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Refrigerators

How to remove ice maker tray on Samsung

By Sai Kiran Pandrala · reviewed by Sai Kiran Pandrala, Editor Last verified: 2026-05-30

⚡ At a glance
BrandSamsung
FamilyRefrigerators
CategoryAppliances + Auto
Guide typeHow To
Skill levelIntermediate

Why this matters in an Indian kitchen

Service tech notes from the field for Samsung fridge owners who need to pull the ice maker tray for a cleaning, a defrost, or a service intervention. I have spent the last seven years on these calls across Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and Coimbatore. Workshop hourly rate sits at Rs 450 in Bengaluru and Chennai, Rs 650 in Mumbai and Pune, Rs 400 in Hyderabad and Coimbatore. House calls add Rs 350 to Rs 500 for travel.

This guide covers removing the ice maker tray on a Samsung refrigerator step by step. Samsung models I see most often are RF28R7351SR, RF23M8090SG, RT34M5538S8, RT47K6358S8. The job is genuinely DIY-friendly when you know where the release latch sits and which direction to lift. It bites when you force it; the auger drive on most Samsung units is plastic and snapping it costs Rs 1,800 in parts plus 90 minutes of labour.

Quick cost and time snapshot

10 to 25 minutes the first time. DIY parts cost zero unless you damage the auger drive or the bin slide. The Samsung authorised service visit is Rs 850 to Rs 1,200 minimum, $15 to $22 USD equivalent. Most callouts for "stuck ice tray" turn out to be ice bridge - frozen ice has welded the tray to the auger - and 30 seconds with a hairdryer melts the bridge cleanly.

Why pull the tray

Four reasons drive the pull. First: routine cleaning when the cubes start tasting stale - the bin needs sanitising every 6 to 12 months. Second: an ice clump has welded the cubes into one block and the bin needs a melt-and-restart. Third: the inlet fill is off-axis and water spills onto the bin floor instead of into the mould - inspect the fill spout alignment. Fourth: a foreign object has fallen into the bin (cracker crumb, a small plastic piece) and you need to recover it.

Samsung Family Hub runs a Tizen build on the door screen; the main control board lives behind the rear panel of the freezer side and the door display talks to it over a 4-pin serial bus. Samsung ice maker assembly DA97-12317A on the RF series releases when you pull the freezer drawer out fully, press the two side tabs, and lift the bin clear of the slide rails. This is the brand-specific knowledge that matters. The auger drive on Samsung couples to the bin through a male-female slot at the rear; the tray release mechanism is at the front. Pull straight up after the release engages, not at an angle.

Step by step - pull the ice tray

  1. Open the freezer compartment. On a French door Samsung this is the lower drawer; on a side-by-side it is the left door.
  2. Locate the ice maker assembly. Samsung typically mounts it on the upper left of the freezer cavity for French door SKUs, or behind a removable shelf on side-by-side SKUs.
  3. Visually identify the release latch. Samsung ice maker assembly DA97-12317A on the RF series releases when you pull the freezer drawer out fully, press the two side tabs, and lift the bin clear of the slide rails. The latch on Samsung is usually a silver tab at the front of the bin housing, or a press-and-release button on the front face.
  4. If the bin contains loose cubes, lift the bin out partway and pour the cubes into a clean bowl. Saves a mess on the kitchen floor.
  5. Press the release latch. The latch will give a soft click.
  6. Lift the bin front to 20 degrees above horizontal. This disengages the rear pivot.
  7. Slide the bin forward 6 to 8 cm to clear the auger drive coupling.
  8. Lift the bin clear of the freezer cavity. The bin will weigh 1.5 to 3.5 kg empty; significantly more if full of ice.
  9. Set the bin on a kitchen towel on the counter. If you need to defrost the bin, run warm tap water through the cube mould for 60 seconds; the bin will release any clinging cubes.
  10. To reinstall: lower the bin into the cavity, slide rearward to engage the auger coupling, lower the front, and press until the latch clicks.
  11. Drop the ice maker arm to the down position; the next cycle will fill within 60 seconds.

