OMG I hate this fridge. The ice and water dispenser is clearly a component that needs regular cleaning, and Samsung seems to have gone out of their way to make it “a whole thing”. The only component the manual instructs you to clean is the drip tray.
None of the pieces are easily removable. I ended up having to unplug the fridge, remove the screw that held the control panel on, pry it off, unclip the wiring harness to remove it, and set it aside (and clean separately).
Once that was off, the outer ice chute is still not removable without further disassembly of the dispenser unit, and that’s where I drew the line - everything started getting all wire-y and gear-y past that.
Luckily, I was able to pull the water line up/out and clean it really good. With the panel removed, I was able to clean a bit deeper into the ice chute and get it mostly sanitized (had to get some of it from the top/inside the fridge.
Why, Samsung, why is a procedure that should be routine such a nightmare?
Hey at least they came back to fix yours. Exact same thing happened with us except they never came back to actually fix it. We just got rid of it and got an LG. Best decision. Haven’t had any problems with it, except the door ice dispenser gets clogged if you don’t use it often enough but that’s minor compared to defrosting your fridge every month.