Samsung [4C] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

Samsung give 4C as a water supply check. Their UK list describes the symptom — the cycle may start with a brief drain, but little or no fresh water enters, the tub stays dry and the machine stops — and their checks, repeated word for word in the manuals, are whether the water supply valve is closed, whether the supply is suspended, and whether the inlet valve or line is frozen or clogged by foreign objects. They publish a companion code, 4C5, for a machine that starts, attempts to fill and stops early with a dry tub, with the checks put slightly differently: make sure the supply exists at proper pressure, the tap is open, the hose is not kinked and nothing is keeping water from reaching the machine. Read together the two codes point at the same short list, and it is almost all upstream of the appliance.

Samsung’s manuals give the figures: the supply must sit between 0.04 and 1.0 MPa, roughly 0.4 to 10 bar, and be below 60 °C. Their dedicated page adds the winter cases — a frozen supply valve, which they thaw with a towel soaked in 50 to 60 °C water wrapped around it, and a frozen hose, which they soak in warm water — and a clogged filter on the water valve, which is cleaned rather than replaced.

There is one Samsung-specific warning that belongs on this page, because the part in question does not look like something you should be careful with. Samsung machines fitted with Aqua-Stop have a hose with electrical wires running through it, and Samsung state plainly that you must never cut the water inlet hose even if it is too long. It looks like an ordinary braided hose and it is not. Samsung also publish a genuinely counter-intuitive note about that system: the waterproof protection works even when the appliance is switched off, but only while it remains connected to the electricity supply. The same manual, though, tells you to shut off the water valve and the circuit breaker if the machine will be out of use for an extended period, after draining it and disconnecting the hose — so the note is about everyday use, not about holidays.

1. 1

   Check the tap feeding the machine is fully open, along with any isolation valve under the sink. Turn it right off and right back on rather than judging by the handle.

2. 2

   Pull the machine out enough to see the inlet hose along its length and straighten anything crushed.

   If your machine has Aqua-Stop, the inlet hose contains electrical wires. Samsung state it must never be cut, however long it is. Do not shorten or modify it.
3. 3

   Turn the tap off, disconnect the hose at the tap end and clean away any debris on the filter of the water valve — Samsung’s name for the small filter in the connector.

4. 4

   If the machine or its supply runs through an unheated space and the weather is cold, check for ice. Samsung’s remedy for a frozen valve is a towel soaked in 50 to 60 °C water wrapped around it, repeated until it thaws; for a frozen hose, remove it and soak it in warm water without breaking it.

   Samsung’s own caution on the towel method: take care to avoid burns from excessively hot water.
5. 5

   Reconnect, restore the water and run a short programme, watching the connection for weeping. If the tap, hose and filter are clear and the code stays, Samsung’s remaining causes are a defective supply valve or a control board fault, both service parts — and if other cold taps in the house run weakly, ask a plumber about the pressure before an engineer about the machine.