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Old 03-04-2019, 07:25 PM   #1
Harleypilot2005
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Samsung residential fridge issues

We've got a 2 year old 3791 RD (2017 bought in 2016) with the Samsung French door refer (model RF18HFENBSP). It has worked flawlessly for 2 years. We are weekend warriors and camp about 30 weekends a year so it gets drug up and down the road a pretty good bit. It is stored unplugged and "off" in a storage lot when not in use (I know this isn't ideal). We've run it on shore power, generators, and while towing (via the on board inverter) and it has performed flawlessly in all situations.
This weekend however, it inexplicably just stopped cooling. It worked great 2 weeks agonists no warning of pending failure. When on, the interior lights work, it "sounds" like it's running, the ice maker can be test cycled (obviously just dumps water not ice). Both the fridge and the freezer have stopped cooling. Oddly enough, the blue digital compartment indicator shows 71 in freezer and 63 in refer. These are the temp readings, NOT settings. I have it set to -2 in the freezer, and 38 in the refer (default settings).
Does anybody have any knowledge or experience with these fridges or issues like this? They only carry a 1 year warranty so likely will not have either Camping World or Samsung stand behind it anymore since both have TERRIBLENESS reputations. A new replacement costs $1250.00 at Lowes. No idea what repair costs could be, so would like to troubleshoot first myself. Thank you in advance.
 
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Old 03-04-2019, 07:56 PM   #2
masterdrago
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You could very likely have a sealed system issue. The sealed system has a 5 year parts and labor warranty and the compressor may have a 10 year part/5 year labor warranty. Call Samsung directly with model#, serial# and date of 3791 purchase info.
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Old 03-04-2019, 08:07 PM   #3
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Mine did that exact same thing. It was the power board, located on top of fridge inside metal cover. Found it by finding the place where the smoke was coming out. $79.00 online.
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Old 03-05-2019, 05:29 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by rescue7 View Post
Mine did that exact same thing. It was the power board, located on top of fridge inside metal cover. Found it by finding the place where the smoke was coming out. $79.00 online.
Trouble shooting made easy!
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Old 03-05-2019, 07:30 AM   #5
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If the OP model# is correct, his PCB is located in the lower left rear corner looking from the front. We have same model. It might be easy to determine if the compressor is running by watching the amp draw. The wattage can be monitored at the digital display of the inverter which alternately shows battery input DC volts, then output kilowatts. In the image attached, mine shows 50 watts so the compressor is not running. With the compressor running, it shows 120-140 watts. If the compressor is running and both sections (refrig & freez) are warm, then there is a sealed system issue - Freon leak, restricted drier or cap tube or very low capacity compressor. I'll mention that blocking a large piece of 3/4" plywood up on boards to the same level as the shelf the refrigerator sits on is a good way to pull out the unit for service. It's a tight fit on our 3791 to get it turned so I can fit behind it.
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Old 03-05-2019, 07:50 PM   #6
footz1941
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If you buy one from Lowe’s make sure the new one will have clearance with the slide in The Samsung I have is not full depth
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Old 03-06-2019, 05:20 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by footz1941 View Post
If you buy one from Lowe’s make sure the new one will have clearance with the slide in The Samsung I have is not full depth
True. That is why it's only 18cf.
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Old 03-06-2019, 09:09 AM   #8
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Given that the fridge is showing 63, I doubt that it is in demo mode like they are in the store....but I would check to make sure it didn't get in this mode.
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Old 03-06-2019, 10:39 AM   #9
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Good luck with your fridge. Ours failed on our first trip. We had a hard time getting repair because no warranty repair company will work on it if it is in the RV. I finally removed it myself. After much conversation Samsung refunded us $1200.00 and we purchased the same fridge from Lowes. They delivered and installed it.
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Old 03-10-2019, 01:55 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by footz1941 View Post
If you buy one from Lowe’s make sure the new one will have clearance with the slide in The Samsung I have is not full depth
They are called "counter depth".
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Old 03-10-2019, 02:03 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by jcurtis934 View Post
Given that the fridge is showing 63, I doubt that it is in demo mode like they are in the store....but I would check to make sure it didn't get in this mode.
I think the OP said the display was showing some temperature so most likely not in store or demo mode. He can try the instructions in the attached image from the manual.
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Old 03-11-2019, 09:48 AM   #12
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Take a look on YouTube to see if a diagnostic and repair video exists for that model. I was able to save several hundred dollars on a different brand by fixing what turned out to be a very minor problem.
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Old 11-12-2023, 02:59 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by masterdrago View Post
I think the OP said the display was showing some temperature so most likely not in store or demo mode. He can try the instructions in the attached image from the manual.
I was having a similar problem. I turned of circuit breaker for the fridge so I could access the fridge coil to remove the ice build-up. When I turned the breaker back on, the fridgde worked fine but the freezer wouldn't cool down. I tried resetting the breaker several times but still no freezer. I wasted an hour today trying to use Just Answer to see if they could help. Don't waste time or money on this service.

