Samsung [88 88] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

Samsung publish 88 88, 83E, 85E and 86E as one group with a single meaning, and their framing is about what happened outside the appliance rather than inside it. Their words: these error codes occur after power or electrical anomalies, and if you have had a power cut, blown switch or a drop in voltage supply this can cause a communication fault triggering these codes. Their remedy is to try unplugging the refrigerator or turning it off at the fuse box, and to check your fuse box is functioning properly. A second Samsung article, on displays that stop responding, adds the detail the first one lacks. Under the heading of drastic power fluctuations, which Samsung mark as applying to their French Door models, it says the fridge screen will display 88 88; if the display is showing 88 88 and the fridge is still cooling properly, unplug the refrigerator for sixty seconds and plug it back in, and if the display does not return to normal after two minutes, contact an authorised Samsung service centre. That gives you the two figures the power cut article leaves out: how long to leave it unplugged, and how long to wait before deciding the reset has not worked. The fuse box instruction is doing more work than it appears to.

Samsung are not only telling you to reset the fridge; they are telling you to look at the supply, because a fridge that keeps producing these codes may be reporting something real about the electricity reaching it rather than about itself. A loose connection, a failing breaker or a shared circuit under load can all deliver the kind of voltage dip that upsets communication between the boards. If the code comes back repeatedly, that is worth taking to an electrician before an appliance engineer. The honest limitation of this page is that Samsung give no per-code detail. They do not say what distinguishes 83E from 85E, and there is no Samsung document that does — their current UK manual has no error code table at all, and the whole published set is nine strings on one support page filed under a power cut symptom, which is why almost nobody finds it. Rather than invent distinctions, this page gives you what Samsung give.

Two of those nine strings are close neighbours of this group and are published on the same page: PC ER and PC CH, which Samsung say occur when there is a communication error within the refrigerator, usually triggered by power surges or if the doors are not connected properly, with the remedy of restarting the fridge by powering off and unplugging it. The door connection is the useful part of that — on a fridge with a display in the door, the wiring runs through the hinge, and a door that has been taken off and refitted is the classic way to produce it. It is also worth saying what Samsung do not publish: 1E, 2E, 4E and 5E do not appear anywhere on Samsung UK, so a list that includes them is somebody else's work and should be treated accordingly. One useful non-fault to rule out first, from the same Samsung article. Temperature displays on most models illuminate for approximately ten seconds and then turn off to save electricity, so a blank display is not necessarily a fault at all — press a button and see whether it wakes.

1. 1

   Press a button before assuming anything. Samsung publish that most displays illuminate for about ten seconds and then turn off to save electricity, so a dark display may be normal.

2. 2

   Think about whether there has been a power cut, a tripped breaker or work on the electrics recently. Samsung tie this whole group to exactly those events.

3. 3

   Unplug the fridge, or switch it off at the fuse box, for sixty seconds. That is Samsung’s figure for a display stuck on 88 88; their general minimum for a reboot is ten seconds, so sixty covers both.

4. 4

   Check the fuse box while you are there. Samsung ask for this specifically, and a breaker that is warm, loose or repeatedly tripping is a finding in itself.

5. 5

   Plug back into a wall socket directly rather than an extension lead or a multi-way adaptor. Samsung say that if the display has not returned to normal after two minutes, contact an authorised service centre.

6. 6

   If the code returns more than once, get an electrician to look at the supply before booking an appliance engineer. Samsung’s own cause points that way.