The issue with Samsung french door ice makers icing and frosting up and not working is due to a known leakage defect in the manufacturing process.
When warmer, moister air enters the ice room, frost is formed which stops the small (computer like D.C. voltage) fan which is above the evaporator in the back of the ice room on some models.
The ice maker unit is usually not to blame and quits working most of the time due to the sensor (if equipped) being covered in frost and telling the ice maker that the bucket is full.
The sensor, if equipped, acts like an infrared garage door opener safety beam. This is also called the I/R receiver.
If the I/R lens on the back of your ice room is frosted over this is most likely why the ice maker is not dropping ice.
Examples above of a frozen ice room.
Causes include:
- (not often) The defrost functionality is inefficient.
- (common) The air duct above the evaporator is blocked by ice.
- (not often) The fan motor has failed.
- (common) The fan motor is blocked with ice.
- (not often) Water is spraying from an incorrectly positioned water inlet.
- (very common) The ice room along the bottom left and back is leaking in air.
- (very common) The ice bucket seal was manufactured incorrectly and does not seal well.
Samsung has issued the following repair tips for their service network.
It should be noted that ice makers with the evaporator running through the ice maker, as shown above, must be removed carefully.
There is a screw that is in the front of the ice maker which faces up that has to be removed.
After the screw is removed, you push on the tab on the top front of the icemaker and slide the icemaker towards you about 1 inch. Then the icemaker can be lowered carefully.
If someone pulls down on the ice maker trying to remove it the evaporator lines will be damaged and start leaking. This will open up the sealed system and the refrigerator will stop cooling entirely.
In our experience, what repairs this problem is sealing the ice room and replacing the ice bucket. Of course, all the frost will have to be removed from the ice room.
This entails removing the ice maker and the auger motor assembly from the rear. This will allow removing the ice from the D.C. motor fan blades as well.
Below are Samsung’s repair recommendations. You can share them with your repair person and have the knowledge of what the issues are before you make a service call.
This next step is crucial as many units have an air gap where the ice room meets the refrigerator wall on the left side and the rear. This allows warmer/moister air into the ice room from the refrigerator. Here is a link to the sealant we use that yields great results and is mildew free. (click here for the sealant we use)
Models affected below:
RF22K9381, RF22K9581, RF22KREDB, RF22M9581, RF23FSEDB, RF23HCEDB, RF23HSESB, RF23HTEDB, RF23J9011, RF23M80, RF23M85, RF24FSEDB, RF24J9960, RF25HMEDB,RF263BEAE,RF263TEAE,RF265BEA RF26J7500, RF28HDEDB, RF28HDEDT, RF28HFEDB, RF28HFEDT, RF28HMEDB, RF28JBEDB, RF28K9070, RF28K9380, RF28K9580, RF30HDED, RF30KMEDB, RF31FMED, RF32FMQDB, RF323TED, RF34H9950, RF34H9960
