Fridges and freezers fault codes by brand
Find your manufacturer below, then your code. If your fridge has stopped cooling but the lights and display still work, check for demo mode before anything else — it is the single most common reason a working fridge appears to have died.
There is a live safety notice on some of these appliances
Two live fire risks, both the defrost system. B&Q recalled two GoodHome integrated fridge freezers in April 2026, and Beko are still looking for frost-free models made between 2000 and 2006 whose defrost timer can overheat.
The GoodHome models are GHBI7030FFUK and GHBI5050FFUK. For the Beko, the serial number on the rating plate inside the door starts with the year — 00 to 06 means affected, and Beko say to unplug it immediately.
Brands
Pick your manufacturer to see every code we cover.
Most looked-up fridge or freezer codes
Across every brand in this category.
- Demo modeAll brandsA shop-floor setting that lights the display and disables cooling. It is the commonest reason a fridge that looks perfectly healthy is quietly not cold.Get it checked
- Red light on the freezerAll brandsA high temperature warning. Two manufacturers publish the same three-light scheme independently: green is power, amber is fast freeze, red is the warning.Get it checked
- Ice building upAll brandsReal fault, and one where the obvious remedy is the dangerous one. Never chip ice out with anything metal — the pipework carrying flammable refrigerant runs through the walls you would be hitting.Stop — call an engineer
- OF OFSamsungCooling Off or Demo Mode. On many Samsung ranges unplugging does not clear it, and Samsung publish which, so a fridge still warm after a power cycle has not been diagnosed.Get it checked
- OFFLGShop mode. LG publish how it gets switched on by accident at home, and give two ways out — including a ten second power cycle that does work on LG.Get it checked
- E9HotpointFreezer high temperature alarm, and the only Hotpoint fridge code with a genuine owner cause. Their published first suspect is a door left open.Get it checked
- FFLGFreezer fan. LG’s master list says request service, but their own dedicated article gives owner steps, and the usual cause is frost around the motor.Get it checked
- Smell of gas near the fridgeAll brandsModern fridges are charged with flammable isobutane. Ventilate, keep flames and switches away, and do not use the appliance again until it has been checked.Stop — call an engineer
- 21ESamsungThe fridge fan. Samsung group three codes here and give one cause: the fan is not spinning properly, usually because it has frozen up or jammed.Get it checked
- dHLGThe defrost cycle ran and the temperature did not rise. LG give the exact test it failed, and their own per-code articles give a reset and a long manual defrost before the service call.Get it checked
- Fridge in a garageAll brandsA fridge in an unheated garage stops working properly in winter, and it is not a fault. Cold ambient temperature is why, and manufacturers publish the limits.Usually simple to fix
- E3HotpointLabelled a defrost sensor fault, but Hotpoint attach an oddly specific owner check to it: the drain pipe and the plumbing under your sink.Get it checked
- Beeping with the door closedLGLG publish seven causes and a door switch test you can do with a finger. The fridge thinks a door is open, and usually something is holding it.Usually simple to fix
- 88 88SamsungSamsung group four codes here and tie them to power events: a cut, a blown switch or a voltage drop. Their reset for a display stuck on all eights is sixty seconds unplugged.Get it checked
- FULGThe freezer did not get cold enough in the time allowed. LG give real owner steps for this one, including a paper test for the door seals.Get it checked
- E1HotpointA temperature sensor fault. Hotpoint route these straight to an engineer, and the reason is consistent across the whole industry rather than unhelpfulness.Get it checked
- Buttons not respondingSamsungCheck child lock before anything else. Samsung publish the giveaway: the buttons go dead and the water dispenser stops working at the same time.Usually simple to fix
- CHLGLG’s master list calls this a refrigerant leak. Their per-code article is more careful: a cooling-power inspection code that can be temporary in use, with a five minute reset before the service call.Get it checked
- E0HotpointIce maker fault, and one of the two codes Hotpoint lead their own page with. It only applies if your appliance actually has one.Get it checked
- LoLGNot a fault. LG classify this as a warning that the room is below minus ten degrees, which is why garage fridges misbehave in winter.Usually simple to fix
Symptoms
No code on the display? Start from what it is doing.
Fridge leaking water
Water inside a fridge or on the floor in front of it is nearly always meltwater that cannot get out, and the drain it should be using is the size of a pencil.Fridge not getting cold
Before assuming a fridge has failed, establish which compartment is warm and whether the compressor is running, because those two answers separate a free fix from a scrap appliance.
How fridges and freezers fault codes work
One thing first, because it accounts for more panic than every genuine fault on this page put together.
If your fridge has stopped getting cold but the display is lit, the lights come on and the buttons respond, look for demo mode before you do anything else. It is a shop-floor setting that lets a fridge on display light up and respond to buttons without ever running the compressor, and it survives being delivered to your house. Samsung show it as "OF OF" or a similar string; other brands have their own. The result is a fridge that looks entirely healthy and quietly does not cool, and it is the commonest reason a newly delivered or recently power-cycled appliance appears to have failed. Each brand page here gives the exact display string and the exact exit sequence, because they differ.
After that, most of what a fridge reports is a temperature alarm, and the useful question is what changed recently. A door left ajar, a big shop loaded in at once, or a power cut will all push the temperature up far enough to trigger one, and in every case the appliance is working properly and telling you something true. Give it a few hours to recover before treating it as a fault. An alarm that will not clear after a night of normal running is a different matter.
The other large group is defrost. Every frost-free appliance runs a heater periodically to clear the evaporator, and when that stops working the symptoms are specific and worth recognising: the freezer keeps working while the fridge above it gets warm, or you find a sheet of ice on the back wall of the freezer, or the fan starts making a rattling noise as it catches on frost. That is a real fault, and it is the commonest genuine failure in this category.
Now the part that changes what you may do. Almost every domestic fridge and freezer sold in the UK for years has been charged with R600a — isobutane — and it is flammable. The circuit is sealed and it is not a serviceable part at any skill level. The pipework runs through the back panel and through the walls of the cabinet, which is precisely where people put a screwdriver when levering off a panel, and precisely where an ice pick goes when somebody decides to hurry a defrost along. Puncturing it releases a flammable gas into a confined space next to a compressor that sparks. So: never chip ice out of a freezer with anything metal or pointed, never drill or screw into the cabinet, and if you can smell gas near the appliance, ventilate the room and keep switches and flames away from it — including the switch you would use to turn it off.
Two smaller things worth knowing before you conclude something is wrong. A compressor that runs constantly for several hours after the door has been left open is recovering, not failing. And an appliance that has just been moved should be left standing for several hours before it is switched on, because oil that has travelled out of the compressor needs to drain back before it runs.
Guides
How to reset a fridge freezer, and what a reset cannot fix
Unplug and wait works on some fridges and proves nothing on others. The published waits, the demo-mode trap that survives a power cycle, and when to stop.Fridge door seals, ice build-up and noises: fix or call?
The three things a fridge does when something is wrong, which of them you can put right, and the one rule that keeps a defrost from becoming a gas leak.