About a year ago we had a Samsung tech out to our home and he replaced the heating element that runs along the sides/bottom…parts and labor ~$200. As you can see from the attached picture, the bottom portion seems just fine, so it’s not the drain jamming up, for which I’ve seen some parts that can be bought to conduct more heat to the drain hole. Something is happening to quickly accumulate ice in the upper portion…assuming it’s a leak of sorts? The noise is starting to brew again today, so this week I will be back into the fridge for a defrost…any recommendations for a more permanent solve? Thoughts on a copper wire wrapped around the heating element and extended to the upper portion to conduct some heat up there to avoid the ice build up? Sorry if this is a naïve question, but is low freon a potential issue here? If so, how to diagnose and/or recharge?

The fridge works fine otherwise…some freezing of the upper ice maker a few times a year…but general cooling is working…so I’m hopeful that there’s a simple MacGyver fix here that will keep me from clearing the contents of the fridge and defrosting every 4-6 weeks in the summer months. Thanks in advance for the help.

As an update, we are experiencing the re-occurrence of fan noise routinely around every 4-5 weeks...I'm getting rather swift with the removal of contents/shelves from the fridge and hair-dryer defrost of the back wall...can usually have all put back together within 40-60 minutes. Build-up seems faster in the summer months where the humidity is higher here in WI...it gets dry in the winters and I'm expecting that we can go months if I can gut through the summer. With inspiration from the video linked below I've purchased an SH502 heater for ~$20 from Amazon and intend to install one of the next times we open up the unit...unless someone advises otherwise in this thread. Condensation is appearing quickly even while I defrost...so maybe a little caulk on the entry point near the top will be in order too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtcU0XNi...

⟐ Answer edited January 22, 2026 at 15:39 MST

⟐ Answer accepted January 22, 2026 at 9:09 MST

RF28HDEDTSR is the model number

⟐ Answer edited May 17, 2024 at 7:21 MST

⟐ Answered July 13, 2023 at 14:09 MST