I've got exactly the same problem - it's a real pain to keep defrosting manually! The element on the front of the evaporator in my fridge is open circuit, so this is what appears to have gone in mine. I'm in the UK and found a replacement here:
http://www.partmaster.co.uk/cgi-bin/product.pl?PID=950064&brand=Samsung&model=rs21ncns&part=evaporator
Unfortunately the replacement part is for the whole evaporator assembly, which makes it quite expensive and I guess would require the fridge re-gassing to replace the whole unit! But when the new part arrives I hope to separate the heater element from the evaporator and therefore swap just the defrost heater element over without disturbing the refrigeration circuit.
Peter, February 2008