Residential refrigerator failure warning signs

[DonTom]

The fan motor in the household fridge in my DRV started shreiking like a banshee when I re-started the fridge after an extended absence. I removed the back wall of the freezer (a plastic cover) and squirted some teflon lube into the bearing. Didn't have to remove the motor.

That was 6 months ago and although I've only been there for a couple of weeks since then it's still quiet.

With the Samsung fridge in this house, I have had to remove it every few years to use a heat gun on in the fan area where ice stopped it from working. It is probably about ready to crap out again.

That ice takes forever to melt by itself, even takes a while with a heat gun and hot water.

Not too difficult to remove in my fridge, the most difficult part of the operation is getting all the food out of there and into my other fridge (a Vissani) before it rots away.

From there, I only need to remove two (well hidden) screws and pull the plastic off and the evaporator motor unplugs.

The first symptom is the warmer fridge temp and noise (fan hitting the edge of ice) with the compressor motor running full time. After a few days of that, the fridge stops working completely as the ice then will stop the motor. Compressor still on full time, wastes a lot of juice for nothing. The compressor works harder, of course, because of the warmer temp it tries to make up for.

Evaporator motor issues is a common problem with Samsung fridges as well as several others. But not always from ice.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

With the Samsung fridge in this house, I have had to remove it every few years to use a heat gun on in the fan area where ice stopped it from working. It is probably about ready to crap out again.

That's a known problem with the Samsung condensation drain line (you can Google it). Food residue in the fridge washes down the drain line and gums it up. That causes a water back-up that freezes behind the back wall. Defrost & flush it out and it takes another 12-24 months to gum up again. Samsung has an different drain line clip that supposedly corrects this.A similar problem on a GE fridge was fixed by using a drain hose with a P-trap instead of the OEM drain..

 

[UTTransplant]

Well, my problem seems to have resolved itself. The refrigerator no longer makes a loud buzz, just the normal operating sound. Guess it just needed time to limber up from storage!

 

[DonTom]

That's a known problem with the Samsung condensation drain line (you can Google it). Food residue in the fridge washes down the drain line and gums it up. That causes a water back-up that freezes behind the back wall. Defrost & flush it out and it takes another 12-24 months to gum up again. Samsung has an different drain line clip that supposedly corrects this.A similar problem on a GE fridge was fixed by using a drain hose with a P-trap instead of the OEM drain..

Are you referring to this thingy? :