PSA if you own a Samsung refrigerator

[Gourmand 7774]

Did a search, didn't see this posted so obligatory siap.....

We have a 2015 Samsung French door model with the icemaker in the refrigerator compartment. Like every other Samsung fridge owner, I've been dealing with the annoying shitastic icemaker for years where it works for a few weeks or a month and then one morning you put your glass under the icemaker and hear that grinding sound with nothing happening. Pull out the ice container and of course there's a huge block of ice wrapped around the sides of the icemaker, blocking any ice from falling into the container. Break chunks of ice, thaw it out with a steamer or hair dryer at low setting, wait for it to all melt, then replace the ice container. Wait a few weeks and then wash rinse repeat the process. I went down a YouTube rabbit hole for permanent fixes (aside from trashing it and buying a different brand) and was prepared to do a big DIY project to fix it myself recently until I discovered that all that work wasn't necessary because Samsung would do it for me. I called them earlier this week and got on a service list and today we had the icemaker fully replaced along with the motherboard. According to the repair tech, this will fix the problem permanently.

If you have a Samsung with the icemaker inside the fridge and not the freezer, call Samsung and give them your model and serial number and they will send someone out to make this repair, regardless of warranty status. 

 

[gyroprotagonist 2595]

i have had 2 SS fridges and not encountered that issue, but have read about it enough with issues concerning the icemaker.  i had a super trivial issue with taking apart the shelves around the veggie drawer and was convinced if followed the instructions i would break the entire shelf.  said fuck it and put in a service call as it was still under warranty and free.  service guy came and out popped the shelf off and i am sure he was giving me this look after leaving the house.

 

 

[Gourmand 7774]

1 minute ago, gyroprotagonist said:

i have had 2 SS fridges and not encountered that issue, but have read about it enough with issues concerning the icemaker.  i had a super trivial issue with taking apart the shelves around the veggie drawer and was convinced if followed the instructions i would break the entire shelf.  said fuck it and put in a service call as it was still under warranty and free.  service guy came and out popped the shelf off and i am sure he was giving me this look after leaving the house.

 

 

yeah that shelf is a motherfucker to get off

[Herbie Hancock 7391]

Motherfucker if this works I'll buy all the beer you can drink at Tx/ou or any home game of your choosing. Been dealing with this EXACT shit show since 2017.

[immamac 43555]

Holy shit - I'm doing this now. I was just lamenting having to ice pick the fucker this morning. 

[Gourmand 7774]

1 800 726 7864

You need to know your model and serial number, they are on the left side of the frame when you open the door....

They may try to walk you through all the troubleshooting steps but just let them know you've done all of that and it's the exact same issue every one of these has. They will enter your product info and then confirm your eligibility and set up an appoint date/time and advise you that you will be contacted by an authorized service technician in your area. 

Hopefully this fix works, the repair guy assured me it would. He said he does these every day and he had the job finished in less than a half hour. 

[Pato del Muerto 52855]

There’s also a ice maker defrost that you can activate. I have to google/YouTube it each time but it works, especially if you do it on a schedule and before it locks up from so much ice buildup. 
 

it does have an annoying beep and can take 45 minutes, so plan accordingly. 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Pato del Muerto

[Updawg 2301]

What about a Samsung with a broken ice maker on the freezer side

[markersmake 15]

Awesome!! I too was about to start replacing shit.  Thanks for the tip!

[Texzilla58 4745]

A lesson. Buy a fucking Whirlpool fridge. Side by side. French doors are shit. The idea of putting an ice maker in a refrigerator compartment should tell you the manufacturer don’t give a fuck.

There was a time a refrigerator outlived time itself. Now they tend to break all the time. French doors, fridge side icemakers, and cheap compressors have contributed to most of that.

[Gourmand 7774]

1 hour ago, Texzilla58 said:

A lesson. Buy a fucking Whirlpool fridge. Side by side. French doors are shit. The idea of putting an ice maker in a refrigerator compartment should tell you the manufacturer don’t give a fuck.

