Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: zxcvbob on May 29, 2023, 11:47:00 PM
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Second time in about 6 months, my refrigerator has quit cooling. The freezer section still works just fine. The evaporator coils are frozen up. I discovered it when I opened a beer and it wasn't very cold; checked the temperature and it was 60°. Everything was working fine this morning, it was probably iced up but hadn't reached a tipping point yet.
The shitty part is the ice cements the cover on so you can't get it off to defrost it, and for some inexplicable reason there is polystyrene insulation on the back side of the cover to protect that ice buildup so you can't defrost it with a hairdryer. (I wonder if it would work without the cover in place at all. The evaporator would be exposed; the fan wouldn't direct the air over the coils properly but it would circulate the air in the fridge.)
I cracked that plastic cover last time trying to get it off. Thinking seriously about destroying it this time instead of using the hairdryer on Low for several hours when it should take 10 minutes if it wasn't for that Styrofoam backing.
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Make sure the vents along the back of the freezer aren't blocked. Leave at least a ½" clearance in front of them as that is where the refrigerator gets it's cooling from. BT;DT.
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I spent over an hour on it injecting steam into the little vents and finally got the cover off. I damaged the foam on the back of the cover; looks like where it forms a duct or baffle along the side. I said it might work without the cover at all, but pretty sure it won't because that's where the thermostat is.
I got it all back together and it's cooling. Down to 73°, it started at 77. I probably need to order a replacement panel assembly (includes the fan and maybe the temperature sensor.) From what I can tell, repairmen just routinely destroy it and replace it, that's probably cheaper than the labor to get it loose without damaging it.
Make sure the vents along the back of the freezer aren't blocked. Leave at least a ½" clearance in front of them as that is where the refrigerator gets it's cooling from. BT;DT.
Thanks, I've been there too with 2-door fridges with the freezer on top, but this one has french doors on top with a freezer drawer on the bottom, so it's totally different.
I need a beer but none is cold. And there's no ice because we dumped it in a cooler to keep the milk and cream cold until I got the thing working again.
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When I had a similar problem with a French door Whirlpool, the issue ended up being the bimetal that drove the defrosting cycle. The repairman who fixed it then failed to properly reconnect some of the wires on the defrost heater which I found and fixed the next time it happened. It worked reliably after that until we moved.
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Purely anecdotal, but I talked to an appliance repairman who said that while Samsung makes good home electronics their major appliances are pretty bad. He said if you're going to buy Korean, buy LG, which he liked.
Except for my microwave, my home appliances all date back to the '90s, so I'm starting to pay attention to what's on the market today with an eye toward eventual replacement. Looks like they're putting too many bells and whistles on many of the new ones - I mean, a refrigerator with built in wi-fi, bluetooth, a camera, and . . . a coffemaker? :facepalm:
Too much stuff to go wrong - it violates the KISS principle.
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"Purely anecdotal, but I talked to an appliance repairman who said that while Samsung makes good home electronics their major appliances are pretty bad."
I've heard that from both repairmen and, more importantly, on appliance forums from people who have had endless issues with their Samsung major appliances.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJNYzv7isFw
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I just wanted to pop in and say: Yes. Yes they are.
Samsung appliances are *expletive deleted*it all around. THe only one I have left is my Fridge, only because I'm not willing to drop 2 grand on a new one. But it's a steaming pile of crap.
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My fridge cost about $125 or so, and came out of an assisted living apartment building that was having everything "refreshed."
It has worked fine for a decade. I have to defrost it about once a year.
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Samsung was using a onetime thermal fuse instead of a bimetal. I would just install a Frigidaire bimetal in then and go.
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One data point, but my sister-in-law had many bad words to say about her LG front load washer and how long it took to get parts from Korea.
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Samsung was using a onetime thermal fuse instead of a bimetal. I would just install a Frigidaire bimetal in then and go.
