How to Reset Samsung Refrigerator Error Codes

A Samsung refrigerator 'reset' is a power cycle — there is no code-clearing button for fault codes, because the codes are live reports from sensors and boards. This page gives the correct power-cycle procedure, the panel resets that DO exist (filter indicator, demo mode, display settings), and what to expect from the common codes (41, the fan family, sensor family) after power returns.

The power cycle (the real reset)

Unplug the fridge (or its breaker) for 5–10 minutes — fridges need the longer end so the control fully discharges and the compressor's pressure equalises before restart. Restore and give it several minutes to boot (Family Hub models take longer) and up to 24 hours for temperatures to fully stabilise before judging cooling.

Panel resets that exist

Water filter indicator: hold the marked button (Alarm/Filter or the water/filter key, model-dependent) ~3 seconds after changing the filter. Demo/showroom mode: a button combination per model (commonly holding two marked keys ~5 seconds) — a fridge that lights up but never cools after delivery is usually in demo, not broken. Display temperature settings are not 'resets' — set them to 3°C/−18°C-class defaults if they've been wandered away from.

Code behaviour after power returns

Communication codes (41/PC family) often clear at the fresh handshake and stay away if they were glitches — recurrence is the harness/board story. Fan, sensor and compressor codes (22E, 5E/8E, 84C families) return because their conditions return; a power cycle that 'fixes' 84C for a day is a compressor drive failing slowly, not a cure.

Before you reset anything: Samsung's own warning

Samsung's refrigerator error-code page opens with an instruction that reorders this whole guide, and it is quoted here because most reset advice on the internet contradicts it: 'Unless directed, do not unplug the refrigerator. Also, do not attempt any interaction with the panel to try to make the error code go away. Doing either of these will make it harder for a technician to diagnose and correct the issue.' Read strictly, Samsung's position is that a fault code is evidence first and an inconvenience second — the power cycle this page's base sections describe is a tool for the situations Samsung itself directs it at (named below, code by code), not a universal first move. The practical discipline that follows: before any reset, write down or photograph the exact code and what the fridge was doing; if the model is a Family Hub, run its Self Check first (next section), because it lists past codes as well as current ones and is the one record a power cycle cannot improve on. Owners who reset first and describe the code from memory afterwards have, in Samsung's framing, made their own repair slower and more expensive.

Family Hub Self Check: read the stored codes before clearing anything

Family Hub models carry the closest thing Samsung fits to a code history, and Samsung documents the route: on the Family Hub panel, navigate to Apps, tap Fridge Manager, tap Fridge Settings, tap Self Check, and when ready tap Start — the list of current or past error codes displays. That list is what a technician would want preserved, which is why this step belongs before any power interaction. Two Family Hub-specific resets belong in the same breath, both from Samsung's error-code page. Codes 41 or 42 with the interior blue lights flashing are not cleared at the panel at all: Samsung's remedy is to reboot the Family Hub using the power switch on the inside at the top of the right door — a hub reboot, deliberately separate from unplugging the refrigerator — and only if the issue continues, to request service. Code 41C is lighter still: the first time it occurs after a software update, tap OK; it becomes a service case only if it occurs more than once after the update. Owners hunting for a single 'reset button' for a Family Hub fridge are looking for something Samsung deliberately did not fit: the hub reboots at its own switch, the codes are read in Self Check, and the refrigerator itself is unplugged only when a code's own section directs it.

The resets Samsung actually specifies, code by code

Where Samsung does direct a power reset, it names the code, the duration and the follow-up — and the durations are shorter and more specific than folklore suggests. For the voltage and power group (88 88, 83E, 85E, 86E — codes that can follow a surge, a brown-out or another electrical anomaly, and which can themselves cause a communication fault), Samsung's instruction is to unplug the refrigerator or turn off power at the circuit breaker for 60 seconds, then turn it back on; if the code returns, request service. For PC ER / PC CH, the communication error between components, Samsung adds a physical step the panel reset cannot substitute for: unplug or cut breaker power, disconnect and reconnect the wire harness above the door, then restore power — because one documented cause is doors not properly connected, often after a recent power surge. For the fridge fan error 22E/22C, the reset is a defrost in disguise: Samsung says it can be caused by the door being left open too long, and instructs you to unplug the refrigerator and leave the doors open for a few hours, then plug it back in, close the doors and resume normal operation, requesting service only if the error returns. The matching fan code one compartment over, 21E (freezer fan, electronics not sensing rotational feedback, usually a frozen-up fan from a door left open or a gasket gap), offers defrosting as the owner's option before service. And one code needs no power step at all: 85C, the Family Hub low-voltage report that a brief outage can trigger, is 'harmless, and can be cleared by pressing OK for 3 seconds'. Finally, the display that most often provokes an unnecessary reset — every icon flashing after the fridge is plugged in or after an outage — is Samsung-documented as normal: the fridge is running a self-diagnostic, and there is nothing to clear.

