Fridge or freezer Demo modewhat it means
A 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.
Take care
What this means
If your fridge has stopped getting cold but the display is lit, the light comes on when you open the door and the buttons respond, check this before anything else. Demo mode — also called showroom mode, display mode or cooling off — exists so a fridge on a shop floor can look alive without running its compressor, and it survives being delivered to your house. Samsung describe it in their own words as a mode which disables the cooling function while keeping the lights and display active, useful in retail settings, and note that if it is accidentally enabled at home your fridge will not cool. That word accidentally matters, and LG explain how the accident happens.
Their published wording is that the display may be switched to shop mode when the temperature control button is pressed and held by mistake in the course of opening the door and taking out food, or during wiping the display with a wet wipe or towel. So a fridge that has worked for three years can go into it because somebody cleaned the front of it. The string on the display varies by make. Samsung use OF OF, OF-OF or O FF, and are inconsistent about it across their own two support pages. LG use OFF. Some appliances show nothing at all and simply do not cool.
Two warnings about getting out of it. First, the exit is genuinely brand-specific and there is no universal sequence, so use the page for your make rather than a combination you found for a different one. Second, and this is the one that wastes people money, unplugging does not reliably clear it. It clears the LG version, which LG publish as a ten second power cycle. On Samsung it depends on the range: Samsung publish a per-model table in which many ranges remain in the mode even when the power is off and on again, and others drop it when the power goes off. An owner who unplugs a Samsung overnight, plugs it back in and finds it still not cooling can reasonably conclude the compressor has failed, and be wrong.
What causes it
| Cause | What is actually happening | How likely |
|---|---|---|
| It was delivered in demo mode | The appliance was a display model, or was switched into the mode at some point before it reached you, and nobody turned it off. Common on ex-display and clearance purchases. | Common |
| The panel was pressed while reaching into the fridge | LG publish this specifically — the temperature control button held by mistake while opening the door and taking out food. On a door-mounted panel it is easy to lean on. | Common |
| The display was wiped with a damp cloth | Also LG’s own published cause. A wet wipe drags across several touch controls at once and can register as a deliberate button hold. | Common |
| A power cut left it in the mode | Some appliances come back from an interruption in an unexpected state. Worth checking after any outage before assuming the outage broke something. | Occasional |
What to try yourself
Look at the display for a string like OF OF, OF-OF, O FF or OFF. Any of those, on a fridge that is not cooling, points here.
Check the symptoms match. Demo mode leaves the light, the display and the buttons all working while the appliance stays at room temperature. If the display is dead too, this is not it.
Listen for the compressor. A fridge in demo mode is silent apart from the door light, because the part that does the cooling is switched off.
Use the exit sequence published for your make, not one you found for another brand. The button pairs and hold times genuinely differ, and so does whether a power cycle works at all.
Give it several hours before judging it. A fridge that has sat at room temperature needs a long time to pull down, and the freezer takes longer than the fridge.
To stop it happening again, lock the control panel if your appliance has that function, and wipe the display with a dry cloth rather than a wet one.
Get a qualified refrigeration engineer to look at your fridge or freezer
We do not pass enquiries to a repair firm, so there is no form here. When you book a qualified refrigeration engineer, tell them the make, the model and the exact code or message on the display, and ask whether they carry parts for this make — that is what turns one visit into a repair rather than a quote.
What it costs to fix
Typical repair cost
£0
Time on site
15 minutes
Nothing. This is a setting, and turning it off takes seconds once you know the sequence for your make. The cost of not knowing is an engineer visit for an appliance that is working.
Typical UK prices including parts and labour, updated September 2026. Your quote may differ.
Own this appliance and had this code? . Nothing is published until a person has read it.
Related fridge or freezer fault codes
- Red light on the freezerGet it checkedA high temperature warning. Two manufacturers publish the same three-light scheme independently: green is power, amber is fast freeze, red is the warning.Related: same brand
- Ice building upStop — call an engineerReal 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.Related: same brand
- Smell of gas near the fridgeStop — call an engineerModern fridges are charged with flammable isobutane. Ventilate, keep flames and switches away, and do not use the appliance again until it has been checked.Related: same brand
- Fridge in a garageUsually simple to fixA 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.Related: same brand
Related guides
Common questions
I unplugged it and it still is not cooling. Does that rule out demo mode?
No, and this is the trap. A power cycle clears the LG version — LG publish ten seconds as the procedure — but on many Samsung ranges the mode remains even when the power is off and on again. Samsung publish which ranges keep it and which drop it, so unless you have checked yours against their table, unplugging a Samsung proves nothing about demo mode either way.
How did it get switched on? Nobody touched it.
LG name two causes that involve nobody meaning to do anything: the temperature control button being pressed and held while somebody reaches into the fridge, and the display being wiped with a wet cloth. Both are things that happen in a normal week.
Is my food safe?
Treat it the way you would after any period without cooling. If the appliance has been warm for more than a couple of hours, apply the usual food safety judgement to what is in it, and expect the freezer contents to have suffered before the fridge contents did.
Technical review
Not reviewed by an engineer
No engineer has read this page. Severity follows what the manufacturer publishes, and we would rather tell you that than let a byline imply a sign-off.
Sources and how we verified this
We establish the facts from the sources below and then write the explanation ourselves. We do not copy manufacturer wording and we do not host their manuals.
- Manufacturer support portal
- Manufacturer technical and service documentation
This page has not been reviewed by an engineer, and we would rather tell you that than imply otherwise. The severity rating follows what the manufacturer publishes: where they say isolate the appliance and call someone, so do we.