Thermal fuse for what? Because it's acting like the automatic defrost is not working; ice quietly builds up until suddenly it stops working (fan is jammed or all the air vents totally blocked.
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To cut power to the defrost heater. The bimetal design resets when it cools down but what Samsung used was a one and done. If that is what yours has it should be right in line with the heater.
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To cut power to the defrost heater. The bimetal design resets when it cools down but what Samsung used was a one and done. If that is what yours has it should be right in line with the heater.
Thanks. How do I test the defrost circuit? There was so much ice right on the defrost heater, I gotta think it's not working at all.
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Uh-oh. The stove and microwave/range hood we picked out, for the post-fire remodel, are Samsung.
Just went with a top-freezer GE for the fridge.
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Thanks. How do I test the defrost circuit? There was so much ice right on the defrost heater, I gotta think it's not working at all.
You will have to find the two wires that come to the heater. Ohm them out. If it is open see if it has anything else in the circuit. There may be a wiring diagram behind the toe plate or by the compressor. Or get me a model number.
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Uh-oh. The stove and microwave/range hood we picked out, for the post-fire remodel, are Samsung.
Just went with a top-freezer GE for the fridge.
The stoves and microwaves seem to be more durable than either the refrigerators or the washing machines.
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I have two friends that work for Samsung corporate. Both started in the warranty call center about 15 years ago, one is still there while the other has worked her way up to project management. Both warned me from the day i met them never to buy a Samsung appliance. TVs and personal electronics are great; but any of their appliance lines have abysmal failure rates.
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Once again the English language and its nuances jumped out at me in this thread title. With the addition of one tiny word the meaning is flipped 180 degrees.
We go from "Samsung refrigerators are *expletive deleted*it" to "Samsung refrigerators are the *expletive deleted*it".
No wonder even native born speakers of the language will sometimes screw the pooch.
Other than that I really have nothing constructive for this thread, even this wasn't.
:)
bob
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I have two friends that work for Samsung corporate. Both started in the warranty dept, one is still there. They hear almost nothing about consumer electronics which is a good thing; but neither will let any friends or family buy their appliances. Even with sometimes huge discounts, their own employees won’t buy their stuff.
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"We go from "Samsung refrigerators are *expletive deleted*it" to "Samsung refrigerators are the *expletive deleted*it". "
And, if we take it to its logical conclusion....
Samsung refrigerators are the shittiest...
:rofl:
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"We go from "Samsung refrigerators are *expletive deleted*it" to "Samsung refrigerators are the *expletive deleted*it". "
And, if we take it to its logical conclusion....
Samsung refrigerators are the shittiest...
:rofl:
After reading this thread on Samsung major appliances, pretty soon we'll be saying they're systemically racist and that that Koreans are the yellow face of white supremacy.
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One of my neighbors is Korean (SMOKING HAWT first generation American), and her husband is midwest-German extraction.
They have one of the smaller Samsung Kimchi refrigerators. Sophia makes kimchi, James makes sauerkraut with it.
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One of my neighbors is Korean (SMOKING HAWT first generation American), and her husband is midwest-German extraction.
They have one of the smaller Samsung Kimchi refrigerators. Sophia makes kimchi, James makes sauerkraut with it.
In my family, we used to make sauerkraut in large quantities in the fall when it was cooler. We used to "put it up" in a big wooden pickle barrel. Only used shredded cabbage and pickling salt. (Coarse salt with no iodine added.) Let it ferment until it was just right. Doggone, that was good!
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It's been a couple of years since I made my last batch.
I've typically made it in 15-pound batches, using fine pickling salt (as you say, no additives) in a 3-gallon food grade bucket my Mom got from Dunkin Donuts.
And yeah, you're right... incredibly good.
I need to make some this year. The bagged stuff you get at the store is OK, but it just doesn't compare to homemade.
Turns a grill cooked Nathan's or Ballpark Frank from a hot dog to a sublime experience.
