An LG refrigerator shows Er and then a second code. Er FF is the freezer fan, Er rF the refrigerator fan, Er CF the condenser fan, Er dH the defrost heater, Er dS, Er FS and Er rS are temperature sensors, Er IS and Er It belong to the ice maker, Er gF is water flow and Er CO is a communication error between boards. OFF or OF F is demo mode, not a fault. Unplug for five minutes, vacuum the condenser and look for frost on the freezer back wall. An Er code that comes back needs a technician, and a warm LG with no code is often the compressor.
Written by a working technician at Cactus Appliance in Irvine, this guide covers the LG French-door, side-by-side and bottom-freezer refrigerators we repair across Orange County, including the Door-in-Door, InstaView and Craft Ice models. LG refrigerators report fan, sensor and defrost faults well and usually say nothing about a linear compressor that has lost compression, which is covered below.
Try this first
- Unplug for five minutes. A code from a power blip clears; a code from a failed part comes back within hours.
- Rule out demo mode. OFF or OF F with working lights and no cold is showroom mode, not a fault; the exit steps for your model year are in the last code table below.
- Vacuum the condenser. Unplug the refrigerator, pull the lower back cover and vacuum the coil and the fan beside the compressor; in our experience dust causes more Er CF codes than a failed motor does.
- Look for frost. A sheet of frost on the freezer back wall means defrost has stopped. Food out, doors open for a day with the power off, then restart; this buys time, not a fix.
- Check the doors. A drawer or a tall bottle holding a door open gives you a warm refrigerator and a door alarm.
- Check the water. For Er gF, seat and lock the filter, open the supply valve behind the refrigerator and straighten the line.
How LG refrigerators show errors
LG displays an error as Er followed by a two-character code; the two halves alternate on some displays and show together on others. The code stays until the fault clears or the power is cycled, and the control keeps it for Smart Diagnosis: open the LG ThinQ app, lock the panel (hold Lock about three seconds), hold the phone’s microphone to the speaker, at the right door hinge on most models, then hold Freezer for three seconds until it beeps; the manual shows the exact buttons. The tone it plays carries the stored code, which is how we read a fault off a display that has gone back to normal. Demo mode, shown as OFF or OF F, is not an error; it is usually switched on by accident.
Fan and compressor codes
| Code | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Er FF | Freezer fan error: the evaporator fan in the freezer is not turning at the speed the control expects. | Unplug for five minutes and listen when power returns. A fan that scrapes is iced up, a defrost problem; a silent fan is the motor. |
| Er rF | Refrigerator fan error: the fan that moves air through the fresh-food section is not reporting. | Same check as Er FF. An iced fan cools again after a manual defrost and then fails again. |
| Er CF | Condenser fan error: the fan beside the compressor at the back is not turning. | Unplug, remove the lower back cover and vacuum the fan and coil. If the blade is free and still does not spin, the motor has failed. |
| Er IF / Er 1F | Icing fan error: the small fan that cools the ice compartment, read as IF or 1F depending on the display, is not turning. | Unplug for five minutes. If the code returns, the fan motor or the ice-room seal that let warm air in needs replacing. |
| Er 22 | Compressor relay error: the control sees the compressor relay circuit on the main board stuck or shorted. | Unplug for five minutes. If Er 22 returns, the main board is usually the part; we test the compressor at the same visit. |
Defrost and sensor codes
| Code | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Er dH | Defrost heater error: a defrost cycle did not finish in the expected time. Dual-evaporator models show F dH or r dH for the freezer or refrigerator side. | Look for frost on the freezer back wall. A manual defrost restores cooling for a while; the heater, fuse or sensor still needs testing. |
| Er dS | Defrost sensor error: the sensor clipped to the evaporator reads open or shorted; shown as F dS or r dS on dual-evaporator models. | Nothing to do from outside; book a visit before the evaporator ices over. |
| Er FS | Freezer sensor error: the freezer temperature sensor is out of range. | Unplug once. If the code returns, the sensor or its connector has failed. |
