Samsung HC fault codewhat it means and how to fix it
The compressor is overheating. Samsung’s website tells you to get an electrician to check the heating element — your machine does not have one, and their own manual says clean the heat exchanger.
Take care
What HC means
Samsung give this as "Compressor overheating / High temperature heating check", and then their UK support page and their UK manuals send you in two completely different directions. The website says: check your circuit breakers, then "Unplug the dryer and check the wiring connections on the heating element. (This requires a licensed professional electrician.)" The manual for the same machine says: "Please check the cleaning condition of heat exchanger and lint filter. If this continues, call for service."
Only one of those describes a Samsung dryer sold in this country. Every dryer Samsung currently sell in the UK is a heat pump machine, and a heat pump dryer has no heating element — that is the entire point of it. It moves heat with a compressor instead of generating heat with an element.
The website instruction has been carried over from Samsung’s American documentation, which covers vented and electric dryers that do have elements, and following it means paying an electrician to inspect a component that is not in your machine. The manual is right. A compressor overheats because the air it depends on is not moving, and the things that stop air moving are the lint filter and the heat exchanger.
What causes it
| Cause | What is actually happening | How likely |
|---|---|---|
| The heat exchanger is clogged with lint | The commonest cause and the one Samsung’s manual names first. The compressor sheds its heat into moving air; block the finned block that air passes through and the compressor has nowhere to put its heat. | Common |
| The lint filter has not been cleaned | Every cycle deposits a mat of fibre on the filter. Once it is dense enough to restrict airflow, everything downstream of it runs hotter than designed, and the compressor is the part that complains first. | Common |
| The machine is somewhere hot or unventilated | A heat pump dryer rejects heat into the room it stands in. In a small sealed cupboard or a hot utility room it is trying to dump heat into air that is already warm, which raises compressor temperature without anything being broken. | Occasional |
| The compressor or its cooling fan is failing | If the filter and exchanger are clean and the room is cool, the remaining candidates are inside the sealed system. This is the version that needs an engineer, and it is what Samsung’s manual means by "if this continues". | Occasional |
What to try yourself
Open the door, take the load out and spread it somewhere airy rather than leaving it in a heap while you work.
A part-dried load left piled in a warm basket holds its heat. This applies to every code on this site that involves stopping a cycle.Clean the lint filter in the door thoroughly — lift the mat off rather than shaking it, and rinse the mesh if it feels waxy.
Press the top of the outer cover at the bottom front to open it, unlock the two fixers on the inner cover and lift the cover off, then brush the lint off the heat exchanger with the brush Samsung supply and wipe the rest away with a damp cloth. This is the step Samsung’s manual names and their website omits, and on a heat pump machine it is the one that matters.
Samsung’s manual says to open the cover and ventilate the compartment for about ten minutes before cleaning, because a small amount of refrigerant can linger there, and not to touch the exchanger with bare hands or steel tools — the fins are sharp and easily bent. A soft brush or a vacuum cleaner is what they allow.Refit the inner cover and turn the fixers to lock it, then close the outer cover. Samsung have a separate code, NC2, for the inner cover being wrong.
Look at where the machine lives. If it is in a cupboard or a small hot room, open the door or move it somewhere with air movement before testing.
Wait a few minutes for the compressor to cool, then run a short cycle. If HC comes back with everything clean, that is Samsung’s "if this continues" and it is time to call.
Get a qualified appliance engineer to look at your Samsung HC
We do not pass enquiries to a repair firm, so there is no form here. When you book a qualified appliance 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–£300
Time on site
30 minutes
Free if it is the filter or the heat exchanger, which is the usual outcome. Compressor work is sealed system work and is at the expensive end. Samsung publish no call-out price, so treat figures as independent market estimates — and note that an electrician called out on the website’s advice would be a wasted fee.
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 Samsung fault codes
- NCGet it checkedSamsung’s prompt to deal with the lint filter. Rated more seriously here than Samsung rate it, because a blocked filter on a dryer is not the same as a blocked filter elsewhere.Related: same brand
- 5CUsually simple to fixThe machine cannot get rid of its condensed water. Samsung group four causes under this code and the commonest is simply a full tank.Related: same brand
- dCUsually simple to fixThe dryer thinks the door is open. Samsung name a cause most people would never guess: the child lock can produce this on a machine that is not even running.Related: same brand
- HCLStop — call an engineerThe refrigerant has leaked out of the sealed circuit. It is propane, and Samsung’s instruction is that the machine must not be used at all until an engineer has been.Related: same brand
- NC2Get it checkedThe inner cover of the heat exchanger is not fitted properly. Usually something an owner has just done, and usually fixable in a minute.Related: same brand
- tC5Get it checkedThe sensor watching the compressor temperature is not reporting properly. Samsung ask for a longer pause than usual before you try again.Related: same brand
Own a Samsung tumble dryer? Save it and its codes come first next time.
Related guides
Common questions about Samsung HC
Should I get an electrician like Samsung’s website says?
No. That instruction is about a heating element, and a heat pump dryer does not have one — which is every Samsung dryer sold in the UK. The advice has come across from Samsung’s American documentation for vented machines. Samsung’s own manual for your machine tells you to clean the heat exchanger and the lint filter instead, and that is the advice to follow.
How do I know I have a heat pump machine?
If it is a Samsung dryer bought new in the UK in recent years, you do — they sell nothing else here. The other tell is that it has a water container to empty and a flap low down at the front, and that it takes two to three hours rather than one.
Is it safe to keep using?
Samsung attach no stop-use warning to this code, and the fault is the machine protecting itself rather than a hazard in its own right. That said, the cause is almost always restricted airflow, and restricted airflow around a hot component with lint present is what dryer fires are made of. Clean it before you run it again, and do not run it unattended overnight in the meantime.
What if the display shows HE rather than HC?
Same code. Samsung use a C ending on newer displays and an E ending on older ones, so HC and HE are one fault written two ways. That convention runs through their whole range.
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.