There was a time a refrigerator outlived time itself. Now they tend to break all the time. French doors, fridge side icemakers, and cheap compressors have contributed to most of that.

Well, yeah. 

Ours came with the house we bought and I'm damn sure not spending another 2-3k on a new refrigerator until this one fully shits the bed. Aside from the icemaker issues, we have had no problems with it and it has a lot of freezer space. I had a Samsung side-by-side counter-depth in my old house that worked well but didn't even last ten years. When the time comes to purchase a new one, I probably won't be buying a Samsung.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Gourmand

[Gene Parmesan 4022]

We are fixing to move, and I'm retiring my Samsung POS to the garage.  Now we know, but PSA for any young ones out there Samsung/LG appliances look slick but are shit.  Buy their TVs 

[Gene Parmesan 4022]

2 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

A lesson. Buy a fucking Whirlpool fridge. Side by side. French doors are shit. The idea of putting an ice maker in a refrigerator compartment should tell you the manufacturer don’t give a fuck.

There was a time a refrigerator outlived time itself. Now they tend to break all the time. French doors, fridge side icemakers, and cheap compressors have contributed to most of that.

I think the bottom freezer is a better functional layout for most families.  More easily accessible fridge space is better than a side by side split.  I have no idea if other brands have mastered the fridge side ice maker lasting beyond a handful of years though.

[Herbie Hancock 7391]

Samsung oven, range, microwave, fridge, and dishwasher because my wife is ocd and needs everything to be the same brand. Only issue in the 7 years since we built the house has been the dishwasher and the above mentioned ice maker.

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

4 hours ago, Texzilla58 said:

A lesson. Buy a fucking Whirlpool fridge. Side by side. French doors are shit. The idea of putting an ice maker in a refrigerator compartment should tell you the manufacturer don’t give a fuck.

There was a time a refrigerator outlived time itself. Now they tend to break all the time. French doors, fridge side icemakers, and cheap compressors have contributed to most of that.

Side by side is trash, imo. Too narrow. Crisper drawers are too low for adults. Bottom shelves on door are a PITA. Much nicer having the things I use more at a higher level  

French doors with the ice maker in the freezer, on the bottom where cold air likes it, works really well for me. 

i moved my side by side Whirlpool into the garage to make room for the French door Samsung. 

[Pato del Muerto 52855]

2 hours ago, Gene Parmesan said:

I think the bottom freezer is a better functional layout for most families.  More easily accessible fridge space is better than a side by side split.  I have no idea if other brands have mastered the fridge side ice maker lasting beyond a handful of years though.

Bottom freezer with French door fridge is the better layout and the ice maker only needs to be in the fridge space if there is door dispensed ice. 
buy one that deposits into a tub in the freezer and it’s no issue, and who really needs door ice anyway. It’s a very minor convenience. 

[Js1 85744]

Yeha I have one of these. Fucking hate the ice maker so I just make my own ice cubes instead of ever using it 

[conVINCEd 21474]

Samsung fridge is the 2nd worse purchase I have ever made.  It was a close call, but the Land Rover is still #1.

[Brew 3049]

On 7/14/2023 at 4:57 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

Bottom freezer with French door fridge is the better layout and the ice maker only needs to be in the fridge space if there is door dispensed ice. 
buy one that deposits into a tub in the freezer and it’s no issue, and who really needs door ice anyway. It’s a very minor convenience. 

Not with a Samsung. We had the bottom drawer freezer with ice maker in the bottom. The condensation lines run down the back of the internal part of the fridge and freeze up often because it goes down from the fridge and then along the back compartment of the freezer. The condensation drain line would freeze from the bottom up until it hit the fridge where the water would then drop into the area under the vegetable drawers and freeze there. Every couple of months you would have to pull apart the bottom/back of the fridge, thaw everything out and then start the clock on it freezing again. 