| Er rS | Refrigerator sensor error: the fresh-food temperature sensor is out of range. | Same as Er FS. A refrigerator with this code often freezes lettuce at the back. |
| Er rt | Room temperature sensor error: the sensor that reads the kitchen temperature is open or shorted. | Cooling continues. Book a visit at your convenience. |
| Er IS | Ice maker sensor error: the ice maker temperature sensor is out of range or unplugged; on some models it also covers the ice maker fan motor. | Ice stops, cooling continues. On many models the sensor is part of the ice maker, so the assembly is the repair. |
| Er SS | Pantry sensor error on models with a temperature-controlled middle drawer; on some models SS is the water-tank temperature sensor instead. | The main compartments keep working. The drawer or tank will not hold its setting until the sensor is replaced. |
| Er HS | Humidity sensor error on models that have one. | Cooling continues. Have it replaced on the next visit. |
Ice maker, water, door and display messages
| Code | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Er It | Ice maker error: the ice maker did not complete a harvest or its test cycle. | Unplug for five minutes and check that no cube is wedged under the ejector arm. If it returns, the ice maker assembly is the usual repair. |
| Er gF | Flow meter error: water flow during a fill was outside the expected range. | Seat the filter, open the supply valve and straighten the line. If the code returns, the flow sensor or the inlet valve needs testing. |
| Er CO | Communication error between the main board and the display board. | Unplug for five minutes. If Er CO returns, a connector, the door hinge harness or one of the boards has failed; we check the wiring before any board is replaced. |
| Er 67 | Door error: a door was open, or not seen as closed, for longer than the control allows. | Clear anything blocking the door. If it returns with the doors closed, the door switch or alignment is the fault. |
| OFF / OF F | Not an error: demo mode. Lights and display work, the compressor is off. | On 2018 and earlier models open the right door and hold Refrigerator and Ice Plus for about five seconds until it beeps. On 2019 and newer models (serial number starting 901 or higher) hold Ice Plus and Refrigerator until the second beep, then, still holding Refrigerator, press Ice Plus three times. |
| Door alarm | Not an error: a door has been open for about a minute. | Close the door. If it sounds with the doors closed, a door switch has failed or the door is not closing fully. |
Codes vary by model and production year, and the same code can have more than one cause. The owner’s manual for your model number (on the label inside the refrigerator compartment) is the definitive list. Only an on-site test confirms which part has failed.
What the common codes turn out to be on a service call
Warm refrigerator with no code: the linear compressor
Likely causes: LG linear compressors sold from 2014 to 2017 failed often enough that a 2020 class-action settlement extended their warranty, and in our experience units built a year or two later fail the same way. The compressor runs but no longer pumps: the fans turn, no code appears and the food warms over a day or two. An inverter board or a refrigerant leak usually looks the same; only some newer models show a leak code.
Try this first: rule out demo mode, vacuum the condenser, and feel the lower back of the cabinet after an hour: a stone-cold compressor is not being powered, usually a board or relay; a hot one with a warm refrigerator has most likely lost compression. Both need a technician.
How we fix it: we measure the compressor current and the system pressures, then replace the compressor and the filter drier, evacuate and recharge, all in-house. One such job is LG Refrigerator Not Cooling: Compressor Failure; a leak with the same symptom in Orange is in Refrigerator Not Cooling: Refrigerant Leak at 5 Years.
Er dH, Er dS and a frosted back wall: the defrost system
Likely causes: an open defrost heater, a blown thermal fuse, a defrost sensor out of range, or a main board that no longer switches the heater. A drain that froze during the failure then sends meltwater into the crisper.
Try this first: a manual defrost with the doors open and the power off; it restores cooling for a week or two.
How we fix it: we test the heater, the fuse and the sensor, replace the failed part and clear the drain line; the drain side is in Why Is My LG Refrigerator Leaking Water?.
