Samsung Refrigerator Not Cooling But Freezer Works

When the freezer works, but the fresh food portion doesn't, there are several things to check right away. With Samsung dual evaporator refrigerators, usually called "Twin Cool" on the back of the fresh food compartment, this is a common failure, often accompanied by leaking water.

Make a point of checking the settings. Someone else may have mistakenly adjusted them. Sometimes, in trying to adjust one setting, we can accidentally reset another.

Make a point of checking the refrigerator (fresh food) compartment door seals. Air leaks will cause poor cooling. One sign of this will be condensation inside the refrigerator. The freezer will be unaffected.

Too much stuff in the refrigerator can block the vents that bring the cold air from the freezer. Usually, these vents will be located at the rear of the unit. Make sure you pull food away from the refrigerator walls so that the vents are clear.

In refrigerators with an evaporator in the fresh food compartment, blocking the vents can lead to ice forming on the evaporator coils, which will then cause higher temperatures in the fresh food compartment from poor air circulation. Moving air removes heat and keeps things cool.

Unplug the fridge for 1 minute, then plug it back in. You will want to observe it the temperature in the fresh food compartment starts to lower to proper levels. This won't cure things like an ice buildup or faulty components, but it may restore a fridge with a program glitch.

If these things don't help, go to the first cause.

A buildup of ice on the evaporator will cause uneven temperatures. The freezer may still be cold, but the fresh food compartment may start to warm up. On Dual evaporator models (Twin Cool) this is the most common failure resulting in a working freezer and a fresh food or refrigerator compartment that fails to cool.

To check on this, you will need to remove the evaporator cover in the rear of your freezer (or fresh food compartment on a dual evaporator model). If it doesn't come off easily, don't force it. You can try to run a Forced Defrost Cycle (see Forced Defrost Cycle), but it might be easier to just manually defrost the unit.

If you have a dual evaporator refrigerator, with one in the freezer and one in the fresh food compartment, go to the evaporator in the fresh food compartment. The fresh food evaporator controls that portion, so you don't need to check the freezer unit.

• Use a steamer to remove ice on the evaporator coils. Do not use a heat gun, and avoid a hairdryer, as you can inadvertently warp plastic components unless you use great care. Further, a steamer is faster.
• The steamer can be directed through vents in the back of the compartment that you are trying to defrost
• If you don't have one, use large bowls of hot water placed in the bottom of the compartment.
• In any event, make sure your drain tube is not plugged. This can cause the buildup. If water puddles in the compartment while you are defrosting, you should suspect this.

When you do these checks in the freezer or fresh food compartment, check the door seals as well. Bad door seals will lead to excessive frost, which can turn into ice on the evaporator. In the single evaporator unit, the refrigerator or fresh food compartment doesn't get as cool because the evaporator fan that sends air to that compartment may not spin or doesn't circulate air through the chunk of ice.

If there is no ice buildup, go to the next step.

The damper is a flap that controls the airflow between the freezer and the fresh food compartment. It allows cold air from the freezer into the fresh food area as needed to maintain the temperature. Skip this step if your refrigerator is a two-evaporator model (Twin Cooling will give you a clue) and has an evaporator in the fresh food section. It doesn't have a damper unless it has a 3rd area, often called a select pantry, in which case there is a damper that lets air from the freezer into that section if you need more

Otherwise, the issue may be that the damper is refusing to open. You can check the damper motor for proper values. Occasionally, it may have become iced.

If the damper checks out okay, go on to the next item.

A faulty evaporator fan in a standard single-evaporator fridge will affect the freezer's performance, but you may not immediately notice it and first experience poor cooling in the fresh food area while the freezer seems to work. The freezer's performance will be affected eventually, but you should check in any case.

• When you open the fridge door, you should hear the fan run (some units will shut off the fan when the refrigerator door is opened).
• If you're not sure in that case, a quick check is to simulate the door closing by pushing the door button or placing a magnet near the door closing sensor located near the top hinges of the doors.
• If the fan turns on, it's good.

