Error code
Washer: Tub clean reminder
LG washer — reported by blinking lights rather than by a code. The washer keeps a count of cycles and asks for a tub clean when it reaches the number.
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What we can confirm
Signal tcL, from the manufacturer's own documentation
This code has no number, because this equipment has no display to put one on. The appliance signals it instead — an alarm, a symbol or a pattern of lights — and what it means is recorded in the documentation that ships with it.
The signal
tcL
The washer keeps a count of cycles and asks for a tub clean when it reaches the number. In this climate that request is worth taking seriously rather than dismissing, because a front loader in a humid house grows a biofilm in the gasket fold and under the detergent drawer, and the smell that follows arrives in the clean laundry. The cycle takes a couple of hours, runs hot, and needs an empty drum.
or call (305) 419-0291
What it narrows down to
Not an error — the machine has counted enough loads to want cleaning
Diagnostic
From $95, credited to the repair
On the same appliance
What else belongs to the washers
On this make a code belongs to the appliance rather than to a product line. These are the other conditions this machine can display, and the models that can show this one — a display often has more than one thing to say, and the model number decides what any of it costs to put right.
Other codes this appliance can display
The machine has finished washing and cannot get rid of the water
The machine is not filling, or is filling too slowly to finish in time
The drum cannot spin the load safely because it is on one side
The machine cannot prove the door is shut, so it will not start or will not open
The motor is overloaded or cannot turn
The machine cannot measure how much water is in the drum
The cycle was interrupted by the power going away
The machine cannot read the water temperature
The machine has found more suds than it can spin through, and is adding a rinse
The machine believes water in it has frozen
Not an error — the panel is locked
The clutch that couples the motor to the drum is not engaging
The same digits mean different things on different equipment. Search the full code list
In more detail
About Washer: Tub clean reminder
What the appliance is actually reporting
The washer keeps a count of cycles and asks for a tub clean when it reaches the number. In this climate that request is worth taking seriously rather than dismissing, because a front loader in a humid house grows a biofilm in the gasket fold and under the detergent drawer, and the smell that follows arrives in the clean laundry. The cycle takes a couple of hours, runs hot, and needs an empty drum.
The other light combinations that mean this
tcL · tCL · TCL
LG publishes what the indicator lights mean on the washers and dryers that have no numeric display. They are grouped here by what they mean rather than split into near-identical pages, and every pattern the maker names is printed above.
Where this appears, and why not to clear it
On the indicator lights, on a laundry machine with no numeric display. LG publishes what the patterns mean, and on those models the pattern is the entire diagnosis — it disappears the moment the power is cut. Write it down or photograph the panel before switching anything off, and count a full sequence rather than a single flash: the lights also blink to show cycle status, so treat it as an error only if the machine is misbehaving as well.
What to do about it
- Empty the drum completely. No laundry, not even one towel.
- Add a tub cleaner or a measured amount of bleach — LG's own guidance for the small SideKick drum is a quarter cup of bleach diluted in a quart of water.
- Select tub clean and run it through.
- Wipe the gasket fold and leave the door ajar between washes afterwards.
Where this goes next
The job this usually becomes is diagnostic visit, and that page carries a starting figure and the reasons that move it. If it turns out to be nothing — and on this make a real share of these are modes, reminders and settings rather than problems — the visit ends there and you pay the diagnostic and nothing else, or call (305) 419-0291 and describe what the panel is doing before booking anything.
This article is based on:
- Official manufacturer documentation
- Internal repair procedures
- Technician repair history
- Company quality standards