Er FF, Er rF, Er CF and Er IF: the fans
Likely causes: an evaporator fan locked in ice because defrost failed first, a condenser fan motor worn out by dust, an ice-room fan frozen by warm air leaking past the ice compartment seal, or a motor whose feedback wire broke.
Try this first: vacuum the condenser fan and listen at the freezer back wall for a fan that scrapes or is silent.
How we fix it: we replace the motor when it has failed and fix the defrost or seal problem when ice was the cause; an iced fan replaced on its own brings the code back within a month.
Er gF, Er It, Er IS and water on the floor: the water and ice system
Likely causes: an inlet valve that leaks past its seat or has a dead coil, a filter not locked in, a frozen fill tube, a failed flow meter, or an ice maker whose motor or sensor has given up.
Try this first: reseat the filter, open the supply valve and check the fill tube behind the ice maker for a plug of ice.
How we fix it: we test the valve coils and the flow meter, clear the fill tube and replace the valve or the ice maker; a leaking LG valve is in LG Refrigerator Leaking Water: Valve Replacement.
Stay safe. Unplug the refrigerator before you remove the back cover or the freezer back panel. Never open, cut or recharge the sealed system; refrigerant work needs recovery equipment and a license. Do not chip ice off the evaporator with a knife or a hair dryer; let it melt. The compressor and its inverter board behind the lower back cover carry hazardous voltage, higher than the wall outlet, whenever the refrigerator is plugged in.
When a code means a part has failed
The service call is $79 and covers the trip and the diagnosis. We confirm the failed part by testing it, because an Er FF can be a motor or a sheet of ice. You get a written price for parts and labor before any work starts, and the $79 is applied to that price when you approve it. Common parts such as fan motors and sensors are usually on the van; the rest come from local distributors, usually the next business day. The repair is under warranty on parts and labor, and if the same fault returns within 90 days the return visit has no service-call fee.
LG and other refrigerator repairs we have written up
- LG Refrigerator Not Cooling: Compressor Failure (October 2026), Irvine
- LG Refrigerator Leaking Water: Valve Replacement (October 2026), Orange County
- Why Is My LG Refrigerator Leaking Water? (September 2026), Orange County
- Refrigerator Not Cooling: Refrigerant Leak at 5 Years (October 2026), Orange
LG refrigerator error code FAQ
How do I reset an LG refrigerator?
Unplug it or switch off the breaker for about five minutes, then restore power; there is no reset button. A code that comes back is a failed part, not a glitch.
What does Er FF mean on an LG refrigerator?
Er FF means the freezer evaporator fan is not turning as expected. Either it is iced up, which points to a defrost fault, or the motor has failed. Book a visit either way.
Why does my LG refrigerator say OFF and not cool?
OFF or OF F on the display is demo mode. On 2018 and earlier models open the right door and hold Refrigerator and Ice Plus for about five seconds to leave it; on 2019 and newer models hold both until the second beep, then press Ice Plus three times while still holding Refrigerator.
Is the LG linear compressor still a problem?
The 2014 to 2017 linear compressors failed often enough that a 2020 class-action settlement extended their warranty, and later units are not immune. One from those years that goes warm with no code is a compressor until proven otherwise, and we replace them in-house.
Can I keep using the refrigerator with an error code on it?
With Er rt, Er SS, Er HS or Er IS, yes; cooling continues. With a fan, defrost or temperature sensor code the food is at risk within a day, so book a same-day visit.
How much does it cost to fix an LG refrigerator error code?
The service call is $79, applied to the repair. A sensor, a fan motor or an inlet valve is the affordable end; a defrost heater, an ice maker or a main board is the middle; a compressor or a refrigerant leak is the expensive end. You approve a written price before any work starts.
Do you repair LG refrigerators in Orange County?
Yes. Cactus Appliance repairs LG refrigerators in Irvine, Tustin, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Anaheim and every other Orange County city, same day, seven days a week.