The filter reset in full: a 3-second hold, a 6-month timer, and a flow test

The water-filter indicator is the one reset Samsung expects owners to perform routinely, and its documentation is correspondingly exact. Samsung's filter guide: find the Filter Reset (3 sec) label on the control panel — it may be a secondary function of another button, and on most models the hold is on the Alarm, Water Filter or Ice/Water button — then press and hold for three seconds until the light resets; the icon turns off or returns to its normal colour, and the reset restarts the six-month timer. Some models require two buttons at once, and touchscreen models use menus instead; Family Hub models reset from the screen: Apps, Fridge Manager, Fridge Settings, Water Filter, tap Reset, then Proceed to confirm. Two facts from the same guide discipline how the reset should be used. The timer is only a guideline — on some models the light is always lit and changes to red after six months — and Samsung's real test of a filter is flow, not the calendar: dispense water once with the filter installed and again with it removed, and if the flow is noticeably slower with the filter installed, replace it even if the light has not turned. Resetting the light on an old filter therefore accomplishes nothing Samsung recognises: the reset exists to restart the timer after replacement, and the guide's sequence is replace first, then hold three seconds. After installation, Samsung also directs dispensing several gallons of water to clear impurities and air before the new filter's water is used.

Cooling Off is not an error — and its exit is a hold, not a reset

A large share of 'refrigerator reset' searches are really this: the display shows OF OF, O FF or OFF OFF, or scrolling temperature bars, the lights work, and nothing cools. Samsung's error page files that display under Cooling Off Mode — also called Demo or Shop mode — and states the fact that ends the panic: service is not required. The mode exists so a refrigerator can be displayed with its cooling system disabled, and any food left in a fridge held in it will spoil, as Samsung's Cooling Off answer page cautions, so exiting it promptly matters more than diagnosing it. The exit Samsung prints on the error page, for the common outside-front panels, is positional rather than named: locate the top two buttons on the left side of the panel and simultaneously touch and hold them for 5–8 seconds, until a chime sounds — a chime pitched differently from a single-button touch — then wait a few moments to confirm the display does not return to Cooling Off; on newer models a third button (the top button on the right side) is also needed, and Samsung advises trying two buttons first. Samsung's dedicated troubleshooting page for this display lists further panel-family variants (holds of about eight seconds, and on some panels six, with named-button versions for panels that have them), and the Family Hub route is in the screen: Apps, Fridge Manager, Fridge Settings, Cooling Off, Deactivate, Proceed. None of these are resets of a fault, because there is no fault: the tell that you have succeeded is not a cleared code but the return of ordinary temperature displays and, within a few moments, a compressor and fans actually running — the sounds this mode exists to silence.

Temperature settings after power returns: what resets, what wanders, and the Power functions

Owners finishing a power interaction often ask what the correct temperatures 'reset to', and Samsung's manuals answer more precisely than the folklore about factory defaults. The basic temperatures printed in Samsung's side-by-side manuals are -4°F for the freezer and 38°F for the fridge compartment, with the freezer settable across roughly 8°F to -14°F on those models by repeated Freezer presses (the display cycles and wraps), and the fridge across 1°C to 7°C — ice cream, one manual warns in passing, may melt at 4°F, which is why freezer settings at the warm end of the range are a food-quality choice, not a neutral one. What matters after a reset is that a power cycle returns the fridge to operating, not that it re-chooses your settings: verify the displayed setpoints against the ones you actually run, because a panel that was interacted with during the fault (Samsung's warning again) may hold a setting nobody intended. The two accelerated functions deserve the same verification, because both are timed, not permanent: Power Freeze, activated by holding Freezer for three seconds, runs the freezer at full speed for up to 50 hours and then returns to the previous temperature on its own — a fridge 'stuck freezing everything' after an outage is usually this function still inside its window, and holding Freezer for three seconds again deactivates it; Power Cool is its fridge-compartment twin, entered by holding the Fridge button for three seconds, meant for rapidly cooling a warm load — Samsung's manual example is produce that needs cooling quickly, or a compartment that has warmed dramatically, for instance after a door was left open — and it is likewise switched off by the same three-second hold. Checking setpoints, then checking for a lit Power Freeze or Power Cool indicator, closes the post-reset inspection: temperatures verified with the display first, and only judged with thermometers once the compartments have had hours to settle.

Key takeaways

• Don't judge a fridge by its display temperatures for the first hours after a reset — verify with thermometers after it settles.
• After any fridge power cycle, check that both fans and the compressor have restarted before assuming a new fault.

Resetting the Samsung refrigerator

Samsung refrigerator codes clear in two ways: a forced restart from the panel (on most models, holding Power Freeze + Power Cool together for about 8–10 seconds resets the display/control — the panel beeps and all segments light briefly) or a full power cycle (unplug for 5–10 minutes). A code that reappears within hours is an active hardware fault: Samsung controls re-run the component self-check continuously, so a returning code means the fan/sensor/compressor condition is still present.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

Facts on this page were checked against manufacturer documentation: www.samsung.com · www.samsung.com · www.samsung.com