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Yet another Samsung conversion

October 22, 2016, 11:44:48 pm

I'm just now getting around to posting pictures of our recent conversion to the Samsung RF18, as many others have already done.  This fridge fit perfectly in the space that our Dometic double door previously occupied, requiring only the removal of the lower cabinet to make the space large enough.  The Samsung literally could not have been much more than 1/4" larger in any direction and still fit as well as it did. 

There's very little of our installation that did not come directly from others on the forum that thought of it, did it and posted it for us to learn from.  Maybe someone else can benefit from ours.  Special thanks to J.E. Smith for letting us see the installation in his coach and for hand carrying the walnut trim pieces from FOT for us that made the end result look like factory woodwork.

No telling exactly how many hours this took but it was a lot.  3 weekends in total, not counting a lot of research & planning up front.  Whatever FOT, MOT or anyone else quotes for mhrs is probably a bargain if you don't have the time to invest in doing this yourself.  At the end of the day though, we're very happy with the results and highly recommend this upgrade.

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Re: Yet another Samsung conversion

Reply #1 – October 22, 2016, 11:46:13 pm

More pics....

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Re: Yet another Samsung conversion

Reply #2 – October 22, 2016, 11:57:45 pm

Very clean and neat installation.  Looks like a professional job!  Congrats, and enjoy!

I hope you retained the 2 doors that came off the storage area below the old reefer.  They can be very handy for other projects.  We used ours to cover the opening left when we removed our original stand-alone ice maker.   

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Re: Yet another Samsung conversion

Reply #3 – October 23, 2016, 09:11:02 am

Great job, if you need anything else from "Coach Dollar City" let me know as I will be there for a few days this week.  Always enjoy infusing the east Texas economy.

John

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Re: Yet another Samsung conversion

Reply #4 – October 23, 2016, 09:34:36 am

Looks good.  I am sure you will like it as we do ours. Wow! Heavy duty mounts.  Along with the lower doors if you have wood panels in you old refrigerator doors, save those as well.

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Re: Yet another Samsung conversion

Reply #5 – October 23, 2016, 11:04:30 am

Yes, the mounts should be plenty sturdy.  Both ceiling & floor mounts are made from scrap bed frame rail angle iron that I had available.  Easy to fabricate, cheap and very effective.  It's not going anywhere!  Using the floor mounts flush against the front allowed us to leave the stock adjustable feet and plastic trim panel off.  That required a little bit of routing on the back side of the walnut trim panel to hollow out for the hardware. The remaining gap could be filled by raising the trim board higher but it's there to maintain plenty of ventilation space.  It's all very hidden unless you're laying on the floor to look at it.

We did keep the original cabinet doors in case we ever need them in the future.  Old fridge was white plastic panels so there was nothing to salvage there.

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Re: Yet another Samsung conversion

Reply #6 – October 23, 2016, 11:43:12 am

Nice job! We love our Samsung also!

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Re: Yet another Samsung conversion

Reply #7 – November 20, 2016, 10:34:51 am

FYI...for anyone considering this conversion but waiting on the right price, today's Home Depot ad has the Samsung RF18HFENBSR fridge on sale for $998.  That includes free shipping to your installation shop of choice.  Price is good through 11/30/16, or while supplies last.

Samsung 33 in. W 17.5 cu. ft. French Door Refrigerator in Stainless Steel,...

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Re: Yet another Samsung conversion

Reply #8 – February 25, 2019, 12:10:44 pm

I'm reviving this old thread of my installation from 3 years ago to update it with a change that I made recently.  I have been using a velcro strap around the door handles and a stainless marine latch on the left side of the freezer door to secure everything while traveling.  It seemed fine but the freezer latch, since it was only secured on 1 side, has been causing the drawer to warp over time.  The drawer get's torqued a little bit each time it tries to open while driving.  It got so bad that it was no longer sealing on the right side, which was causing the refrigerator to run continuously for several hours, never get to proper temperature, and eventually shut itself down. Cycling the power would reset it and start the whole process over again.  I thought the fridge was failing and would require major repairs but then discovered a gap in the freezer door seal.  I torqued it back into alignment, which took some force and made some bad sounds as the tracks popped back into position, and all was good again. The gap was worse than shown in the picture below, which was taken for demonstration after it was fixed. 

If you're only latching your drawer from one side, I recommend you consider doing something to secure it from both sides, or the middle.  I could have added another marine latch on the right side, which would have solved the problem but would be a hook to catch on things at the dining table area.  I know several members are using an inverted U-shaped board through the fridge handles that extends across the freezer door, which I'm sure works great as well.  Instead, I decided to try the FridgeFixer system because it's a tighter fit that will prevent ALL movement of all 3 doors.  It's a little rough around the edges due to the 3d printing manufacturing process but is a well designed and well built option.  I think we'll be happy with it.


Home of the Fridge Fixer

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Re: Yet another Samsung conversion

Reply #9 – February 25, 2019, 12:54:15 pm

Thanks for the heads up.  I went and looked ours and after four years is it closing fine with no gaps.  We used a similar latch but it looks shorter and is about 1/2 way up the side of the freezer drawer rather than at the top.  Not sure if that might make a difference. Our freezer is usually pretty full.

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