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Re: Samsung SR-S2028CVW
I am sorry that I have not updated this thread.
In the end I got an engineer out. After a few quick tests, the fault was traced to the heater in the fridge half. The engineer had broken the evapourator cover during its removal, so this was replaced also.
Now the bad bit:
Call out charge £75
New heater unit £55
New evapourator cover £125
All this with Vat came to £300. ouch
Of course there was no way for me to trace the fault then, but cahnging the heaters is simple enough if you are used to mending things. Tip: If you defrost the fridge for a day or so, the evapourator cover is less likely to be damaged when it is removed.
Good luck.Re: Samsung SR-S2028CVW
Yep, I’ve had exactly the same problem with my lovely Samsung 😉
Being a tinkering-type and by no means an expert (probably not a great combination I know!) I did end up taking off the back-panel in the fridge (this involves undoing about ten screws, pulling at various bits of plastic and unclipping a few cable connectors). One thing to be careful of is that the back panel may be iced-up so I guess you should turn off the appliance and let it defrost (this might take over a day or two!) otherwise you may damage some of the polystyrene/foam backing on the panel, etc.)
Once the back panel has been removed you’ll see a nice silver metal grill (I think this is known as the ‘evaporator’) with some wires going to various bits and bobs. On the back panel itself you’ll see a fan which helps move the cooled air around the fridge. This air travels through a short ‘tunnel’ which may very well be blocked with ice (hence, the first major problem – i.e. the fridge stops getting a nice flow of cold air!) You can usually tell if the ‘tunnel’ is blocked as you can’t feel any air coming out of the little holes dotted along the top back of the fridge (to try this you need hold down the fridge door switch and wait about ten seconds for the fan to kick in – you should be able to hear the fan!).
The wires near the evaporator connect to four main objects. From reading various stuff on the web I think these are as follows:
1. The defrost sensor (attached to the top left of the evaporator)
2. The defrost heater (which runs parallel to the evaporator grill and is also encased in a nice silver aluminium? casing).
3. A drain heater which is positioned underneath a metal ‘drain’ at the bottom of the fridge
4. A thermal cut-off fuse position on the lower right area.Now this is what I think should happen:
Once the fridge (and/or freezer) has reached the desired temperature, the appliance will at some point go into ‘defrost mode’ when the compressor (the magic bit that makes things cold!) switches off and the heaters (2 & 3 above) both warm up to clear any build up of ice that has occured. The drain heater Helps turn any ice into water that ‘drains’ to the external underneath of the fridge (where it’s nice and warm) and evaporates away. Once the heaters have been on for a while, the whole area warms up to the point where the defrost sensor (1) says “OK, it’s warm enough now – let’s get back to cooling again”. This cycle should carry on ad infinitum although, as many are aware, this ain’t the case with these wonderful Samsungs!!
So what goes wrong?
Firstly, as far as I understand it, a simple problem may be that an ice blockage has happened in the ‘tunnel’ which isn’t being cleared completely during the defrost mode and hence, the fridge stops working efficiently and never reaches its ideal temperature and the defrost mode never gets initiated and so the ice builds up even more. This – I understand – can be cured by clearing the blockage by either turning the fridge off for a couple of days or removing the back panel and maybe using a hair dryer to speed things up.
A second problem may be that the defrost sensor (1) isn’t working properly – ie. it’s totally faulty or not very well calibrated. In this case, the defrost cycle again isn’t working correctly and may never ever finish in which case the fridge starts working more like a heater than a cooler! Also, if you turn the appliance off and then on again, the system usually starts back in cooling mode and the temperatures displayed on the freezer door should be accurate (i.e. usually a lot warmer than it should be).
Thirdly – and I think this is the problem in my case – the defrost heater is at fault. again, this would mean that the defrost isn’t working and the fridge just gets more iced-up and blocked.
Of course, it may be a combination of totally or slightly faulty parts and, indeed, something else that I’m not currently aware of! If you do get an engineer in then I would happily have the defrost sensor changed as they should be cheap-ish.
Now, I’ve checked the resistance of my defrost heater (to do this you have to separate the connector between the two heaters – otherwise you’re be measuring the resistance of BOTH heaters!) and, in my case, it’s open-circuit (i.e. the heater wire must be broken) and it also doesn’t get warm when it’s in defrost mode (you can tell it’s in defrost mode as the temperatures displayed on the door of the freezer DON’T change no matter what the REAL temperatures are – hence many people having the same symptons). Unfortunately, the defrost heater seems to be an integral part of the evaporator grill so I’m expecting to need a new evaporator as well (I think these cost about £60 or so on top of labour, etc.).
I’ve requested an engineer as I’ve no idea how to fit a new evaporator and will let this forum know the outcome!!
Re: Samsung SR-S2028CVW
“Chilled”, thanks for the detailed response. Much appreciated.
I have checked the evap cover & fan and I have no blockage.
The symptoms I have are identical to your description 2. In fact I could have writtenit myself!!
I reckon my problem is the defrost sensor. I am going to replace and will update.Has anybody taken up these issues with Samsung?
I have noted what the comments from the “Whitegoods guys” but I am a professional contract engineer. The equipment is CE marked and I believe that under EU directives the goods must be designed for a sepcific design life and under UK derived law the goods must be fit for purpose. My Samsung is 3 – 4 years old. I can not believe Samsung would design something with such a design life, it is simply unreasonable. I am going to contact them and ask them to advise the design life.
The consequnces of this failure are loss of frozen goods which can amount to hundreds of pounds. I believe a reasonable interpretation would be that a freezer should freeze on a medium / long term basis without breakdown. It appears to me that there is significnat evidence that these units are designed / fitted with components that are not fit for the purpose that the purchaser could reasonably expect.
