Troubleshooting
Er, F or r: The Letter in Front of an LG Refrigerator Code
To reset an LG refrigerator, unplug it from the wall — into the wall, not a power strip — wait about five minutes, and plug it back in. That is the maker's own first step for a long list of its codes, and a code that clears and never returns was a power or communication event rather than a failure. Before you do it, get the code back if the display has already cleared: hold Freezer Temperature and Express Frz together for at least three seconds and the last recorded code returns to the panel. Write down what you see including the letter in front of it, because on this make the prefix is half the diagnosis. Er means a cabinet with a single evaporator. F means the freezer coil of a cabinet with two separate evaporators, and r means the refrigerator coil of that same machine — two coils that sit behind different panels in different compartments. A code quoted as dS alone leaves that undecided.
The full guide
How to reset LG refrigerator, and get the code back first
Unplug it from the wall socket, wait about five minutes, and plug it back in. Put it back into the wall rather than a power strip or an extension lead, because several of the board and communication conditions on this make are supply problems wearing a component's clothes.
That is the maker's own first step for a long list of its codes, and the result is diagnostic in itself. A code that clears and never comes back was a power or communication event, and nothing is broken. A code that returns within a day has been re-detected rather than remembered, and it is real.
First, get the code back
If there was a power cut, or somebody has already unplugged the machine, the display will have cleared and the condition will not have. LG gives you a way to retrieve it.
Hold Freezer Temperature and Express Frz together for at least three seconds. The last recorded code returns to the panel.
Do this before you reset anything. A code that has been cleared is information a technician no longer has, and it is the single most useful thing an owner can hand over.
Now the part everybody drops
An LG refrigerator code has two halves, and most people write down one of them.
The characters name the component. dS is the defrost sensor. FS is the freezer temperature sensor. rS is the refrigerator temperature sensor. CF, FF and rF are three different fans.
The letter in front names which cooling system is reporting it.
Er means a cabinet with a single evaporator. One coil, one compartment to open, no ambiguity.
F means the freezer coil of a cabinet that has two separate evaporators.
r means the refrigerator coil of that same cabinet.
On a two-evaporator machine those two coils sit behind different panels in different compartments. So "dS" on its own does not say which side of the machine is opened — and getting that wrong means a compartment emptied, defrosted and reassembled for nothing, then the same again on the other side.
Why some cabinets have two
A single evaporator makes cold in one place and divides it, usually with a motorized damper that meters air from the freezer into the fresh food compartment. It is simpler and it is what most refrigerators do.
Two evaporators give each compartment its own cooling, which holds humidity better in the fresh food side and stops smells moving between them. It also means the two halves can fail independently — which is why a cabinet that keeps its freezer hard while the fridge drifts is behaving like a two-evaporator machine, and why the prefix exists at all.
What to write down
Everything on the panel, exactly as shown, including spaces. Er dS and F dS are different pages on this site and different visits in practice.
If your machine is showing something that is not on our list at all, tell us the characters exactly and the model number. LG has used several panel generations and a code can be printed slightly differently between them — and we would rather find out about one we have not published than guess at it.
The group that all share one instruction
There is a long list of LG refrigerator codes — Od, Sd, CI, IU, dH, d1, d2, d, H1, H2, F1, F2, US, LS, E1, E2, r, Id, gS and gF — that the maker groups under a single answer, because they all mean the same thing to somebody standing in a kitchen: the machine has found something wrong inside itself and wants a technician rather than an adjustment.
For those, the reset above is the whole of what an owner can usefully do. If the code stays, minimize how much the doors are opened and book it. The maker's own warning is worth repeating: do not take the refrigerator apart to look. The parts behind that panel are not homeowner parts.
If it turns out to be a repair
What this leads to, and what it costs
Every job on this site is priced the same way: an on-site diagnostic first, the figure agreed in writing before anybody starts.
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Refrigerator error code dS
LG refrigerator error code dS: A refrigerator has to stop and melt its own evaporator every few hours, and this sensor is what tells it when the coil is cold enough to need it and warm enough to stop. Every spelling LG publishes for it, which machines can raise it, and what to do next.
What this one means -
Refrigerator error code FS
LG refrigerator error code FS: Every decision this cabinet makes about running the compressor and starting a defrost comes from what its sensors tell it. Every spelling LG publishes for it, which machines can raise it, and what to do next.
What this one means -
Fridge warm and freezer cold
The combination that rules more out than it rules in. On most LG cabinets one cooling system feeds both compartments and a damper divides the cold between them, so a freezer that is still hard proves the compressor, the gas and the condenser are all doing their job — and moves the whole question to how the cold is getting from one side to the other.
- A hard freezer proves the sealed system is fine, which removes the expensive answer
- Air, damper, or the fan feeding the fresh food side
- On a two-evaporator cabinet, the code prefix says which coil is involved
Questions people ask about this
How do I know if my cabinet has one evaporator or two?
The prefix tells you, which is neatly circular but true: a machine that only ever shows Er has one. Beyond that, larger French door and four-door cabinets are more likely to have two, and a machine that can hold the fresh food side while the freezer drifts — or the reverse — is behaving like a two-evaporator machine. It is also on the technical sheet behind the toe kick.
The code came back after the reset.
Then it is a real condition rather than an event, and that is useful information rather than bad news. LG's own guidance for its internal-system group is exactly this: reset, and if it stays, call. A code that survives a five-minute power cut has been re-detected by the machine, not remembered.
Should I unplug it or use the breaker?
Unplug where you can, and put it back into the wall socket rather than a power strip or an extension. Several of the board and communication conditions on this make are supply problems in disguise, and a machine on a shared strip with something heavy is a candidate. If the plug is unreachable behind a fitted cabinet, the breaker does the same job.
Does this work on the freezer codes too?
The same rule applies across the refrigeration set. FS, rS, the fan codes and the internal-system group all take the prefix, and it means the same thing everywhere: which cooling system is reporting. Write it down whatever the characters are.
Troubleshooting
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Tell us the model number and what it is doing.
This article is based on:
- Official manufacturer documentation
- Internal repair procedures
- Technician repair history
- Company quality standards