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The "best" store bought sauerkrauts I've found are the refrigerated types by Clausen's or Flanagans.
The best of the store bought doesn't really compare to home made, but here in Texas even during the winter I don't have a good way of keeping the fermenting kraut at a proper temperature, at least not reliably.
When I cook up a batch I add finely chopped (and already cooked) bacon, with just a little bacon grease for flavor. It freezes well in Tupperware-type containers. Works just fine as a side dish (usually with pork or corned beef) or as an ingredient on a Reuben sandwich. (Pro tip: instead of the usual Swiss cheese on a Reuben, try sliced havarti sometime.) Sausage and sauerkraut with kugelis makes for a fine Lithuanian style meal as well.
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Yeah, the temperature is critical for making good kraut -- 65 to 70 deg. F is perfect.
Too cool and it either won't ferment or it takes forever to ferment.
Too warm and it just rots.
I know people who have set their crocks in pans of water and wrapped towels around them to take advantage of evaporation cooling if the weather takes a hard uptick.
I just turn down the AC. :)
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Going back to the OP. I had a fridge/freezer unit doing the same - freezer still freezing, fridge side growing steadily warmer. After a couple hours of much cursing and tool-throwing, I finally found and removed the coil cover and allowed it to defrost (after transferring EVERYTHING to the garage fridge that could be saved, and learning what a nut driver is and wondering how I ever lived without one). Everyone was sure it was the fan motor, but that was working fine. So I put it all back together and hoped maybe the door had just been left ajar overnight.
Six weeks later, it happened again. Less cursing and tool-throwing since I now knew what to do (because I have become the Appliance Repair Goddess), but defrosting every few weeks was NOT a solution. Found an obscure forum on appliance repair with a suggestion to check the door seals. Seriously? Could it be that simple? Nothing is ever that simple!
Checked the fridge door seal and there was a crimp in the back side with moisture collecting on the outside of the fridge when the door was closed, which I'd never noticed because the fridge was black and it wasn't in my direct line of sight at any point in the course of walking around in the kitchen. So I ordered a replacement seal. I have a link somewhere for obscure appliance parts if anyone needs it.
$88 and a week later, the seal arrives in a box. It's heavy and HARD rubber (shut up) and had obviously been sitting on a shelf folded up on itself for possibly years. The instructions/notes said to loosen it up and straighten it out by soaking it in a tub with extremely hot water, or by using a hair dryer and DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP because the gasket has to be flat and flexible when installed. I filled the tub with the hottest water my water heater would produce, and it did not become flexible. I bumped the temp up on the water heater but that didn't work. I filled tub half with water heater water and half with stock pots of boiling water I heated up on the stove. THAT didn't work. I spread it out on freezer paper on the dining room floor and burned up the motor in my hair dryer and that didn't work. Laid it on the driveway on a black towel in the hot Georgia August sun and that didn't work. Called the company back and told them it wasn't happening. They sent me a replacement seal. Same problem. Tried replacing the whole door, but that proved impossible too because Kenmore no longer made that model or parts for that model, so what was out there was it.
In the end, I used super-glue and flex-seal on the original gasket to deal with the problem until I could afford to replace the fridge - it was old anyway.
They just don't build anything to last anymore. Good luck!
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. . . Tried replacing the whole door, but that proved impossible too because Kenmore no longer made that model or parts for that model, so what was out there was it . . .
Kenmore?
Back in the day, Kenmore used to make good stuff. (More properly, they had good stuff made for them that they could put the Kenmore label on.)
I grew up in a home with quite a few Kenmore large appliances - well designed and reliable. I still have a roughly 40 year old Kenmore canister vacuum that I just replaced the toothed power head drive belt on - I found a "non-Kenmore" replacement on Amazon that fit perfectly.