I will be taking up with Samsung and will let the forum know the outcome.
Cheers
tell you what… hows about asking the questions instead of stating your intent
time and time again people come onto a forum, and try and stir up discontent, when its a forum to ask questions
take it up with samsung, with your fancy words and well written verse, the facts dont change
why did you buy a samsung? because it was better quality than say the admiral, or the miele
no, cos it was CHEAPER, no other reason
and now your complainin because your product isnt what you think its should be, what with you being an appliance designer and all that
still, u ‘reckon’ your fault lies with the defrost sensor and that is your problem.. if its not, what are you gonna do? moan some more? for the love of god, call someone in if your not sure, your samsung 3-4 years old, and you ant someone to pay for your repair AND lost food?
if your car broke down after 3 years, would you take it back and demand a free repair? or if it failed its mot, would you go back and demand the remedy, free? no, and u may well have spent £20 – 30,000 on that,and bear in mind ur fridge freezer runs 24/7.. so u consider how long that compressor/fan runs for and it is quite reasonable to expect some wear and tear?
if you drove your car at 70miles an hour 24/7.. ud expect problems, wouldnt you?
thing is, things break down, and there are proffessional people on here who offer good advice, free to you, the consumer
increasingly, customer expectations have become excessively high for products that are falling in price.. like i said, u didnt choose the samsung over a miele because you liked the look of it, it was a £1,000 less, but of course, we aint supposed to think of that are we?
Re: Samsung SR-S2028CVW
“vent333”, Glad I was of some help 🙂
I guess it could be the defrost sensor – this seems the more likely than a heater problem which, I’m sure, would mean there’s more chance of a build-up of ice. Could it possibly be something to do with the freezer side though as I guess this has a similar setup to the fridge side (I never explored the freezer!). If the fridge defrost sensor has gone completely faulty then it may show up on the front display when you do a “system check” (i.e. simultaneously holding the two top buttons in for ten seconds or so and seeing if any “bars” appear once the display goes blank). A “bar” near the bottom of the right hand digit (i.e. fridge) may indicate that it’s faulty defrost heater although if it’s just not working very well there may well not be any “bars”.I did have a loooong discussion with the nice people at Samsung and mentioned issues such as “design faults”. They were all very sympathetic but, apart from that, weren’t any real help. The only thing they suggested was to write to their customer care people – which I ahven’t done…yet. The address is:
Samsung Electronics (U.K.) Ltd.,
Customer Care Centre,
PO Box 17243,
Edinburgh,
EH11 4YB“helo_75”, I understand what you’re saying although from my perspective, spending £600-£800 makes an appliance “expensive” and a “luxury” and, as such, I and others expect it to last a bit longer. You, know, like fridges and freezers used to! Of course, in hind-sight, when I do get round to buying a new fridge/freezer (and I still would want to buy an American style as they are lovely to look at and use – even the Samsung when working!) I may well see if my understanding bank manager would help me try and save the environment by buying an Amana which will last just a little bit longer (any idea how long anyone?!).
Re: Samsung SR-S2028CVW
Hi
With regard to buying an AMANA because they last longer…
They may well have done previously but as they are now in the hands of Whirlpool then The likelyhood of them being cloned Whirlpool appliances is very likely to be sooner than latter.
If your buying a AMANA you’ll probably end up buying a Whirlpool in different clothes.
Reliability of the AMANA brand has deteriated in the past few years,I personally wouldnt expect a new one to last 10yrs any longer.
Bryan
Re: Samsung SR-S2028CVW
Hi “Chilled”. Thanks for feedback.
I have writen to Samsung and will update later.
My defrost sensor was US but it also looks like I have a fault on my defrost heater…just like yours!! Did you have to replace the evap coil or is the heater detachable? Can’t seem to locate the right one on any of the spares web sites. can anybody help?u can take the heater off the evaporator, but as far as im aware, you have to buy a new evaporator, and take the heater off it
it will cure your problem, im sure
fiddly job 2
Re: Samsung SR-S2028CVW
It looks like you may need to buy the whole evaporator unit as – according to the engineer I’ve been in touch with – the heater can’t be bought separately or, indeed, separated. I completely trust this to be the case! I’m waiting to hear back from the engineer once he’s got the necessary part. It does mean the fridge will need re-gasing as well 🙁
The job should cost about £180-£200. I was very tempted to ditch the appliance but hope this will get another year or two (or more!) out of the machine. I’ll let this forum know how the repair goes – may be another week or so though …
is that not what i said?
trust me, if you dont want system problems, dont fit the evaporator!!
ill say it again, the heater comes off, not the easiest of jobs but it does come offif you fit the whole evaporator, yes it will need regassing, so the heater is the easier option
and, incidentally, the evaporator comes with a thermal fuse, and a sensor, so id advise changing them at the same time, to eliminate any possibilty of further problems
its been well documented on here, theres only 4 faults that really happen – heater, sensor, thermal fuse and evap cover, change em all, and u hit the nail on the head!!!Re: Samsung SR-S2028CVW
I am in contact with 4mysamsung re the parts.
As helo-75 says, the defrost heater is not available separately but comes as part of the evaporator (with all the sensors..). The problem is there are several evaporators and it is not clear which one is for my model. I have asked the website but it keeps telling me to contact an area that does not exist!!! Can anybody assist in clarifying?
If I get details I will psot a link.
I have removed the defrost heater from my old evaporator…not so difficult. The end aluminium baffles just need bending back out of the way and the heater drops off.
Chilled – The whoe assemnbly costs about £60 and will take 10 mins to fit the heater….I wouldn’t fit the evaporator because as helo-75 says it will mean re-gassing. Don’t do it!!
Cheersif you look at the sticker on the side, thers a bom number, thatll identify your machine, and will help u get the correct evaporator
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