooling unit. I made a manual attempt to clear this before refixing the modified cool-wall.

I concluded from the ice build-up that the defrost mechanism is likely not working. Interestingly, with the new fan in place this ice has started to melt. This indicates that perhaps the defrost heater is working after all and the ice was building-up through lack of air-flow – now solved.

helo_75, I’m not advocating self-modification to the nation – simply reporting my own findings. Thanks for the warning about Samsung not touching the unit now 🙁 Of course, they wouldn’t touch it before either. Nor would most of the engineers in the local Yellow Pages 😆

Take your point about genuine parts – Samsung replaced the Cool Wall 1 month short of the unit’s 2 year guarantee period. Their part WAS genuine but carried only a 3 month warranty.

Think I’ll stick with cobbled-together old computer bits mate – they usually carry a 12 month refurb. warranty. After my foray into refridgeration engineering – think I’ll stick with my chosen profession of writing software – and enjoy a chilled beer or two of an evening.

I’m not havin a go helo_75, only that my experience might benefit other readers also inclined to think of alternate solutions. 😆 😆 😆

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