I said "Back in the day" . . . in the last 10 years or so before Sears folded, Kenmore appliances took a serious nose dive in quality, both small ( e.g., toasters) and large. One of the engineering trade journals I used to get had a column - "Made By Monkeys" - in which readers used to detail problems they had with poorly designed or carelessly assembled products. Recent Kenmore appliances were mentioned multiple times.
. . . They just don't build anything to last anymore . . .
Ain't that the truth!
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Yeah, generally Kenmore-branded appliances were durable as all hell.
I have a Kenmore branded microwave that I got in 1989; it's actually a Sharpe carousel, and it's been absolutely bullet proof with the exception of my having to replace a fuse after a near lightning strike back 1994.
My parents bought a Coldspot deep freeze around 1969 or 1970. Finally had to get rid of it around 2004 or so when the mechanical defrost controller seized up and the whole thing iced up. I bought them a Frigidaire deep freeze. Same internal capacity, but it was significantly smaller due to massive improvements in insulation, and a lot less energy hungry with improvements in the mechanicals.
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. . . My parents bought a Coldspot deep freeze around 1969 or 1970. . .
I think the first refrigerator my parents had was a Coldspot - one of those with the "deadly" latch that would trap children inside. It wasn't frostless, so I remember my mother had to periodically defrost it to melt a layer of ice off the coils in the freezer portion. It was white, and matched our Tappan gas stove. IIRC, Coldspot was a Sears brand.
They eventually got a "frostless" fridge ("Hotpoint") and a new double gas oven (Kenmore) which was a good design - free standing, the second oven was up where a microwave would normally be found. The burners were on a sliding shelf - the front two were always accessible, but you'd pull out the shelf to expose the rear burners which were normally part covered by a fixed stainless steel shelf with a vent from the lower oven at the back, meant for warming dishes.
I don't remember the exact year they bought the new 'fridge and stove, but they were in the hottest popular new color at the time - avocado green! :rofl:
Both were trouble free and still working fine when they sold their house and moved in the mid '80s.
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"IIRC, Coldspot was a Sears brand."
Yes, it was. In 1976 the Coldspot name was retired and Kenmore was extended to fridges and freezers.
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It was white, and matched our Tappan gas stove.
Haven't seen or heard the Tappan name in a while. Figured they were kaput. Turns out they're still around, now owned by Electrolux.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tappan_(brand)
https://www.tappan.com/
Brad
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Haven't seen or heard the Tappan name in a while . . .
Maybe I should have said it was a Franklin stove. :rofl:
Even if products with a familiar name are still being sold, with all the reorganizations, changes in ownership, etc., it's sometimes hard to argue that though the name still exists, so does the company.
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"They eventually got a "frostless" fridge ("Hotpoint") and a new double gas oven (Kenmore) which was a good design - free standing, the second oven was up where a microwave would normally be found. The burners were on a sliding shelf - the front two were always accessible, but you'd pull out the shelf to expose the rear burners which were normally part covered by a fixed stainless steel shelf with a vent from the lower oven at the back, meant for warming dishes."
I never realized that they made those Tappan sliding top ranges in gas. I'll be darned.
They had 2 versions, at least the electric ones...
One version had all of the units in a straight line.
The other version had a more conventional two units front, two units rear design.
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I have a Kenmore branded microwave that I got in 1989; it's actually a Sharpe carousel, and it's been absolutely bullet proof with the exception of my having to replace a fuse after a near lightning strike back 1994.
I have an Emerson MW with a turntable that is about that same age. I've never even replaced the light bulb but I have had to replace that little ceramic cartridge fuse twice in that time.
And that is despite it having been "jostled" in a move from one mobile home in '91 and a house in '04.
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"I have had to replace that little ceramic cartridge fuse"
Yep, that's the fuse I had to replace. Ceramic barrel fuse.
Mine was also moved twice... from my apartment in Pennsylvania to my apartment in DC to my house in Virginia.
Here's a Kenmore appliance manufacturer decoder: https://applianceserviceinfo.com/kenmore-model-number-decoder/