Question for Samsung RF197 Residential Fridge Owners

[Dr4Film]

My Samsung RF197 has been installed and running full-time since April 2012.

I have had two minor problems since the installation. Those I have posted here on iRV2.com some time ago. If you want to review each one here are the links.

Frozen Defrost Drain Line - Samsung RF197

Another Hiccup with my Samsung RF197 Fridge

Now for my most recent problem.

For a very long time my fridge section would consistently vary in temperature about 2-3 degrees from 36F to 38F. I have the fridge setting on 38F. The freezer section would vary about 4-6 degrees from -8 to -2. I have it set for -6F.

Now the freezer is varying about 20 degrees everyday and many times throughout the day. I have not changed the setting but it will go from -10 to +10 or so many times throughout the day. Sometimes it will not go that high in temp, maybe to +4 or +5 and then back down.

I have performed a Self-Diagnostic Troubleshoot function looking for any error codes using the Power Freeze/Power Cool buttons but there is none. The following is what it checked for:

Self-diagnosis CHECK LIST:

ICE MAKER SENSOR part error.
R-SENSOR part error.
R-defrost SENSOR part error.
R-inner fan motor part error.
ICE MAKER operation error.
R-defrost part error.
External SENSOR part error.
F-SENSOR part error.
F-defrost SENSOR part error.
F-inner fan motor part error.
Machine room fan motor part error.
F-defrost part error.

I have posted this same question on an Internet Appliance Repair Forum with no responses. I have also contacted Samsung Technical Service Department and they were absolutely no help whatsoever. In fact their response was a very lame boiler plate type response saying that I should limit the times the freezer is opened and to not put too much warm store bought fresh food into the freezer.

I am not too alarmed currently as the food does stay well frozen even with the 20 degree change. The good part is that it doesn’t stay at the higher temp for very long before it drops back down to -10 or so and then swings back up again.

I am guessing that the control board is getting flaky and will probably need to be replaced.

What say you?

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[CLIFFTALL]

I have no idea so I'll ask a basic question. What are you using to measure these temps ? Maybe it's malfunctioning.

[Dr4Film]

Cliff,

I thought possibly the same. I am using an Oregon Scientific four channel remote unit. I removed the unit from the freezer and stuck it next to the unit in the fridge. It tracked exactly like the fridge unit.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[demoon]

You are having almost identical issues that we did with the 21 cubic foot version in our S&B. The last attempt we made was replacing the control board which did not solve the problem. We also continued to have the freeze-up issue in your #1 link. $600 in repair attempts and we surrendered. We replaced it last month. It was just over 3 years old.
Good luck - from what I read, it's a dice roll as to whether you have these problems or not.

[Brockx]

Defrost cycle routine a little out of wack?

[Drifter]

We had a temp problem without codes also, so I unplugged the unit for twenty min. and now seems to have rebooted and now has resumed working fine for the last six months.

[Dr4Film]

Mike,

That reset method fixed a temperature problem with the freezer that I had earlier as stated in my previous posted thread.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f54/anoth...ge-179215.html

However it doesn't respond the same this time . I have tried resetting or rebooting the main control board without success.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

[Ramets]

Just something I'll throw out there, MSW or PSW?

[IC2]

When you rebooted/reset yor reefer, did you actually disconnect power? Our S&B Samsung RF2608 reefer 'lost its mind' last week and the only thing that worked was disconnect the power for several minutes - in this case, via tripping the main panel circuit breaker. And yes, I agree, their customer service ..... isn't. We have a new washer in the S&B and I ended up fixing the water level adjustment myself with help from Youtube after emails and conversations with reps who's American English wasn't their first language.

[Dr4Film]

Originally Posted by Ramets

Just something I'll throw out there, MSW or PSW?

I use the original Xantrex/Trace MSW 2000 Watt RV2012 Inverter for the fridge. Others have had no problems with running the RF197 on a MSW inverter.

However, at sometime in the future I may switch over to an upgraded PSW inverter and then decide what to do about the fridge.

Originally Posted by IC2

When you rebooted/reset yor reefer, did you actually disconnect power?

I use the circuit breaker in my main distribution panel to shut down power to the fridge. I have tried that a few times now waiting anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes before turning it back on.

As stated in my Hiccup Thread it work the first time to resolve the problem of the freezer raising in temp but it hasn't work for this problem.

What the freezer does now is that it will increase to about 10 degrees and then it will drop all the way down to -10 degrees. And it will do that throughout the day.

Personally I think the thing is stuck in a defrost/freeze cycle as the freezer temp is always fluctuating and never steady for any period of time whereas it used to remain steady and only fluctuate abut 5 -6 degrees.

I would really like to have a tracking thermometer that records the temp and time just to see what the actual freezer is doing throughout a 24 hour period.

Dr4Film ----- Richard