Samsung refrigerator help. * UPDATE, its alive!! *

I know this is not kayak related, but I figure NCKA always has an answer for everything!   

I have a Samsung side by side freezer/fridge (RS265TDRS to be exact) thats about 2 years old.  Just the other day during the heat wave, I noticed my fridge wasn't really cold and then the fridge temp started blinking on the display.  The freezer is fine.  I unplugged it, then plugged it back in, then the temp wasn't blinking anymore, but it was showing 60 degrees. 

I did some searching online and it suggested I remove the back plate and check for any dust clogs.  Sure enough, there was a bunch of dust clogged up on this black coil (see pic).  I vacuumed all the dust, plugged the power back on, then the temp on the display slowly starts to go down from 60 degrees.  It goes down to 34 degrees which is what I had it set at, then an hour later, it starts climbing  back up to 60 degrees.  The condenser fan and compressor seem to be in working order.   

Anyone else have any experience with fridges that can suggest anything else I should check before I call a fridge repair guy or scrap this thing?  I'd really hate to scrap it considering its not very old, but I'd like to try and give a shot at fixing it myself before coughing up the dough on repair guy.  That leads to my next question...anyone from the southbay do this kind of work?  I just may have a job for ya.   

Any help is appreciated.  Thanks y'all.

Thanks!

Is there possibly a problem with the temp reading?  It would seem unlikely for temp to increase from 34 to 60 in course of an hour.  Do you have a thermometer you can place in the fridge?  Could be a bad control panel as well.

I don't do that type of work but I've fixed a couple before, they're not that complicated of machines.

Is there possibly a problem with the temp reading?  It would seem unlikely for temp to increase from 34 to 60 in course of an hour.  Do you have a thermometer you can place in the fridge?  Could be a bad control panel as well.

I don't do that type of work but I've fixed a couple before, they're not that complicated of machines.

No, it's possible.  What can happen is the refrigerator will turn itself into an "oven" of sorts & the process of evaporative cooling sort of works in reverse.  I believe it has something to do with the coolant not flowing when/where it should.  Other thought is related to a computer processor of some sort.  Just spitballing ideas.

You said the fan and compressor seem to be working order, does that mean they were both running at the time the freezer was 60 degrees?

I would also repeat bmb's advice, thermometer's on freezers often go bad and a second opinion would be good by way of an alternate thermometer inside.

Looks like the fan was running in the pic.  That was first thought too.  Happened to mine.

Mine will get wonky if the freezer door gets left slightly ajar. 

The fins inside the freezer behind the back wall will ice over and not let the fridge cool a damned thing. When this happens, the drain for the self-defrost will also ice over and we'll get a sheet of ice at the bottom of the freezer. 

While it doesn't sound like this is what's happening here, it'd be worth checking those internal fins.

Oh, the irony. A Samsung guy asking for help troubleshooting his Samsung refrigerator on a fishing forum. 

Surly there is an internal Samsung number you can call for help. If not, I would think the repair is still covered under warranty since it is only 2 years old.

If you wan to try DIY, here is what I found:

Refrigerator temperature display blinking: http://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubleshooting_fr.jsp?modelname=RS265TDRS&from_osc=&idx=348073&modelcode=&

Running self diagnose: https://partsdr.com/blog/samsung-blinking-dashline-error-code-list/

If the freezers normal temp then it can only be a few things. There's vents in the freezer and a fan that moves the freezer air into the fridge. If the incoming vent in the fridge has good airflow it would have to be your thermostat. If not it could be a blocked vent, the recirculating fan could be faulty or the coils could be froze up.

many times a piece of ice or food gets stuck in the freezer fan and then it wont circulate as caleb said

Oh, the irony. A Samsung guy asking for help troubleshooting his Samsung refrigerator on a fishing forum. 

Hey, Won! Remember what you told me about Samsung products, in this case my TV, at Turner Cut?  Seriously though, I hope you get the problem solved. I did get my TV issue resolved, thanks to Sonny (Sailfish).

Howard

My son's Samsung fridge did the exact same thing.  There are separate compressors for the fridge and the freezer.  The cooling  coils for the fridge were freezing up.  There's two heaters that control the defrost on the coils in the fridge part.  They are inside the fridge, behind the lower panel.  We took his off, measured the resistance on the heating element and ordered on as his was reading too high and probably open.  The part wasn't expensive, as I recall. It's a peel-n-stick aluminum with the heating element under that. We put it back together and he traded it in immediately. 

The other heater part is not as easy to replace and requires the replacement of the whole coil assembly.  That will require evacuating the freon and refilling after replacing the part.  (Which requires soldering if you are not familiar with doing this)

What happened in your case is; the coil thawed out, the fridge worked, the coils froze again and the fridge heated up. 

We found the part and lots of info by doing a google search on the fridge model # and reading forums on this.  (There are forums for EVERYTHING!!)

I forgot to add; there is a way to get into a diagnostic mode to read blinking lights on the front of the fridge to tell you what is wrong.  That is how we confirmed the defrost element was the problem.  I don't recall how we did it, other than the forum folks told us. 

Also, we defrosted the whole coil at first, with a hair dryer as it was at least 2 or 3 inches thick!!  When we plugged it in, the fridge temps stayed cold for about a week before the ice got too thick again.  My son did this for a few weeks while we waited for the defrosting element. 

****EDIT****

Here is how to read the error codes;

http://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubleshooting_fr.jsp?modelname=RS265TDRS&from_osc=&idx=348076&modelcode=&

****MORE EDIT****
We replaced the control board at first as there was a burned up component on it.  The thought being; the voltage for the defrosting element was not getting outputted from the board.  However, that did not fix his.  However, the part is not too expensive.  You can find both the defrost element and the control board here;
http://www.repairclinic.com/RepairHelp/How-To-Fix-A-Refrigerator/55-160-1068191-/Samsung-Refrigerator-not-defrosting-RS265TDRS

Oh, the irony. A Samsung guy asking for help troubleshooting his Samsung refrigerator on a fishing forum. 

Hey, Won! Remember what you told me about Samsung products, in this case my TV, at Turner Cut?  Seriously though, I hope you get the problem solved. I did get my TV issue resolved, thanks to Sonny (Sailfish).

Howard

I remember this

I had a Samsung fridge. Can't remember the model but it was a side by side.  Similar thing happened.  Water had collected in the back of the freezer inside the wall (from the water filter line I believe) and blocked the vent that slowed the cold air to move to the fridge from the freezer.  Inside the back of the freezer was totally warped and distorted. After some arguing it was eventually replaced under warranty. 

I just replaced my Samsung ,  ice would build up.  Even replacing the defroster and thermostat didn't fix it.  It's just a bad design.

did you blow out he drain hole with warm water and compressed air, also check drain line on back side for flow, if this does no work ck fan.