I tried pressing the two buttons to get the freezer to turn on. The first time it went to OF display. I pressed them again and it shows the temperature. It was 57 when it started is down to 52 now. I hope this fixed the issue. I will check it again in a couple of hours. Thanks for the good advice.
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Old 11-13-2023, 07:36 AM   #14
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See this post I made earlier this year: Click here

For what it's worth, today is Nov 13, 2023, and my "repair" is still holding up great. No issues, and my Samsung has been running non-stop since we returned home from North Carolina. My repair was 100% successful. Freezer holding at -2 and refrigerator holding at 34. (I did disconnect the water line for the ice maker for cold weather. I don't want the outside line under the slide out freezing up).

Call Samsung, they will come out to your location, where ever you are at. Also, my problem was a failed fan and a faulty drain connection. Even though my Samsung is over 5 years old, warranty paid for a huge portion of the repair. My charge was very minimal.

Click here. Call customer support: 1-800-726-7864
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Old 11-13-2023, 07:55 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KWLKS View Post
I was having a similar problem. I turned of circuit breaker for the fridge so I could access the fridge coil to remove the ice build-up. When I turned the breaker back on, the fridgde worked fine but the freezer wouldn't cool down. I tried resetting the breaker several times but still no freezer. I wasted an hour today trying to use Just Answer to see if they could help. Don't waste time or money on this service.

I tried pressing the two buttons to get the freezer to turn on. The first time it went to OF display. I pressed them again and it shows the temperature. It was 57 when it started is down to 52 now. I hope this fixed the issue. I will check it again in a couple of hours. Thanks for the good advice.
When I had my repair when we were at a campground in North Carolina in August, I had the refrigerator unplugged for some time before the service tech arrived. He dignosed the problem as the fan, which needed to be replaced. He scheduled another appointment 4 days later (to come out a second time). Why? He said (first), he had to get the fan replacement, and second, it would take the 4 days to completely thaw out the refrigerator to properly check out the drains.

What you see (freezer build up), is just superficial. The real freeze up is what you cannot see, in the drain sections and small tubes behind the back wall of the freezer.

Also, replacing the fan is not just simply .... replacing a small fan motor. No. The fan is connected with electronics. The entire back panel of the freezer section is replaced. I was really surprised how big the entire panel was and everything connected with it.

So, my suggestion, your problem is probably bigger than you realize. First, let the refrigerator completely thaw out ... like "they" said, 4 days to thaw complete, if you still have issues, you are only guessing at what the problem is. Contact Samsung for a repair. Once your refrigerator is working properly, you'll see the temperature drop quickly. In order to ensure mine was working correctly, the technician had the refrigerator (back wall) removed and he watched the colling (freezing and the fins turning white with frost) move down the cooling coils one row at a time). When the entire thing was completely white with a thin layer of frost), he knew everything was working correct. He replaced the back panel, and still hung around and waited to see the temperature drop.

I learned that day, there's much more to a refrigerator than just a simple fan.
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Old 03-13-2024, 09:39 AM   #16
jjlogan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Harleypilot2005 View Post
We've got a 2 year old 3791 RD (2017 bought in 2016) with the Samsung French door refer (model RF18HFENBSP). It has worked flawlessly for 2 years. We are weekend warriors and camp about 30 weekends a year so it gets drug up and down the road a pretty good bit. It is stored unplugged and "off" in a storage lot when not in use (I know this isn't ideal). We've run it on shore power, generators, and while towing (via the on board inverter) and it has performed flawlessly in all situations.
This weekend however, it inexplicably just stopped cooling. It worked great 2 weeks agonists no warning of pending failure. When on, the interior lights work, it "sounds" like it's running, the ice maker can be test cycled (obviously just dumps water not ice). Both the fridge and the freezer have stopped cooling. Oddly enough, the blue digital compartment indicator shows 71 in freezer and 63 in refer. These are the temp readings, NOT settings. I have it set to -2 in the freezer, and 38 in the refer (default settings).
Does anybody have any knowledge or experience with these fridges or issues like this? They only carry a 1 year warranty so likely will not have either Camping World or Samsung stand behind it anymore since both have TERRIBLENESS reputations. A new replacement costs $1250.00 at Lowes. No idea what repair costs could be, so would like to troubleshoot first myself. Thank you in advance.
Almost sounds like your frig is in demo mode. But we had a similar problem with our Samsung French Door, model: RF18HFENBSR/AA. It was accumulating water in crisper's, and bottom of Frig. After thawing ice up drain and replacing drain tubes and drain piece inside frig, our Freezer would not cool. After this the freezer would only cool to 41-43 degrees. There were NO error codes on the control panel. Here is what I did to get the freezer working again: (1) I put the unit into DIAGNOSTIC MODE by holding the "Power Freeze" and "Power Cool" buttons simultaneously for about 15-30 seconds. In my case it showed just a dash indicating no further error(s). (2) I then put the unit into DEMO MODE by holding the "Freezer" and "Power Freeze" buttons, then held them again to take it out of DEMO MODE. I don't have an answer as to why this works, or why I have had to go through this procedure when we move campgrounds, but it works for us. It is like we are resetting or rebooting our electronic control system.
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