I need to put this out just in case there is any other poor sod out there suffering like I have been for the past two days. Here are two problems with this model and how to fix them.
Bit of a heat wave in dear old blighty at the moment so not the pest time to have a problem with your fridge freezer.
This is an “American (or US) style” fridge freezer. I have to say apart from these two problems I this has been one of the most practical fridge freezers I have ever had.
1st problem was a rapid ticking noise that gradually got louder over two days and stopped. When it stopped so did all the cooling in the fridge (freezer was unaffected). This turned out to be a fan that had gradually become encased in ice generated by the anti frost system. An engineer came and I watch what he did (nonchalantly). This was 11 months after I got it so was done under warranty. A search of the internet showed this to be a common problem (a design fault!). When a further 14 months past it occurred again I repaired it myself.
Switch the thing off and disconnect the plug – for safety. Take out the coolzone tray and shelves plus the salad trays. A few obvious screws will allow removal of the coolzone controls (unplugging a multiway cable) and it should come out easy – If anything is difficult to remove DON’T FORCE IT you’ve probably missed a screw or connector. At the back is a drain hole in the cover which may be filled with ice. The lower half of the fridge at the back is a separate cover with a few screws to remove it and reveal the iced up fan. Defrost the fan – hair dryer or hot water. You could reassemble it again but before I did I slightly increased the size of the drain hole at the bottom and I used a quality car wax. This way I hoped that water would form into droplets and run away more efficiently. Another 13 months and no repeat except….
2nd problem… While fitting a new light switch I touched the earth and negative together. Although switched off at the fuse box this tripped the residual current circuit breaker (RCCB) RCCB is a device in some fuse boxes to prevent electrocution – same as used on many mains powered electrical garden tools. This switched off the power supply to the whole house. When I reset the RCCB the fridge lights came on and the air circulation fan was funning but the compressors for the fridge and freezer were not. The digital display was blank apart from one flashing segment. – this was Saturday 18:10 nowhere was open. Search of the internet for problems through up nothing. Monday morning straight on to Samsung help desk (If you want to register on line you have to use IE – it doesn’t work with Firefox). They initially said I need their local agent to come out. However 5 hours later and the line was constantly engaged. I tried several local repair services, all too busy to give me a date/time. I went back and this time (using IE) I registered the problem online. – The reply was I might need a reset and to call customer service. Customer service said that all I needed to do to reset system was to hole the top left (Power Freeze) and top right (Power Cool) in for 8 seconds. Low and behold it worked…
The manual doesn’t mention it and by the way the manual has a number DA99-00494V, this number is the part number for the manual not the model number… On mine the model number is on the left hand side. And another “by the way” on the back is the circuit diagram.
Given my problems with Zanussi (see earlier blog) this was barely a problem at all.
15 comments:
Wow thanks for that, I thought my Samsung was broken. All it needed was to press the right buttons!!!
You're welcome!
Brilliant... well done for sharing and savng people a lot of time and money...
happy christmas
Thank you for posting the information on resetting the fridge/freezer on the internet. This occurred after I had Earth Leakage Trip triggering several times due to a problem with the electricity in the field on the same supply.
This solved the problem - the pressing of two switches!
Thank you again.
Also I too have had ice build-up around the fan which requires the removal of the back panel. Regular every 6-8 months or so (I have done this three times so far)!
Symptoms – clicking sound / tapping sound when the fan is operating in the fridge section.
Remove all trays.
Unscrew the two screws to the water chiller at the very bottom of the fridge/freezer (inside).
Then remove four screws (one screw hidden behind each of the two middle clip panels which must be unclipped first - located on the sides of the central panel) half way up – 150 mm (6”) above the visible screws).
Ease whole back panel away - it might be stuck with ice to the back and need a bit of careful force.
Do not pull the panel too far away from the back - two electrical plugs must be unplugged behind the panel.
These have side squeeze clips - so do not just pull unless squeezed sideways first on the side leaver.
The connectors are polarised and also will not go into the wrong connector when reconnecting.
Once removed, I used boiling water and poured over the fan blades and into the polystyrene pocket over a sink.
The fan can be removed first if required.
Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.
Hope this helps for those with the same problems.
Thanks Gary, I have a Samsung RT 45
model fridge. It did the noisy fan bit along with the lack of temp in the freezer compartment. Just defrosted the rear compartment and hope everything is cool (sorry). A little easier in the process with this model. Just remove four screws in the freezer compartment,(two in the rear wall and two in the ceiling of the freezer). There is a clip in the front of the thermostat housing, (a little care needed to remove this), drop the housing out, undo the wire connector clip and remove from the fridge. The rear panel seemed to be stuck, perhaps frozen in, as it was difficult to get out. I stuck fingers in the rear holes and gently but firmly pulled it down and towards the front of the fridge. Got the hair dryer in there and went to work with it. Freed up the wire that connects the fan the fridge, undid that and removed the panel. Completed the defrosting, and hopefully re-installation is just the reverse of this process. I'll let you know how it went.
Stuart, I'd be interested to know how it went. Gary
Hey Gary,
update......
Re-installation was straight-froward with no complications.
Everything seems to be going smoothly, temperature in both the fridge and freezer is excellent. After putting everything back together the compressor ran for a long while, I suppose just getting back to a good temperature. Since then though, it has been kicking in and out properly.
Thanks again for the clarity you gave to the information. It made the process for me that much easier to work through. I suppose that I will be going through this routine again in twelve months time.
Regards, Stuart
Hi all, it has been six months plus with no indication of a return of the problem. Had a few nights when the fan was particularly noisy, well noisier than usual, and I thought I would have to go through the procedure again, but it sorted itself out, and back to nice and quiet.
We really take for granted that white goods should work without problems. Thanks again for your time and effort. Stuart
Thank you sooooo much for your brilliant advise! You have saved my day! Lol my husband was ready to call it a day when I seen your post, imagine something as simple as holding two buttons to fix the fridge.....shame the bloody manual couldnt tell us that. Thanks once again :) xx
Hi guys/Gary. I have pressed the reset button around 45mins ago and the temp isn't dropping, any ideas please?
Regards
Rob
Sorry forgot to add the notify me.
Hi. My Samsung DA99-00494V yesterday stopped chilling and frosting. The digital display show only little flashing bar . Can anyone help?
Hi Agnieszka
Mine did the same and Samsung came and replaced the compressor unit which is the pump basically £230.00.
All is fine now.
Hi. My Samsung DA99-00494V yesterday stopped chilling and frosting. The digital display show only little flashing bar . Can anyone help?
The fan started to get louder over the last couple of days and then stopped cooling today, great instructions, its now back up and running, thank you!
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