Community Forums

SteveR · 08-07-2020, 12:19 PM

Our Samsung refrigerator stopped cooling last week; the day we left for an extended trip. It took 6 days to get a service tech. to look at it. The conclusion was bad evaporator cooling fan motor.

There is a nation wide back order on the newest part and very limited availability of the "older part". We are in a major city and there are none to be had it seems. We finally found an alternate part in a company in Conn. and they are going to overnight it here. We have been without a refer. for going on 10 days now. Not fun messing with ice chests.

On the positive side; it is good the coach came with the small Dometic refer/freezer in the basement. We are using the freezer function to keep some of what we have from rotting.

The fan part number is dependent upon your model number. Our model number is RF220NCTASR/AA and is the french door version with no ice or water dispenser in the door. The current part number for the fan is:
DA-96-00969-A good luck finding one. It will work with DA31-00287B but this is an older design from refers. built from 2012-19 per Samsung CS. We ended up ordering a third party one p/n DS31-00334A as a substitute.

Mac99 · 08-08-2020, 07:46 AM

Most of these foreign made appliance brands have the same issues of parts availability and also trained techs to fix things.

SteveR · 08-08-2020, 02:09 PM

We ordered the part ourselves because no one here in Salt Lake City has the part and they were giving me a 2 week lead time to get one. I installed it today and are waiting for the refer. to cool off so we know it is really working. I feel confident the fan was the issue as the freezer is cold and the refrigerator section is not cool. The fan moves the cold air from the freezer to the refrigerator section. The fan I removed was clearly bad as it did not spin freely. The replacement fan spins freely.

Yes, I wish we had a different mfg. model but that is what Newmar put in the coach. I can't imagine trying to get that thing out of the coach and bringing in a new one without some major furniture movement to do so.

RonLC · 08-08-2020, 02:36 PM

I am assuming you did a reset to get it out of the shop mode before you called for a tech. We had a power surge on ours and it stopped cooling but all the lights lit up. It had gone into store display mode. This fixed it. You might keep this for future reference after the tech fixes it.

How To

Reset

Your

Samsung Refrigerator

: Shop Mode. To

reset

your

Samsung refrigerator

from shop mode, press the power freezer and power cool buttons simultaneously, holding it for a while – for about 2 to 5 seconds. Then release the buttons. The

refrigerator

would have been

reset

and the cooling function will resume.

SteveR · 08-08-2020, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonLC

I am assuming you did a reset to get it out of the shop mode before you called for a tech. We had a power surge on ours and it stopped cooling but all the lights lit up. It had gone into store display mode. This fixed it. You might keep this for future reference after the tech fixes it.

How To

Reset

Your

Samsung Refrigerator

: Shop Mode. To

reset

your

Samsung refrigerator

from shop mode, press the power freezer and power cool buttons simultaneously, holding it for a while – for about 2 to 5 seconds. Then release the buttons. The

refrigerator

would have been

reset

and the cooling function will resume.

The problem was not needing a reset; I had done that several times; the issue was a bad evaporator fan not moving air from the freezer to the refrigerator section. But thanks for posting the procedure for other folks that might need it.

Busskipper · 08-08-2020, 04:23 PM

Most if not all the parts are available from Amazon or Ebay - cost less and if they don't work you usually get your money Back

My info on samsung - https://www.irv2.com/forums/f112/ful...ml#post5387795

Best of Luck,

SteveR · 08-08-2020, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busskipper

Most if not all the parts are available from Amazon or Ebay - cost less and if they don't work you usually get your money Back

My info on samsung - https://www.irv2.com/forums/f112/ful...ml#post5387795

Best of Luck,

We looked everywhere on line including Amazon but they could not get it here even with Prime until Tuesday so we opted for a part we could Overnight so I could get the part installed and the fridge cooled off enough to travel. Our travel schedule was already a mess so we needed to get what we could where we could to keep our reservations intact. I am sure you noticed that a LOT of folks are in RV parks all over the country and where we are going are very popular even without a Pandemic so we opted for speed and not cost. Had a local repair shop or even Samsung (6-7 weeks for part) had the part we would have been done on Friday but zero parts locally.

The fridge is cooling down nicely and we moved what frozen food we could fit in the mini-fridge/freezer in the basement to the now very cold freezer. We will transfer the refer. stuff from the cooler to it later tonight.

It has been a real pain trying to use the cooler for fresh food with the ice. I know we have all done that in the past but it has been a LONG time for us and not a happy experience.

This would have been a warranty repair by Samsung if they could have produced a part so I guess I will eat the cost as I am sure Samsung will not want to continue my warranty if they knew I installed the part instead of a "real tech". When you own a RV you better know how to do a lot of things.

tommar · 08-09-2020, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac99

Most of these foreign made appliance brands have the same issues of parts availability and also trained techs to fix things.

Which fridge brands or general appliance brands are still made in the U.S.?

The answer, of course, is none. U.S. brands such as Maytag and Whirlpool source most if not all their parts from Asia somewhere.

Still remember the days when stuff was U.S. made. There was Zenith, Magnavox, (TVs) and most fridges were U.S. branded and U.S. made. Kelvinator, Westinghouse, Admiral, and others. My father's Westinghouse fridge lasted 40 years and was still going strong when he sold his last house.

Busskipper · 08-09-2020, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommar

Which fridge brands or general appliance brands are still made in the U.S.?

The answer, of course, is none. U.S. brands such as Maytag and Whirlpool source most if not all their parts from Asia somewhere.

Still remember the days when stuff was U.S. made. There was Zenith, Magnavox, (TVs) and most fridges were U.S. branded and U.S. made. Kelvinator, Westinghouse, Admiral, and others. My father's Westinghouse fridge lasted 40 years and was still going strong when he sold his last house.

IMHO the issue is QC no matter where they are made - today's refrigerators are just Better - using the inverter controlled compressors just makes them more efficient. The issue is when you let the Sales team Run the Company with no one who thinks about QC then you will almost always have an Issue - so ........ the product team needs to include someone who is part of Corporate but .....that is a QC guy ....... samsung is not alone in this , no not even close.

We have all fallen into Just Get 'er Done - and it shows, there are still many companies who care and spent the time and the money on QC - Yes they Cost More BUT..........................More often than Not You Get what You Paid For.....

JMHO,