Quick answer
Check the freezer setting, that its door or drawer closes fully without a box or bag in the way, and that the vents inside aren’t blocked. If you see ice on the back wall or hear the fan scraping, the defrost system is the likely cause.
Overview
In No Frost fridges the freezer evaporator sits behind an inner panel, with a fan pushing cold air into the freezer and then the fridge. So a weak freezer is usually followed by a weak fridge after a while.
The most common “non-fault” cause is the door: a freezer drawer that doesn’t fully close because of a bag or tray lets in warm humid air that turns to frost and weakens freezing.
Likely causes
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1
Door or drawer not closing properly
Items blocking the door or a damaged gasket let warm air in and cause heavy frost on food.
Related parts: Door gasket
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2
Overloading or blocked vents
Stacking food in front of the vents stops cold air circulating inside the freezer.
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3
Freezer fan
A stopped fan, or one scraping on ice, prevents cold air reaching the food; 21E may appear.
Related parts: Evaporator fan
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4
Defrost fault
A failed defrost heater or sensor lets ice build on the evaporator until airflow chokes; 4E or 5E may appear.
Related parts: EvaporatorDefrost heater
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5
Freezer temperature sensor
A wrong reading makes the board stop cooling early; 1E may appear.
Related parts: Temperature sensors
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6
Compressor
If freezer and fridge weaken together and the compressor isn’t running normally.
Related parts: Compressor
Safe checks before calling a technician
Unplug the fridge before cleaning the rear grille or moving it, and close the water supply tap if there’s a leak. Don’t remove inner panels or the compressor cover, and never chip ice with sharp tools — you could puncture the refrigerant tubing.
- Set the freezer to −18 °C or as your manual recommends, and wait 24 hours.
- Make sure drawers sit on their runners and the door closes without bouncing back.
- Inspect the gasket for cracks or loose sections, and clean it with warm water and mild soap.
- Rearrange food to leave space in front of the rear vents.
- Listen for the freezer fan after closing the door for a few seconds and opening it.
- Don’t load large amounts of warm food at once.
Parts involved
Door gasket
Seals the door; damage lets in warm humid air, weakening cooling and forming frost.
Evaporator fan
Distributes cold air across the shelves; if it stops, the freezer may stay cold while the fridge warms.
Evaporator
The cold coil behind the freezer or fridge panel that absorbs heat from the air inside.
Defrost heater
Periodically melts frost off the evaporator in No Frost systems; failure causes ice build-up and weak cooling.
Temperature sensors
Measure fridge and freezer temperatures so the board can run the compressor and fans.
Compressor
The heart of the cooling cycle, compressing and circulating refrigerant. Modern models usually use a variable-speed inverter compressor.
When should you call a technician?
- A layer of ice on the back wall inside the freezer.
- The fan is silent or scraping on ice.
- The freezer doesn’t reach freezing temperature 24 hours after adjusting settings.
- 1E, 4E, 5E or 21E appears.
Need a Samsung repair technician?
Send us the model, the error code and a description of the fault — or book a technician visit in Amman, Zarqa, Salt, Madaba or Sahab.
Related error codes
Frequently asked questions
What temperature should a freezer be?
Around −18 °C is the usual recommendation for storing frozen food safely.
Why is heavy frost forming on food?
Usually humid air entering through a door that doesn’t seal, frequent opening, or poorly wrapped food.
Will a manual defrost fix it?
It may restore freezing temporarily if ice has built up, but if it returns the defrost system has a fault that needs checking.