Smell of gas near the fridgewhat to check
Modern 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 — this needs an engineer
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 this means
This page exists because the sealed refrigerant circuit is the one part of a fridge that is not serviceable at any skill level, and because the substance inside it changed at some point in the last twenty years without most owners noticing. Most domestic fridges and freezers sold in the UK in recent years are charged with R600a, which is isobutane. Samsung describe it in their own words as a natural gas with high environmental compatibility that is, however, also combustible. Their instruction if it escapes is specific: refrigerant leaking from the pipe work could ignite or cause an eye injury, and if a leak is detected you should avoid any naked flames or potential sources of ignition and air the room in which the appliance is standing for several minutes.
Elsewhere they put it more bluntly still — move anything flammable away from the product and ventilate the room immediately, failing which the result may be fire or explosion. Get one thing right about the terminology, because most UK repair content gets it wrong. R600a is a hydrocarbon, not a fluorinated gas, so it is not an F gas and F-Gas certification has nothing to do with it. The person you need is a competent refrigeration engineer. F-Gas does apply to older appliances charged with R134a, which is an HFC and is still in the field — Samsung tell owners to check the compressor label at the back or the rating plate inside to see which refrigerant their appliance uses. Either way the practical answer for an owner is the same: the sealed system is not yours.
There is a second, quieter reason to take a smell seriously, and it is about ignition rather than the gas itself. The compressor at the back of the fridge switches on and off, and a switch making and breaking is a spark. A leak that pools around the base of the appliance sits exactly where that spark is. That is why the advice is to ventilate first and to keep away from switches — including, importantly, the switch you would instinctively use to turn the appliance off. One published check helps you tell a leak from a smell of something else: LG say that if refrigerant is leaking, the refrigerator and freezer compartments will not cool and food may thaw, so if the food inside is still frozen or cold the smell may not be from the refrigerant at all.
What causes it
| Cause | What is actually happening | How likely |
|---|---|---|
| Damage to the pipework at the back of the appliance | The pipes are exposed at the rear and are easy to catch when moving a fridge, sliding it back into a tight gap, or working behind it. | Occasional |
| A puncture through the freezer wall | The evaporator runs inside the cabinet walls. An ice pick, a knife or a screwdriver used to hurry a defrost along is the classic route to this, and manufacturers warn against it for exactly this reason. | Occasional |
| A smell that is not refrigerant at all | Worth ruling out calmly. LG publish the test: a leak stops both compartments cooling, so if the food is still frozen or cold the smell is probably not refrigerant. Burning or hot plastic smells point at electrical trouble rather than gas, and food spoilage smells nothing like either — but the response to a suspected leak is the same until you know. | Occasional |
| A corrosion or fatigue failure in the sealed system | Rarer, and usually on an older appliance. The circuit is not meant to be opened, so a failure in it is a failure of the appliance rather than of a part. | Rare |
Can you fix it yourself?
Stop — this needs an engineer
What it costs to fix
Typical repair cost
£0
Time on site
15 minutes
A leak in the sealed system normally means replacing the appliance rather than repairing it, so the honest figure is the price of a new fridge rather than a repair quote. Get it assessed before deciding.
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
- Demo modeGet it checkedA 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.Related: same brand
- 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
- 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
Should I unplug it?
Only if the socket is somewhere you can reach without disturbing the area around the appliance. Pulling a plug makes a small spark, and Samsung’s own instruction is to avoid any naked flames or potential sources of ignition. Ventilating the room first is the priority, and if the socket is behind or under the fridge, leave it and get everyone out of the room instead.
Do I need an F-Gas registered engineer?
Not for a modern fridge, and this is where most advice online goes wrong. R600a is isobutane, a hydrocarbon, and the UK F gas regime covers HFCs, PFCs and SF6 only — so F-Gas certification does not apply. The right person is a competent refrigeration engineer. If your appliance is older and charged with R134a, that is an HFC and F-Gas does apply; the rating plate inside the appliance tells you which you have.
Is a small amount dangerous in a big kitchen?
The published rule gives a sense of scale: Samsung state the room must be one cubic metre in size for every eight grams of R600a in the appliance. A typical domestic charge is well under a hundred grams, so an ordinary kitchen meets that comfortably. It stops being comfortable in a small utility cupboard, a caravan or a boat, which is part of why ventilation and clearances matter.
Can the appliance be repaired?
A sealed system leak on a domestic fridge is usually the end of it. The circuit is not designed to be opened and the labour involved in recovering, repairing and recharging it rarely makes sense against the price of a new appliance. Ask for an assessment before assuming either way, and mention the age.
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 technical and service documentation
- Trade body guidance
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.