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Old 01-20-2013, 09:11 AM   #1
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Post Frozen Defrost Drain Line - Samsung RF197

This post if for informational purposes only to hopefully make other owners of the Samsung RF197 residential fridge aware of a situation that happen to me and at least one other owner that I know of on the Internet.

The Samsung RF197 was installed on April 16, 2012. Sometime in late November or early December, we noticed a significant amount of water had accumulated in the left hand side crisper and also at the bottom of the fridge compartment. It happened again in January.

I did a search on the Internet and found a person who had the very same problem but after a year and a half of use. His fridge is in a S&B house, not in a coach.

I have a 1.5 year old Samsung refrigerator model RF 197. It - JustAnswer

After reading the cause and cure, I called Samsung to make a repair appointment since mine is still under warranty.

The service tech was here yesterday and after removing the rear access cover to get to the cooling coils and defrost drain line area, the entire lower drain area was frozen solid. Therefore, each time it went into a defrost cycle, the water would run out and into the fridge compartment.

The insulation on the rear of the cover was destroyed when the cover was removed because it was frozen to the drain area. The tech called to find out that Samsung now has a service campaign out for this model that requires a new longer clip to be attached to the defrosting heater element which will allow that area of the drain tube not to freeze. There is a clip there now but I guess it is too small.

The tech will be retuning to install the new longer heating clip and the new cover. While he is here, I will have him check out the freezer area for a similar problem. And also have him make sure that the ice maker is operating as it should.

He remarked that he gets more calls for ice maker problems than for anything else.

Dr4Film ----- Richard
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Old 01-20-2013, 10:59 AM   #2
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Is this due to freezing ambient temperatures or can it happen in moderate climate also?
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Old 01-20-2013, 11:14 AM   #3
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Thanks for the report Richard. I'm sure this will be helpful to others. I'm glad to see that they serviced you in the MH.

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Old 01-20-2013, 12:50 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by firedoc View Post

Is this due to freezing ambient temperatures or can it happen in moderate climate also?
If it happened to a person who was living in a house, it has nothing to do with ambient outside temperatures.

Well, that's assuming that he wasn't living in a igloo.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr4Film View Post

I did a search on the Internet and found a person who had the very same problem but after a year and a half of use. His fridge is in a S&B house, not in a coach (RV).

I have a 1.5 year old Samsung refrigerator model RF 197. It - JustAnswer

After reading the cause and cure, I called Samsung to make a repair appointment since mine is still under warranty.
I will post photos once the service tech returns to install the new parts. It will show everyone where the frozen area is located, the cooling coils, heater and clip.

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Old 01-30-2013, 06:41 PM   #5
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I had the Samsung Service Tech at my coach today to do the final install of the new parts. I took a series of photos showing where and what the problem was WRT the frozen Defrost Drain Line.

He used hot water to thaw out the ice and clear the drain tube. Once that was clear, he removed the old small heater clip and installed a wider and longer clip that resolves this problem.

While here, I had him remove the cover in the freezer compartment to make sure the same thing wasn't happening there. Once he removed the cover, a bunch of ice fell out. The freezer defrost drain line was clear but he decided to install the new larger clip just for in case.

Everything was cleaned up and put back together. We put all of the stuff back into the fridge and freezer and he stayed long enough to make sure the compressor came back on and the fans were distributing cold air to the compartments.

The fridge is about a little over one month before it is out of warranty except for the compressor and the sealed cooling system. Those are warrantied for 5 years.

Dr4Film ----- Richard
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Old 01-31-2013, 06:09 AM   #6
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Richard, thanks for posting this. If we ever have excess water inside the cabinet, I'll know where to look.

I assume the thing in the center of the bottom photo is the new, larger clip - correct? And the black thing under the coils is the heater?

The expert who answered the question in the link in your first post suggested wrapping a piece of copper wire around the heater and sticking it down the drain hole to conduct heat to keep the ice melted. This could be a quick fix if you were on the road and didn't want to wait for a repair tech.
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Old 01-31-2013, 07:40 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paz View Post

Richard, thanks for posting this. If we ever have excess water inside the cabinet, I'll know where to look.

I assume the thing in the center of the bottom photo is the new, larger clip - correct? And the black thing under the coils is the heater?

The expert who answered the question in the link in your first post suggested wrapping a piece of copper wire around the heater and sticking it down the drain hole to conduct heat to keep the ice melted. This could be a quick fix if you were on the road and didn't want to wait for a repair tech.
Paz,

Yes, the new clip is wider and deeper . It extends down into the drain tube further. Also, with it being wider, it gathers more heat from the heater.

Yes, the black thing is the heater. There is an identical one in the freezer compartment.

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Old 01-31-2013, 08:22 AM   #8
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Does anyone know if Samsung has made this fix on new models? I have recently ordered one, and it is due for delivery Feb. 20. Should I disassemble the thing prior to accepting it for delivery? Is there a way to identify the mod. By a serial numbers?
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Old 02-01-2013, 04:39 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr4Film View Post
...Yes, the black thing is the heater. There is an identical one in the freezer compartment.

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Is there a similar clip in the freezer compartment, and did they replace it, too? Or is the freezer not a problem?
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Old 02-01-2013, 08:24 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DGBPokes View Post

Does anyone know if Samsung has made this fix on new models? I have recently ordered one, and it is due for delivery Feb. 20. Should I disassemble the thing prior to accepting it for delivery? Is there a way to identify the mod. By a serial numbers?
I doubt it but you never know what they might do. The only way to find out exactly is to open up the cover exposing the cooling coils to see if you have a small clip or the larger one. That's why I posted the photos so people would know the difference.

Quote:
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Is there a similar clip in the freezer compartment, and did they replace it, too? Or is the freezer not a problem?
Because the Samsung is a Twin Cooling fridge, there are two cooling coils, one in the fridge and one in the freezer.

Yes, there is a clip at the bottom of the freezer defrost heater and yes he replaced it even though there didn't appear to be the same problem. He was taking extra precaution to prevent any problems in the future by replacing the clip there too.

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Old 02-01-2013, 08:33 AM   #11
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I have a Kitchenaid in my Phaeton with the same problem. Anyone with experience with the frozen water in this refrigerator? Sounds like the same drain type issue. How did you get to the drain and how did you fix it?
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Old 02-01-2013, 02:51 PM   #12
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Quote:
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I have a Kitchenaid in my Phaeton with the same problem. Anyone with experience with the frozen water in this refrigerator? Sounds like the same drain type issue. How did you get to the drain and how did you fix it?
I would look for the Parts Manual for your specific model on the Internet. The parts breakdown diagrams will show you exactly where it is located and how to get to it.

Here is a good link that shows what to do to prevent it from happening again.

The Permanent Cure for Repeatedly Freezing Condensate Drains in Whirlpool-Roper-Kitchenaid Top-Mount Refrigerators | Refrigerator Repair | Fixitnow.com Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Good luck!

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Old 02-01-2013, 02:59 PM   #13
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Thanks for the link. I will look into it
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Old 02-01-2013, 03:00 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr4Film View Post
Yes, there is a clip at the bottom of the freezer defrost heater and yes he replaced it even though there didn't appear to be the same problem. He was taking extra precaution to prevent any problems in the future by replacing the clip there too.

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Good to know they are being proactive and fixing the freezer as a precaution.
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