LG [FF] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

FF is LG’s frozen failure code, and it is the most seasonal thing in their table. Their own question in the manual is whether the supply hose, the drain hose or the drain pump is frozen, and their remedy is to supply warm water into the drum to unfreeze the drain hose and pump, and to cover the supply hose with a warm wet towel. That is a manufacturer telling you to thaw an appliance, which is not something most brands put in print, and it matters in the UK because of where washing machines get put.

A machine in an unheated garage, an outhouse, a utility room on an external wall or a bit of lean-to at the back of a kitchen can sit below freezing for days in January while the house stays warm. The parts that freeze first are the ones holding standing water, which is precisely the drain pump chamber and the low point of the outlet hose.

What makes this a good code rather than a frustrating one is that nothing has failed. Warmth and patience fix it, and the machine works normally afterwards. What matters is doing it gently: LG say warm, not hot, and there is a real reason for that, because sudden heat on a frozen plastic component is how you turn a thaw into a split.

1. 1

   Establish that it really is cold before you do anything. If the machine is in a garage, an outhouse or against an external wall and the weather has been below freezing, FF is telling you the truth and there is nothing broken.

2. 2

   Warm the room if you can, and give it time. A few hours of heat with the machine switched off does most of the work and carries none of the risk of anything you might do faster.

3. 3

   Pour warm water into the drum, as LG describe, to thaw the drain hose and pump from the inside. Warm, not hot — LG’s global thawing guide puts it at 50 to 60°C in the drum, closes the door and waits one to two hours for the pump to thaw, then opens the access cover and drains at the drain tube before running a single rinse.

   LG’s own caution: do not pour boiling water into the drum, as it risks a burn injury. Nor a heat gun, a hairdryer on full or a naked flame anywhere near the machine. Frozen plastic is brittle and sudden heat cracks it, which turns a free problem into a new hose or a new pump.
4. 4

   Wrap the supply hose in a warm wet towel, which is LG’s own instruction for that end — their global guide says five minutes wrapped around a frozen tap, and hoses thawed in water below 50°C once disconnected. Re-wet the towel as it cools rather than reaching for something hotter.

5. 5

   Once things are moving, run a drain or spin programme and check the machine empties properly before you put a wash in it.

6. 6

   Before the next cold snap, deal with the cause. Lagging the exposed run of both hoses is cheap, and leaving the machine in a room that goes below freezing is what produced the code.