Tools I keep in the bag for an ice tray pull

Real codes and real symptoms

If the bin will not pull out, the symptom is almost always one of three. First: ice bridge between the bin and the cabinet, where condensation has frozen at the rear pivot. 30 seconds with a hairdryer at low heat melts the bridge.

Second: the bin is full of ice that has clumped into a single block and the auger has stalled. Pull the ice maker arm to the up position to stop new water filling, wait 4 hours for the auger to release tension, then try again.

Third: a part of the bin slide has cracked and the bin is binding. Visual inspection at the slide rails - if you see a crack, the bin slide needs replacement at Rs 1,400 to Rs 2,800 for OEM.

the rear lip of the shelf cracks if you let a 5-litre bottle sit centered for months; the bracket pins on the rear wall fail before the glass does is unrelated to the bin pull but worth flagging while you are inside.

Anecdote from the bench

Last February a client in Indiranagar called me on a Tuesday evening. The ice bin on a Samsung RF28R7351SR would not come out, she had been trying for an hour, the family wanted ice for guests in 2 hours. I drove out, 40 minutes from north Bengaluru.

I opened the freezer. The bin was full of ice cubes that had clumped into a single mass. The auger drive at the rear was visibly under load - I could see the bin housing flexing slightly when I pulled.

First move: lifted the ice maker arm to the up position to stop new water filling. Reached into the cavity with a kitchen towel and gripped the back of the bin to support the auger drive. Worked the front release latch with my left hand, lifted the front to 20 degrees, and gave a slow steady pull. The bin came free with the entire ice block still inside.

Took the bin to the kitchen sink, ran warm tap water through the cube mould for 90 seconds. The ice block softened at the contact points and broke into 4 chunks I could lift out. Wiped the bin with diluted dish soap, rinsed in cold water, dried with a towel.

Reinstalled the bin, dropped the ice maker arm to the down position. Confirmed the inlet solenoid clicked within 60 seconds. Cycled the freezer fan and IR-checked the bin temperature at minus 15 degrees Celsius after 30 minutes.

Total parts cost: zero. Total time on site: 60 minutes. Charged Rs 1,200 for the visit. Client offered me chai while I was waiting for the temperature check. Lesson: pull the arm up before you pull the bin; saves a Rs 1,800 auger drive.

Brand quirks worth flagging

Samsung Family Hub runs a Tizen build on the door screen; the main control board lives behind the rear panel of the freezer side and the door display talks to it over a 4-pin serial bus. Samsung ice maker assembly DA97-12317A on the RF series releases when you pull the freezer drawer out fully, press the two side tabs, and lift the bin clear of the slide rails. The auger drive on Samsung is sized for the specific bin shape; aftermarket bins from generic suppliers do not always couple cleanly. Stick with the Samsung OEM bin at Rs 2,400 to Rs 4,800.

The bin presence sensor on Samsung units in 2023 firmware and later is a magnetic Hall sensor mounted on the cabinet wall behind the bin. If the bin is reinstalled with the magnet 6 mm or more off-axis, the cabinet thinks the bin is missing and the ice maker will not produce. Realign carefully if the ice production stops after a bin pull.

The inlet fill spout on Samsung aims at the centre of the cube mould tray. If the spout is bent or out of alignment after a vigorous bin pull, water will spill outside the tray onto the bin floor and freeze into a flat sheet. The spout is bendable by hand - just nudge it back to centre.

