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Ice Forming Under Freezer Drawer in a Samsung RF4287HARS French Door Refrigerator


Anne Searles Reel

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Anne Searles Reel

I have ice building up in the bottom of the freezer compartment on my Samsung RF4287HARS French Door Refrigerator, below the pull out drawer. It will build up to about 3/4"-1" thick and then impedes the closing of the door. Every 4-6 weeks, I need to remove the freezer drawer, melt and chop the ice and put everything back in. I have been doing this for three years on a 5 year old fridge. Samsung Customer Service is ABSOLUTELY NO HELP.

What causes this? And can I fix it myself?

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Sounds like a blocked defrost drain, and yes, you can fix it!

But you'll have to remove the drawer and possibly the guide rails.  Then the evaporator cover (rear panel) for the freezer.  This will allow you access the evaporator drain trough.

Carefully remove as much ice as you can using a hair dryer, heat gun or steamer if available, until the drain is exposed.  Pouring hot water into the drain should help clear any remaining ice restriction further down the tube.

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Anne Searles Reel

I should add that  we replaced the ice maker about 3 months ago. While the old ice maker was broken, the ice did not form in the bottom of the freezer. As soon as we replaced it, the ice started forming again.
 

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I'm not seeing an icemaker in the freezer on this model.  Is it a flex tray style icemaker and is it producing ice?

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Anne Searles Reel

It is located in the refrigerator.  I am unsure what a tray style is. 

 It is producing ice just fine. This problem stopped when the icemaker was not working and then began again when we replaced the ice maker. 

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Samsungs default to a super cold setting of -14°F in the freezer when they need to produce ice. If you use a lot of ice so that the icemaker needs to constantly run it will spend a long time at that super cold temp. The drain tubes run down behind the freezer and will freeze up if it's that cold for a long time. 

 

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Anne Searles Reel
15 hours ago, LI-NY Tech said:

Samsungs default to a super cold setting of -14°F in the freezer when they need to produce ice. If you use a lot of ice so that the icemaker needs to constantly run it will spend a long time at that super cold temp. The drain tubes run down behind the freezer and will freeze up if it's that cold for a long time. 

Can/should I adjust that temperature?

 

 

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No, that's not adjustable. What I'm saying is that regularly  using large amounts of ice can cause this drain freezing issue, which causes a leak. Do you regularly use a lot of ice?

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Anne Searles Reel

Yes, we do. I will be attempting to remove the evaporator cover this evening and defrost whatever ice may have formed around it and may be blocking the drain.

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Anne Searles Reel

So I did as suggested--took the cover off of the evaporator in the freezer and I didn't find any ice buildup. Any suggestions on what to try next?

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  • 2 years later...

Anne, did you ever find the cause to your ice forming below the deli drawer?  I'm having the same problemss......Thanks

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This is a common problem with Samsung and they have an update that is supposed to take care of it.

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7 hours ago, ridgwel said:

Anne, did you ever find the cause to your ice forming below the deli drawer?  I'm having the same problemss......Thanks

And I very much doubt Anne will answer her post is over two years old...

i advise calling a tech that has access to Samsung technical bulletins. 

Edited by 16345Ed
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Anne Searles Reel
1 hour ago, 16345Ed said:

And I very much doubt Anne will answer her post is over two years old...

i advise calling a tech that has access to Samsung technical bulletins. 

You would be wrong because here I am. 

I don't remember the exact  problem but the person we brought in to troubleshoot it did have to dismantle some parts of the fridge and simply used a heat gun to melt down quite a bit of ice that had formed. It actually wasn't a very costly repair. However, I still will never buy another Samsung refrigerator again.

 Since the repair was done, I have not experienced any more problems with this particular issue. Hope this helps.

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7 hours ago, Anne Searles Reel said:

You would be wrong because here I am. 

I don't remember the exact  problem but the person we brought in to troubleshoot it did have to dismantle some parts of the fridge and simply used a heat gun to melt down quite a bit of ice that had formed. It actually wasn't a very costly repair. However, I still will never buy another Samsung refrigerator again.

 Since the repair was done, I have not experienced any more problems with this particular issue. Hope this helps.

Wow surprised, I’m glad you check in...

their is a service bulletin and a fix it kit there are several steps to the bulletin (checking defrost system, modification of evaporator shield, repositioning of a sensor, new drain duck bills...)

So I doubt he just cleared ice. Especially if your problem never came back. 

Thanks for responding!!

 

Edited by 16345Ed
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  • 4 months later...

