Fridge And Freezer Forum

Hi- We have a Samsung RL39WBMS and had it a few years (possibly 8 or 9) and it has worked brill and survived a house move 7 years ago without a drama

Recently over the last week or so we noticed the freezer wasn't quite as cold as it had been
No flashing of temps - no power outs or anything
Fridge seems to be working as per normal as far as we can tell

I have powered it off and back on (rebooting it) and the compressor does spin up and the fans for the freezer are blowing out cold air - just not as cold as I think it should be

I had a look round the back to check everything looked normal (eg not full of fluff) but there is very little back there to go wrong on this model
I took the pannel covering the compressor off and felt the compressor temp - The body of the compressor was tepid (not hot by any means) and the drip tray had a couple of mm of water in there and was stone cold to the touch (I guess this should be getting warm enough to evap the condensed water in the tray??)
I felt round the pipework that I coudld get to - nothing as extreme as I would imagine it should be - one was mildly luke warm and the other cool to the touch

It's been emptied and is laying on its back (suggested by father in law - theory being it will assist the gas and liquid to seperate if that is the issue)
He has suggested leaving it "taking a nap" like this for the next 12 hours

Meanwhile - anyone got any other good suggestions if this doesn't help it - or even if this is a bad idea

I think teatime will be interesting - I guess the most perishable goods will be consumed first - bit gutted as I didn't spot any ice cream in there

Regards
Rob

Hi- thank yuou very much for your reply
I have put it back upright and left it for a few hours before plugging it back in
(Google and common sense told me that placing it on its back wasn't going to really do it any favours and could cause oil to go places it shouldn't be - and would make it move from where it certainly needed to be)

Now if I press the 2 buttons either side of the display and hold them I get FF displayed..and a beeping - the compressor runs and the fans chuff cold air into the compartments
further holding the 2 buttons changes the display to read FD...and nothing much seems to happen (no compressor running)

holding the 2 buttons down again makes it display the desired temps (I think)

Are these error codes?
(or do they stand for fast freeze and fast defrost or something?)
Feel like I have found a hidden menu

Any advice on where to go from here?

Regards
Rob

Just thought I'd touch this thread
I am tempted to just sling this appliance and get another

R600a very kindly let me know that FF stands for Forced Freeze and Fd stands for Forced defrost
(not error codes as I had initially thought)

I did a forced defrost - and after a few mins (10 maybe 15) it comes out of that mode and goes back to normal and the compressor comes on
I did do a forced defrost 3 times in a row - each time produced less water than the last the first one perhaps made enough to fill a tablespoon - the last one didn't produce enough to fill a teaspoon

Now - pressing the 2 buttons either side of the display to get into these 2 modes (not documaneted in my flimsy manual)
FF makes it beep continuously and Fd no longer made it beep - which I'm pretty sure it did the first time I discovered those modes

Now I have been doing the Fd just before bedtime and waking up to a fully functioning freezer - all good as a temp bodge

This morning I decided I'd do another forced defrost as I have a day off and can maybe look further into getting it fixed - going into the Fd mode now makes it beep
I left it in that mode more than 30 mins - and its still beeping and hasn't automatically come out of it like it used to over the last few days
No water is being produced
I powered off the machine and powered it back on - and after a short delay the compressor fired up

2 days ago I emailed a local recomended engineer from here
Yet to hear back and will chase him today to find out if its worth salvaging

I will report back one way or the other as I have been finding conclusionless threads - which is most annoying and not much help for people searching threads

Regards
Rob

Ping

Ok have stripped the freezer compartment out
Checked continuity on the thermal fuse - we have continuity
Checked the heating element - nothing open circuit

There was a mild frost and a few icey dew drops hanging from the elements (not severe icing by any stretch of the imagination)
I plugged it all in and manually set it to defrost
No signs of it defrosting or it getting any wanrmer than the ambient air temp with the door open and a human head stuffed inside

I gingerly put my hand on the heating element
Stoney cold

I guess the name suggests I should be able to detect heat coming from it after a short while?

The flapper continues to rotate in defrost mode- the fan however is doing nothing whilst this is going on

During normal operation the fan does work

I have rung the engineer (or the very helpful receptionist) to get quotes based on the heating element being duff
(comes to sub £20 for the part)

I looked closer at how its all wired and notice it looks like there may be some cutting joining and heatshrinking of wires required if /I/ were to replace the element as a DIY job (unless I'm missing something hidden under the heatshrink at the element ends?)
Not a deal breaker -I have a soldering iron and heatshrink here- but I am unsure if I can manipulate the old one off and get a new one on wihout bending every fin and risking kinking the cooling pipes

Been quoted £65 plus VAT to have a callout and the part to be fitted (assuning I am barking up the right tree)

Will update as soon as there's anything to tell

Regards
Rob

Ping ping
The foil wrapped heater just under the rotating flappy thing also doesn't get warm when in de frost
Put a multimeter across the elements and there is resistance
Popped meter into pins that feed this element
plugged machine back in and put it into defrost
Nada, nothin no volts

Looks like they are wired in parallel so I would assume there is something else going on here

Still not heard back from the engineer who was going to call me back

I'm getting lonenly in here
(and my food has well and truly defrosted now)

Regards
Rob

Engineer called back
From my description he thought it could be the board at fault
(he had to replace one recently for the same model and said it could be a software fault)

Looks like its going to run into the realms of hundreds and byond ecconomical repair

Bugger

Regards
Rob

Just thought I'd put a fitting end and conclusion to this thread

The Samsung FF is no more

Went looking for an appliance to pick up where the Sammy left off and not overy impressed with anything we saw TBH

the Samsungs looked nice- but I don't think I want to go back there whist they seem to have issues
The Hoovers looked cheap
The Beko's ditto

The Haier's looked OK but I believe are Chinese (which I believe is not a sensible option) and the salesman did not put our minds at ease with this make and pretty much poo pood them as being rubbish (though was based on his days repairing dishwashers a good few years ago)

Off to see whats tasty as it defrosts...
If anyone needs parts (not the electricals) eg shelves trays etc - you need to get in touch fast

Regards
Rob

We got ourselves a second hand Smeg with 2 compressors
Doesn't self defrost, does nowt fancy, just fits in the gap we have, stuck a 99p thermometer in the fridge so we can keep an eye on temps

All works good - frozen stuff is frozen (-19) - cooled stuff is kept cool (+4)

Chucked the Samsung at the end of the driveway - sure enough after a couple of days it magically dissapeared

A happy ending all round

Regards
Rob