Hello,

I've read all the sticky posts, and read through the service
manual for my refrigerator, but wanted to ask a question
before ordering replacement parts for my fridge.

I have the Samsung RS257BARB model side-by-side
fridge/freezer. My understanding is that this model
has two separate cooling assemblies. The freezer
side is working fine and is cooling down to the selected
temperature.

The evaporator coils in the refrigerator side become covered
by ice after about a week. Going on about three weeks
now, the fridge side would gradually warm up to about
60 degrees F. I've gotten pretty good at removing the
plastic housing for the fridge evaporator assembly, pulling out
the trust ol' hair drier and melting away all the ice.

This time, however, I followed the service manual instructions
on how to force a refrigerator defrost cycle. I did this last
night and let it run it's course, beeping and all. This morning,
I noticed the temperature relatively unchanged. I then
proceeded to open up the evaporator housing again and found
the familiar ice build-up. Looking at the ice, it seems pretty
clear that the defrost heater did not generate enough (or any)
heat.

I also read in a service bulletin that this and certain other
models have the defrost heater built into the evaporator
assembly.

I'm going to go and pick up a multimeter today to do some further
troubleshooting.

My questions are:

1) What things should I be testing continuity for? If you can point out
the most common items in the Service Manual, that'd be great.

2) What is "Heate Part Number: AP4137756 made by SAM" which is
item 11 in the "refrigerator compartment section" for the RS257BARB?

3) If question 2 is not the defrost heater, is it possible to replace the
defrost heater without breaking open the evaporator assembly? I'm really
not keen on soldering and recharging the refrigerator with coolant.

Thank you so much for any and all information/advice you can provide.
This site is so awesome for do-it-yourselfers!

-Joe

Hi,

I just decided to gamble and pull out the defrost element to inspect it. Sure enough, after cracking open the tube, one side of the connector was completely burnt out. I ordered a replacement from this site and it showed up within a couple days. I was able to pull off the defrost element from the evaporator coil without having to disconnect the evaporator coil. You'll have to either cut the defrost heater element wire, or do like I did and pull one wire from the two-wire connector. It's been over a week now and the system is not reporting any errors during a self diag.

-Joe

I went ahead and ordered the evap coil and pulled off the defroster. Same thing you saw, the defrost element was cooked. I suspected as much when I measured the resistance through it with a multi-meter that showed it was open. Occasionally I could move the old one around and get continuity and then it would work better for a few days. The new defroster is 1 week in and all seems to be normal, knock on wood.

I'm even considering buying another one to keep around in case two years from now it happens again. Who knows if that part will be available the. The thing is, I love the fridge and the style and was not looking forward to throwing in the towell on it after only 6 years. The garage fridge is 12 years old and is still trucking right along. I'm stoked if it is indeed fixed, especially since I doubt I would have been able to get a repairman to fix it for less than $400. Doing it myself was a pain, but only cost about $60. Very stoked to come across this post as well, since although I found lots of forums with people talking about it, most of them were talking about how to get Samsung to fix it. I knew I was on my own with the fridge age. Hopefully if someone else has this problem, they'll come across this thread and save some time and frustration.

I tried replacing the defrost sensor, then the thermostat, and the thermistor. None of that worked. After about 3 days the frost would be back. I was not looking forward to trying to replace the defrost element, but once I did, it was not that hard, and it was obvious that it was the problem. It was burned and cracked inside the heating element. I took pictures throughout, send me your email if you'd like to see them