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01-20-2013, 09:11 AM
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#1
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Registered User
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Varies Depending on The Weather
Posts: 8,517
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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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01-20-2013, 10:59 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 2,772
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Is this due to freezing ambient temperatures or can it happen in moderate climate also?
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Terry & Alice
2006 Bounder 38L DP
2012 GMC Terrain
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01-20-2013, 11:14 AM
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#3
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Community Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 53,430
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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.
Cliff
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Cliff,Tallulah and Buddy ( 1999-2012 )
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01-20-2013, 12:50 PM
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#4
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Registered User
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Varies Depending on The Weather
Posts: 8,517
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Quote:
Originally Posted by firedoc
Is this due to freezing ambient temperatures or can it happen in moderate climate also?
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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
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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.
Dr4Film ----- Richard
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01-30-2013, 06:41 PM
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#5
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Registered User
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
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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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01-31-2013, 06:09 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Full-timers - Home is where we park it.
Posts: 4,722
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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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01-31-2013, 07:40 AM
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#7
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Registered User
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paz
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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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.
Dr4Film ----- Richard
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01-31-2013, 08:22 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Workhorse Chassis Owner Spartan Chassis
Join Date: May 2010
Location: McAlester Ok
Posts: 2,057
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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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2007 Newmar KSDP. 3912
2010 Nissan Frontier SE
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02-01-2013, 04:39 AM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Full-timers - Home is where we park it.
Posts: 4,722
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr4Film
...Yes, the black thing is the heater. There is an identical one in the freezer compartment.
Dr4Film ----- Richard
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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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02-01-2013, 08:24 AM
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#10
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Registered User
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Varies Depending on The Weather
Posts: 8,517
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DGBPokes
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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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:
Originally Posted by paz
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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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.
Dr4Film ----- Richard
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02-01-2013, 08:33 AM
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#11
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 576
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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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Greg & Lynn (Full-Timing)
2011 Phaeton 42 QBH / Spartan Chassis
2003 Jeep GC Overland in Tow
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02-01-2013, 02:59 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 576
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Thanks for the link. I will look into it
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Greg & Lynn (Full-Timing)
2011 Phaeton 42 QBH / Spartan Chassis
2003 Jeep GC Overland in Tow
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02-01-2013, 03:00 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Full-timers - Home is where we park it.
Posts: 4,722
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr4Film
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.
Dr4Film ----- Richard
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Good to know they are being proactive and fixing the freezer as a precaution.
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