We have the same Samsung Refrigerator and the same problem with water freezing under the bottom freezer draw.  Can anyone tell me how I can fix the problem myself!  We bought all Samsung appliances for the kitchen five years ago.  This year the microwave and dishwasher broke and we have had to replace them.  NOW the refrigerator/freezer is not functioning correctly!  I would like to be able to fix this myself as replacing another appliance is not in the budget.  Any help would be much appreciated!  I will NEVER buy SAMSUNG again!!!

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  • 5 months later...
Stefanie Cape Coral FL

We have the ice under freezer drawer problem now.  Will try a quick fix until our "guy" can come to take a look.  Thanx for the info.

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I’ve run in to this many times before. Specifically after an ice maker was replaced. I’ve always found that the rubber piece on the end of the fill tube for the ice maker isn’t sitting properly. This results in a little bit of water dripping down onto the floor of the freezer while the rest of the water makes it into the ice maker. That’s why the ice maker is still working. Check that rubber tube that sits directly above the ice maker.  It’s probably a little “compressed from when the new ice maker was installed. 

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  • 5 weeks later...
justpassinthru
On 7/18/2018 at 6:07 AM, 16345Ed said:

Wow surprised, I’m glad you check in...

their is a service bulletin and a fix it kit there are several steps to the bulletin (checking defrost system, modification of evaporator shield, repositioning of a sensor, new drain duck bills...)

 So I doubt he just cleared ice. Especially if your problem never came back. 

Thanks for responding!!

 

I had the same problem about three years ago, on a Samsung RFG237AARS.  I replaced a sensor and cleaned out the drain.  It's now back again.  Would you have a link to or the name/number of the Samsung Service Bulletin?  Thanks in advance.

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6 hours ago, justpassinthru said:

I had the same problem about three years ago, on a Samsung RFG237AARS.  I replaced a sensor and cleaned out the drain.  It's now back again.  Would you have a link to or the name/number of the Samsung Service Bulletin?  Thanks in advance.

Technical documents are for paid professional technicians only, we cannot distribute to others. Sorry. 

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  • 8 months later...

I've had this problem for a few years and think I have solved it.  No need to do anything inside the drawer other than get rid of the ice!

1.  Remove the rear panel on the bottom.

2.  Find a 3/4" diameter 6" vertical tube going into the fin area about mid unit.  Note that the holes in the tube sides go in the bottom.

3.  Remove tube and look for a small white adapter coming from the top of that compartment that looks like it is crimped closed.

4.  Remove the white thing and clip off about 1/8" of the crimped area.  This device prevents cool air from exiting for energy efficiency, BUT IT GETS CLOGGED WITH DEBRIS causing the defrost water from the cooling/freezing fins to backup into the freezer drawer bottom.  While you're there clean the dust from the coils, etc.

Reverse steps 1-3 and wash your hands.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

How do you remove that back panel?  I removed the only 2 screws I see but the panel doesn't want to come off.  I'm afraid that I don't want to pull too hard and break it or something else.  My model is RF4267HARS.

My fridge has suddenly been making a loud noise.. sounds like it's from the fan in this area.  I ruled out the fan in the bottom rear.  It's working fine and not making any noise.  But now whenever the freezer is running, there is a lot of noise.  I also found 1/4" of ice on the bottom and did have the ice maker replaced.  I will check the hose as mentioned earlier in this thread.

Thanks

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After removing the 2 screws, the panel is snapped into place. More than likely there is ice built up holding panel in place. Use a steamer to melt ice to aid in removing the panel. If no steamer, unplug refrig and unload all the food in fridge and freezer, put some towels down to catch the run off from ice melting. Leave the door open for couple of days.. Should be several youtubes on this problem.

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On 1/27/2020 at 9:33 PM, Pushbutton said:

I've had this problem for a few years and think I have solved it.  No need to do anything inside the drawer other than get rid of the ice!

1.  Remove the rear panel on the bottom.

2.  Find a 3/4" diameter 6" vertical tube going into the fin area about mid unit.  Note that the holes in the tube sides go in the bottom.

3.  Remove tube and look for a small white adapter coming from the top of that compartment that looks like it is crimped closed.

4.  Remove the white thing and clip off about 1/8" of the crimped area.  This device prevents cool air from exiting for energy efficiency, BUT IT GETS CLOGGED WITH DEBRIS causing the defrost water from the cooling/freezing fins to backup into the freezer drawer bottom.  While you're there clean the dust from the coils, etc.

Reverse steps 1-3 and wash your hands.

 

Problem will likely return following this procedure. There are updated drain tubes, heater probes and evaporator adjustments that need made. 

Edited by 16345Ed
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3 hours ago, 16345Ed said:

This device prevents cool air from exiting for energy efficiency,

Not quite, it’s for not allowing warm air in...

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