With a two-evaporator model, If the fresh food compartment evaporator fan fails, the temperature there will rise quickly, while the freezer will be unaffected.

• Open the door and check for airflow
• If none, you will want to check that fresh food compartment fan by removing the evaporator cover there and checking the condition of the evaporator and fan.
• You can use the door check described above first if you don't have any airflow.

A continuity check in either case is usually pointless, as fans on these newer models use BLDC motors, which generally have small circuit boards inside the motor. You can't readily measure winding resistance directly. You can see that they turn smoothly by hand and spin when the door is shut. (Use a phone camera to take a video inside the compartment)

If the fan checks ok, go on to the next item.

The refrigerator monitors the temperature inside the fresh food compartment with a device called a thermistor. The resistance of the thermistor is what is monitored by the main control board. If the thermistor is out of spec, the control board will sense the temperature incorrectly.

• At 20°C (77°F), the resistance is around 5kΩ for most Samsung refrigerator compartment thermistors.
• A quick procedure is to power down the fridge and then unplug and re-plug, in turn, each connector on the control board. Then try starting the fridge again.
• The thermistor resistance on the refrigerator is best checked at the control board. This allows you to "see" what the control board is seeing.
• You might see a code on the temperature displays, such as 2 E or 2 C, which indicates a problem with the fresh food (refrigerator) thermistor. You might also see a single segment lit in the upper right corner of the rightmost of the numeric displays,

A service manual for your model is the best guide for which connection to check on the board and to interpret the codes. If the thermistor resistance is correct, go on to the remaining items.

The following causes are likely beyond the usual DIY capabilities but are listed for completeness and for those willing folks who press on.

If the 3-way valve is faulty, it may be possible to replace the coil that drives the valve, but this is often impossible, and only replacing the valve body will work. This is beyond a DIY repair.

The control board may be at fault, but the diagnostic tests to verify this are complex and beyond the scope of this document. There will likely be other malfunctions.

Since thermistors do fail, you should make an extra check at the thermistor location itself, especially if you read an open or a short. You can remove the thermistor from the small cage or grille that holds it. This will allow you to access a pigtail attached to the thermistor. You can then isolate the thermistor and see if the defect is in the thermistor or in the refrigerator's wiring.

If you make this check, you will need to cut the wires to the thermistor. You will then measure the thermistor directly. If it is in spec, but the control panel reading was open, you have an internal wiring problem that will be essentially impossible to fix. The same goes for a correct reading at the thermistor but a short reading at the control panel.

If your thermistor reads shorted or open itself and that matches the control panel reading you got, you may choose to replace the thermistor. You will have to make waterproof splices in the wiring when you connect the new thermistor since it will be subject to moisture.

Running a forced defrost cycle on your Samsung refrigerator requires you to enter service or test mode. There are a number of button press combinations to do this. Once in that mode, you can activate the forced defrost cycle. On a unit with two evaporators, you will want to do a forced defrost for the refrigerator or fresh food compartment evaporator (usually indicated by "rd" on the display and continuous beeping). Some dual evaporator units will only do a forced defrost of both evaporators. This is indicated by no rd appearing, only Fd as you scroll through the modes.

Here are some button combinations for entering the Service or Test Mode:

Freezer+ Lighting together for 8 seconds

Power Freeze + Fridge for 8 seconds (Models with controls on the upper portion of the refrigerator rim inside the doors) Use the Fridge button to advance the modes as described below

Energy Saver button + Fridge (Power Cool) button pressed simultaneously for 8 Seconds

Fridge + Flex Zone on inside control located on the sidewall of the fridge inside the door. Use the Flex Zone Button to advance the modes as described below.

Once you are in this mode, you have 15 seconds to press another button, which will start the "manual mode." You can just keep pressing that button until you get to Fd or rd, depending on what you want. With a dual evaporator unit, you should force defrost the fresh food portion (rd); with a single evaporator or some dual evaporators that don't offer rd, you want Fd. If you go too far, it will cancel the operation. Just start over if that happens