Skip to content 
Is your refrigerator freezing food? Your Samsung refrigerator is well-engineered to maintain temperatures precisely inside its compartments. So, when it functions correctly, the food items inside the refrigerator compartment should be cold… but never frozen. So, why would it freeze the food?
Your Samsung fridge is freezing food because the temperature is set too low, far lower than what you need. You might also find that some food items are blocking the cold air vents and getting frozen as a result. Besides that, an unused ice maker that’s left on will also provide excessive cooling. The problem will persist until you fix the root cause and force the compartment to defrost.
Thankfully, you can fix this problem without expensive repairs or replacement parts. Read through this guide to understand what causes the problem and what solutions you can use to fix it.
Why Is My Samsung Refrigerator Freezing Food?
When you discover food items freezing inside the refrigerator compartment, troubleshoot the appliance for the following problems:
1. Set Temperature Is Too Low
The first thing you must consider when troubleshooting this problem is that the appliance’s set temperature is too low. Sure, your fridge model can be set to very low temperatures. However, choosing the lowest settings available is typically not necessary.
That’s especially true if the surrounding environment is already pretty cold. For example, suppose you live in a cold climate or you’ve placed your refrigerator in a cold space.
In that case, choosing a low temperature will likely lead to an overcooling condition that causes your food items to freeze.
Besides that, some Samsung refrigerator models are equipped with the Power Cool function. Turning that function on will cause the appliance to apply maximum cooling, which will also cause the food inside to freeze.
The Solution: Firstly, never forget that the refrigerator compartment must only be 40°F to store your food items safely. In other words, there’s no need to make your fridge too cold below that temperature.
Secondly, you can determine the ideal temperature setting through trial and error. Raise the set temperature by 1 degree per day and see if the food items continue to freeze.
You have to take a few days to test different temperature settings, as your refrigerator requires 24 hours to stabilize after making a temperature change.
Connect with an Appliance Repair Tech
Click here to use the chatbox to speak with one of our technicians.
No in-home service calls. No appointments.
Read: How To Setup WiFi On Samsung Refrigerators?
2. Food Is Blocking Evaporator Vents
Another reason some food items will freeze inside your refrigerator is that they’re placed too close to the evaporator vents and for too long.
The evaporator is where heat is removed while cold air is distributed. So, cold air continuously blows out of those vents to be distributed throughout the compartment.
However, blocking the vent will cause that cold air to concentrate within a small location. The temperature in that spot will become low enough to freeze the items blocking the evaporator vent.
You’ll know that’s the case if only some food items freeze, particularly those near the vents towards the back of the refrigerator compartment.
The Solution: You can solve this problem by removing the items blocking your refrigerator’s vents. Being mindful of your fridge’s arrangement will prevent this problem from happening again.
More importantly, you should organize the whole refrigerator compartment to ensure that air can flow smoothly from front to back. That means neatly stacking containers on top of each other and maintaining small gaps between them on the sides.
Doing that ensures all items will cool down evenly without freezing.
Read: 3 Ways How To Reset Samsung Refrigerator Ice Maker?
3. Unused Ice Maker Is Left On
Remember: the food inside your refrigerator is freezing because it’s receiving too much cooling. So, after you’ve checked the temperature and ensure nothing is blocking the vents, look towards the ice maker.
The ice maker shares the same space as the refrigerator compartment. Yet, it receives extra cooling because it must freeze water into ice. Usually, that process does not cause any problems.
However, it becomes a problem when the unused ice maker has no incoming water.
When the ice maker is unused, there’s a supply of frigid air that’s not going anywhere. That will quickly make your refrigerator compartment even colder than it needs to be.
As a result, the food items in your refrigerator will begin freezing.
The Solution: You can quickly solve this problem by shutting your ice maker off whenever it’s not in use. That way, the refrigerator compartment will only be as cold as you’ve set it to be without any excessive cooling coming from the ice maker.
Most ice makers have an arm or a switch that you can flip to turn it on or off. If you’re not sure how to use it, please refer to the owner’s manual which will have instructions specific to your Samsung fridge model.
Read: What Is Samsung Refrigerator Defrost Mode And How To Activate? – Troubleshooting Guide
4. Forced Defrost Is Necessary
Even after you’ve corrected the root cause (i.e. one of the problems above), you might still find your refrigerator freezing food. In that case, your appliance likely needs a forced defrost.
Typically, the refrigerator will run a defrost cycle several times throughout the day. That’s done to melt away any ice or frost that’s built up around the evaporator coils. But, unfortunately, that defrost cycle is not warm enough to defrost food items that have become frozen.
Instead, you’ll have to force the appliance to defrost. That will allow your frozen food to thaw out and return to normal condition.
The Solution: There are two ways you can force your refrigerator to defrost. Firstly, you can trigger the appliance to defrost only the refrigerator compartment. That will require pressing and holding a combination of buttons on the appliance’s control panel.
However, the precise combination of buttons to press will differ between models. For example, on some fridges, you must press and hold the Power Freeze and Fridge buttons for 8 seconds.
If that doesn’t work, refer to your user manual to see what buttons to use.
Once you press the correct buttons, the refrigerator compartment will defrost to melt all frozen items. Then, it will resume cooling normally.
Alternatively, you can also choose to defrost the compartment manually. You can do that by shutting the appliance off and leaving the fridge door open. The surrounding air will naturally melt all frozen parts.
Then, you can resume using the fridge and allow it to start over fresh.
Read: Why Samsung Refrigerator Ice Maker Freezing Up? – Troubleshooting Guide
Is It Safe To Eat Food That Has Been Frozen In The Refrigerator?
Yes, eating the food items frozen in your Samsung refrigerator is still safe. Food is safe to eat as long as it’s stored at cold temperatures. That’s because the food hasn’t reached the ‘danger zone’ of warm temperatures that allow bacteria to grow on them.
Be sure to consume the food before its expiration date and after you’ve prepared it correctly.
Read: How To Fix Samsung Refrigerator Fan Noise? – Troubleshooting Guide
Final Thoughts
A refrigerator unit is designed to store food at low temperatures. However, it’s not practical to have your refrigerator compartment freeze your food items as if they were in the freezer.
So, always check that you’ve set the temperature correctly and that your food isn’t blocking the cold air vents. Besides that, turn off the ice maker if it’s not being used. That can supply excess cooling to the refrigerator compartment and cause freezing. Lastly, ensure that you defrost the refrigerator compartment to undo the freezing that has occurred.
