Samsung RF18 not working

[Stan Simpson]

Got up this morning and opened the fridge door; all warm inside. Temps are 70/45 and rising. Reset breakers, but no help. Power is apparent because the lights are on inside. Motor is not running.

Thought of running an extension cord to the fridge from the power pole with 15 amp to see if that does anything. Is that something you would do?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Bill Lampkin]

Stan, I would definitely try the extension cord to another 15a outlet on the service pedestal. Your fridge, is it plugged into the ice maker receptacle? Its a common way to do it, but the icemaker receptacle is on a GFCI circuit, and that GFCI may have tripped. The manual for my fridge (Fisher-Paykel) said do not plug into a GFCI circuit due to nuisance tripping issues.

[Fred Brooks]

   Stan,
Is your inverter a pure sine wave inverter? How old is the Samsung RF-18? The fact that the light is on but no cooling sounds like the PC board on top of the refer may be at fault. Fred

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Stan,
Is the freezer staying cold and only the refrigerator section not working? Reason for asking is my experience with the RF-18 and a modified sine wave inverter. The circuit controlling the evaporator heater failed on control board causing the coils to ice up in a humid environment. The result was no cooling to the fridge section. When it thawed out and I stayed in a relatively dry environment (e.g. AZ) it worked fine. First time this happened it died on our way back from SC. Got home and called service co. They came out about a week later, turned on the unit and it worked fine. (Ice on coils had melted). Worked great for about a year until we went to FL-SC last spring. It crapped out on way home so I pulled the coil cover when we got home and coils were completely iced over. Repair shop came out and diagnosed a bad control board. In addition I changed to a pure sine wave inverter.
(I found iMarine had best prices on Magnum inverters if you need one).
Steve

[Joel Ashley]

Our GE, made by Samsung, at home has been a pain.  Besides the troubled and noisy ice maker, the condensate drain behind the back panel (inside the fridge) has a poor design.  A simple drain port heating insert fails allowing the drain to freeze and plug.  Then the coils frost up and condensate that can’t get out fills areas inside the fridge where it can freeze and cause seized drawers, and dribble water around and under the fridge.

Not that this is what’s wrong with yours, Stan;  Fred and Steve’s assessments are more likely applicable.  But it’s just one of several reasons I’m not a fan of Samsung products;  like my wife’s expensive 2 year-old Samsung cell phone that went belly up last week.

Joel

[Fred Brooks]

    Stan,
 All things considered, I think the Samsung RF-18 is a pretty reliable refrigerator. When you think about what a hostile environment the refrigerator has to live in, it does a great job. I have installed many different manufacturers of refers that customers have brought me over the years, and the Samsung has given me the least grief. The ladies all say how much they like it and appreciate its space and features while camping. Sorry Joel for your misfortune with Samsung products, hope things get brighter in the near future. Fred

[Stan Simpson]

Update: We tried all of the suggestions listed. Nothing worked. We were plugged in to shore power at an RV park. I ran an extension cord to the 15/20 amp receptacle at the power pole, directly to the refrigerator. No go.

Answering some questions above:

@Bill Lampkin, yes I have the Samsung plugged in to the ice maker circuit. I did it because it was easier that adding the regular plug to the inverter line. I don't know if the GFCI was tripped, I never checked it. However, I will certainly check it in the future. We were having heavy rainstorms and its possible moisture got in there, although I have the old access door insulated with foam and foil, and shut tightly.

@Fred Brooks, we purchased the Samsung from Lowe's in June 2019. It has a 5 year warranty on the motor and 10 years on the compressor. Our inverter/charger is a Xantrex 3015, 3000W PSW.

@Steve Huber, the whole thing was out, refrigerator and freezer.

Solution: We spent several hours trying many things with no joy, finally went to Walmart and got some coolers and bags of ice. Saved most of the contents. Frozen stuff was pretty well still frozen after over 12 hours with no power. Fresh foods in the refrigerator had to be tossed. We gave some frozen pork chops and cod to the RV Park camp hosts because we ran out of room in the coolers. That was what we did on our last day in Mackinaw City, MI. We were exhausted so we went out for dinner. When we came home the refrigerator was running and the temps were 38F in the fridge and -1F in the freezer. No idea what changed. Its been 4 days and its still running. We are in Traverse City now.

Thanks for all the comments and ideas.

[Bill Lampkin]

Glad you got it working!

[Stan Simpson]

Upon further reflection, I don't think it was the GFCI tripping, due to the fact that the lights were on inside the freezer and refrigerator compartments while there were high temps inside the box.

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Stan,
Sure sounds like something iced over had time to thaw. If it happens again, suggest you remove the plastic cover at the back of the refrigerator section and see if the fins are iced up.
Steve

[Fred Brooks]

   Here is one more consideration. If you have added a residential refrigerator to your coach, your storage procedure now includes dumping your ice in the bin. It is real easy to overlook. Upon moving the coach for your next adventure, the water sloshes over and freezes before it can drain properly. This disrupts the whole sequence that controls the cooling logic. Keep in mind you have a refrigerator that was intended to be immovable in a house and is now in a more hostile environment. If something gets spilled inside by accident it can also find it way to the condensate drain. Fred