I have a Samsung refrigerator RF28HDEDPBC/AA with a through-the-door ice maker. Recently it has begun freezing up about every 6 weeks. This has only happened in the last year. It worked fine for many years before that.

After I chip, scrape, and melt (with a hair dryer) the frost it works fine again.

Turning the ice maker off and waiting for it to unfreeze does not work since only the ice making mechanism shuts off--not the cooling. There is a test button but that also does not melt the buildup.

I did not think to take a photo before I removed the frost. The photo below shows where the frost builds up. You can still see some at the back and at the upper right in the front. The opening above the rectangle does not get blocked.



Ice cubes that usually fall on the right side get jammed when frost/ice builds up. Then everything freezes solid.

Any ideas why this happens and suggestions to prevent it?

 

Samsung has had some problems with their icemakers that they've sort of ignored.
Not exactly sure where yours is freezing up but I know a leaking ice door has caused problems on some units.

Techwin Samsung solutions

 

I am still having problems with my ice maker freezing up and not making ice. I have found several good videos about the problem and now understand better how to deal with it but they do not solve the problem. The videos explain and show how to put the ice maker into forced defrost mode to melt the ice buildup, but that can take hours through several cycles and the chime sounds for 30 minutes continuously each cycle.

After doing some research about homemade deicers, I just used a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water to help remove the built up ice/frost from condensation. It worked pretty well to soften the ice and break its bond with the plastic parts so I could remove it quickly without going into forced defrost mode. I tried to avoid spraying and made sure to rinse and dry all the exposed parts so there should be no long-term corrosive effects. A possible downside might be one or two batches of vinegar flavored ice.

One of the videos showed how to caulk the joints between the ice maker and the refrigerator wall to reduce condensation. I am going to get a small tube of caulk and try that as well.

 

Excessive condensation would indicate moist air getting in that shouldn't be.
Sometimes too cold of a temperature can cause a similar problem.

 

I have added a couple of relevant posts in another thread.