Step by step quick reference

  1. Confirm Samsung model on the rating plate.
  2. Lift the ice maker arm to the up position to stop new water filling.
  3. Open the freezer compartment.
  4. Locate the bin release latch.
  5. Empty loose cubes from the bin into a clean bowl.
  6. Press the release latch.
  7. Lift the bin front to 20 degrees.
  8. Slide forward 6 to 8 cm to clear the auger coupling.
  9. Lift the bin clear.
  10. Defrost or sanitise the bin as needed.
  11. Reinstall: lower into cavity, slide rearward, lower front, click latch.
  12. Confirm the bin presence sensor reads "present" via press the freezer temp button and the lighting button together for 8 seconds to enter forced defrost; press the combination once more to drop into the service menu.
  13. Drop the ice maker arm to the down position.
  14. Verify the first ice batch within 4 hours.

Things that bite during a bin pull

When to stop and call a pro

If after 60 seconds of hairdryer heat at the front of the bin you still cannot lift the bin out, the rear auger drive coupling has frozen solid or has cracked. Defrost the entire freezer cavity for 4 hours (unplug the fridge, leave the freezer door open with towels on the floor) and try again. If still stuck after a full defrost, the auger drive has cracked and needs replacement at Rs 1,800 plus 90 minutes of labour.

If you successfully pull the bin and find a chunk of the auger drive plastic in the bin, the drive has already failed. Call a pro; do not attempt to operate the ice maker without the auger drive intact.

If the bin presence sensor will not register after reinstall and the magnet alignment is verified, the sensor itself has failed at Rs 980 plus 30 minutes labour.

Parts and prices I paid this year

Post-pull verification loop

Before I close the ticket on a bin pull, this is my loop. Bin reinstalled and presence sensor reading "present" via press the freezer temp button and the lighting button together for 8 seconds to enter forced defrost; press the combination once more to drop into the service menu. Ice maker arm down, inlet solenoid click confirmed within 60 seconds. Cube mould fill timer reading the spec 80 seconds; bin temperature dropping back to minus 12 to minus 18 degrees Celsius within 90 minutes.

First ice batch produced within 4 hours of the reinstall. Cubes are clear, not cloudy, and the auger drive cycles smoothly when the bin level drops below the sensor line.

Cavity hold test for 2 hours at the working freezer setpoint. Minus 18 to minus 22 degrees Celsius is the spec. If the freezer drifts above minus 16 degrees Celsius after the bin reinstall, the door gasket may have been disturbed during the pull; recheck the seal.

What I tell the next on-call tech

When this unit comes back. Samsung RF28R7351SR, bin pulled and reinstalled on date noted in service log, auger drive coupling known good, bin presence sensor reading clean. Watch for ice bridge as the canary symptom; recommendation is a quarterly bin pull and dry-wipe to prevent the bridge from setting in.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I pull and clean the bin?

Every 6 to 12 months for routine cleaning. More often if the household uses the dispenser heavily or if cube quality starts dropping.

Will this procedure work on every Samsung model?

The principles do; the release latch position varies between French door, side-by-side, and bottom-freezer designs. Always look for the silver tab at the front first.

Can I run the bin through a dishwasher?

No - Samsung bins are not dishwasher safe. The dishwasher heat warps the plastic and the magnet for the presence sensor can be dislodged. Hand wash only.

Does pulling the bin affect the warranty?

No - bin removal is documented as a user task in the Samsung manual. Damaging the auger drive during forced removal is not covered; use the hairdryer first.

What if my bin has no front latch?

Older Samsung bins (pre-2018) use a press-then-pull design without a separate latch. Press the front face inward 4 mm to release the rear pivot, then lift and pull forward.

Why do the cubes taste stale even after cleaning?

The water filter cartridge is past its life. Replace at Rs 1,400 to Rs 2,800 for Samsung OEM. Filter life is 6 months typical, 4 months if your municipal water has high TDS like Bengaluru BWSSB.

Is there any risk during a bin pull?

Refrigerant lines are not exposed during a bin pull, so no refrigerant risk. The bin can be heavy if full; lift with care to avoid back strain. Sharp cube edges can nick fingers if you reach in bare-handed; use a kitchen towel as a buffer.

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