Also, bottom drawer freezers are functionally useless if you freeze very much. You just pile everything in them and have no idea what is there.

[Doc Daneeka 6769]

22 minutes ago, Brew said:

Not with a Samsung. We had the bottom drawer freezer with ice maker in the bottom. The condensation lines run down the back of the internal part of the fridge and freeze up often because it goes down from the fridge and then along the back compartment of the freezer. The condensation drain line would freeze from the bottom up until it hit the fridge where the water would then drop into the area under the vegetable drawers and freeze there. Every couple of months you would have to pull apart the bottom/back of the fridge, thaw everything out and then start the clock on it freezing again. 

Also, bottom drawer freezers are functionally useless if you freeze very much. You just pile everything in them and have no idea what is there.

As opposed to a narrow freezer compartment on a side-by-side that won't even hold a freaking pizza and requires everything to be stuffed horizontally on multiple shelves the way you're talking about stacking things vertically in a bottom freezer? I love digging around through deep, narrow shelves looking for frozen things.

If you freeze very much, buy a freezer. Use the one in the fridge for frequently used stuff and to do FIFO on the stuff from the actual freezer so stuff doesn't sit around in there and get too old. IMO.

YMMV, but the bottom freezer is exponentially more useful for us than the one on the side was.

[Texzilla58 4745]

Exactly. The appeal of French doors is purely aesthetic; it is not practical for how most folks use the fridge vs the actual reality of the technology. For folks that open both doors and stare into it French doors will strain the shitty compressor as it struggles to get from 55 back to 34. Hence the shitty reliability.

Bottom freezers are just pull out chest freezers with a shitty compressor. Just dump bins for that 4 year old deer backstrap and bags of pecans you forgot about.

The only role of a reefer is to keep your milk cold, your vegetables fresh, and your frozen shit frozen. Reliably.

Been in the appliance biz since the early 80’s. Shit ain’t supposed to break. Reliability and average mean time before failure is the worst it’s ever been as prices get more stupid expensive. Do your research and go with companies that know how to make American style appliances. And have an established service network. Talk to a repair guy; they might make a living fixing Korean appliances but they would never own one.

[thunderlounge 8029]

Fuck sammy and LG fridges in the mouth. If you've had one more than 2 years, count your blessings. Absolute fucking junk, and if you need it fixed quick, you're most likely shit out of luck as there are significantly fewer techs that can fix them. When the LG went out at the house 2 years ago, it was going to be 6 fucking weeks before the only shop within a 100miles could (or would) come fix it.

Called the local appliance shop (NOT a fucking box store ripoff) and they came out and replaced it that afternoon with a whirlpool.

Had a sammy french door in a rental. Total nightmare on that one. Went through 4 or 5 main boards, and 2 compressors in 4 years. Dumped that and have a maytag in there now. Not had a problem since.

 

[Pato del Muerto 52855]

and fyi kenmore has never made their own appliances . Used to contract to American companies like whirlpool but now are all LG or Samsung I think. 
 

whirlpool owns maytag and i think maybe kitchen aid, so those brands share a lot of parts even at their different price points. 

Edited July 16, 2023 by Pato del Muerto

[thunderlounge 8029]

13 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

whirlpool owns maytag and i think maybe kitchen aid, so those brands share a lot of parts even at their different price points. 

 

Not sure about kitchen aide, but Whirlpool/Maytag/Frigidaire are all under the same roof.

[Pato del Muerto 52855]

29 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

 

Not sure about kitchen aide, but Whirlpool/Maytag/Frigidaire are all under the same roof.

Frigidaire is Electrolux from what I just read. 
 

whirlpool has Maytag, kitchen aide, jennair, amana , and roper. 

[Dahobbs 17804]

My LG french door with bottom freezer and ice maker on left door has been perfectly fine for about 5 years now. I had one issue with the compressor that LG fixed under warranty very quickly. Ice maker has been trouble free. Of course, because I wrote this post, I'm sure it'll be broken when I get home.