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It used to be that refrigerators were just chilled boxes that you stored your food in. Nowadays, fridges come with features like ice makers, built-in screens and speakers, and internal cameras to help you keep track of your remaining food. If something malfunctions inside your fridge, it may even be capable of displaying an error code.
If you have any model of LG refrigerator, you may end up encountering the “Er rF” error code at some point. This error code indicates that the refrigerator’s evaporator fan motor has stopped working for some reason.
Today, we’ll explain what to do if your refrigerator gives you an Er rF error code, and we’ll also go over the other error codes you might encounter with an LG refrigerator and what they mean.
Related: 5 Reasons Why LG Refrigerator Is Not Cooling
Causes of the Er rF Error Code
An Er rF error code, as we’ve mentioned, indicates that there’s some kind of problem with the fridge’s fan motor; specifically, that the fan motor isn’t running when it should be. As for why this might be happening, there are a few different reasons.
It could be an issue with the fan motor itself for sure; it’s possible that either the fan has crapped out on its own, or there could be a buildup of ice over the motor that is clogging it up. It could also be an issue with the fridge’s control board failing to deliver the right voltage to the fan.
Let’s go over each of these issues and explain what causes them and how to deal with them.
Buildup of Ice on the Fan
Most modern fridges actually contain a couple of fans. One of these fans is usually located under the fridge, and is responsible for pulling air into the fridge and cooling the compressor. The other fan is usually found deeper in the fridge and is used to draw air across the evaporator coils.
In most cases, it’ll probably be the evaporator fan that gets clogged up with ice, since it’s located well within the interior of the fridge and is in the closest proximity to the cold air coming from the freezer.
Why It Fails:
The source of ice on your fan can vary, but by examining the appearance of the ice you may be able to determine where it’s coming from.
Related: Why Your Ice Maker Is Making Grinding Noises
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If the ice on your fan is white and frosty in appearance, it means that there’s a leak somewhere in the fridge that is letting in warm, moist air. If the ice is clear, however, it means that water is leaking onto the fan from a source within the fridge, most likely the icemaker.
How to Fix It:
Fixing this issue isn’t too difficult, but is a bit tedious. You’ll also need to make sure you have somewhere to store the food in your fridge so that it doesn’t go bad.
- To deal with a frosted-over fridge fan, remove all the food and ice from your fridge, and unplug the fridge from the wall.
- Leave the fridge and freezer doors open, and let the fridge sit this way for at least 8 hours. This will allow the ice that has built up over the fan to melt.
- While waiting for the ice to melt, it’s a good idea to keep some towels around to soak up any excess water.
- You may want to leave a towel or two inside the fridge and lay a few more around the outside.
- Once all the ice has melted, wipe down any remaining water in and around the fridge and plug it back in.
- It’ll take a while for the fridge to reach its operational temperature again, so refrain from putting your food back in the fridge for the next day or two.
If all goes well, your fridge’s fan should be working again, but if you don’t want to problem to return you’ll need to fix the source of the problem. This means determining where the leak came from.
Related: Why is Fridge Compressor Running But Not Cooling?
- Start by checking the gaskets on your fridge and freezer doors to see if they’re sealing properly.
- Look to see if they have any cracks or if they feel loose in certain spots. If they do, you should have the door gaskets replaced.
- If the door gaskets aren’t the issue, check your fridge’s ice dispenser, if it has one. Examine the flap of the dispenser and see if any water is leaking out of it.
If you can’t determine the source of the ice buildup inside your fridge, your best option at this point is to call a repairman to take a look at it.
Faulty Fan
The fans in your fridge aren’t susceptible to just freezing, however. Being that they are mostly mechanical in nature, it’s entirely possible for your fridge fans to fail on their own.
Why It Fails:
There could be a few reasons why your fan motor has failed. It’s possible that the fan has become rusted over, if there is a small water leak somewhere within the fridge. It could also be that the motor has been contaminated with dirt or debris, or that the bearings in the motor have worn out.
Related: 5 Reasons Why Whirlpool Fridge Is Not Cooling
How to Fix It:
Before you begin digging through your fridge’s guts looking for a busted fan motor, it’s a good idea to run some diagnostics to determine if your fan has, in fact, stopped working. Luckily, LG fridges have a diagnostic mode you can activate to test the fridge’s various features.
Most newer LG fridges have a single button for activating diagnostic mode (look for the button labelled “Test“). Simply press the “Test” button once, and you’ll activate the diagnostic mode. From there, you can operate a variety of your fridge’s components, including the fridge damper, the LEDs in the fridge’s display, and of course the fridge’s various fans.
If you’ve determined that your fan motor needs to be replaced, start by unplugging your fridge. You’re obviously going to be handling electrical equipment when removing the motor, so for your safety you need to make sure that your fridge isn’t drawing a current.
- Now, you’ll have to partially disassemble your fridge in order to get at the motor. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this, now’s the time to call a repair technician.
- If you know what you’re doing, however, you can find the fan under your fridge’s back cover plate.
- You may have to remove your fridge’s ice making machine before you can access the fan motor.
- Once you’ve located the motor, you can assess the situation to see what needs to be done.
- If the fan is visibly rusted or otherwise broken, you can swap the old fan motor out for a new one.
- If the fan seems to be in good shape, it could mean that the problem lies with your fridge’s control board.
Faulty Control Board
The control board in your fridge is a circuit board that controls the fridge’s functions. The control board keeps track of stuff like internal temperature, how many times the doors have been opened, how long the compressor has been running for, and so on.
Why It Fails:
Control boards don’t tend to fail too often, but it can happen. The control board in your fridge might fail if it is exposed to too much moisture or heat, or if the board was exposed to a static discharge while it was being made.
Related: Samsung Fridge Not Cooling After Power Outage – How To RESET?
How to Fix It:
A faulty control board can’t be fixed, but it can be replaced. First, however, you should check the control board to make sure it has indeed failed.
You can do so by using a voltmeter to check the voltage coming from the circuit board. If the voltage is too low, it means the board is dead and should be swapped out.
A new control board can be a bit expensive, and most of the ones for LG fridges seem to cost between $150-300. However, that’s still significantly less expensive than a new fridge, so we’d recommend at least trying to replace your control board before buying a new fridge outright.
Other LG Refrigerator Error Codes
There are a ton of other error codes than an
- An IS error code indicates a problem with either the icemaker fan motor or the icemaker sensor.
- A 22 error code indicates a problem with the compressor relay.
- A 67 error code means something is preventing the fridge door from closing properly.
- A CF error code indicates a problem with the feedback signal from the condenser fan.
- A CO error code means there has been a communication error between the control board and the digital display.
- A dH error code means the fridge is taking too long to defrost.
- A dS error code indicates a problem with the defrosting sensor.
- An FF error code means there’s a problem with the freezer fan.
- An FS error code indicates a problem with the freezer sensor.
- A gF error code means there’s either a problem with the flow sensor or the water pressure inside the ice maker is too low.
- An HS code indicates a problem with the humidity sensor.
- A 1F or F1 error code indicates a problem with the ice maker fan.
- An It error code indicates a problem with the ice maker.
- An rS error code indicates a problem with the fridge sensor.
- An rt error code indicates a problem with the temperature sensor.
- An SS error code indicates a problem with the pantry sensor.
- An Ad, dr, or dL error code indicates a problem with the door motor.
- An AS error code indicates a problem with the reed switch.
- An Sb error code means the fridge is in Sabbath mode.
An Od error code indicates a communication problem between the fridge and a connected Wi-Fi modem.
My LG has two evaporators and three fans. Is there a different code for the Fridge fan and the freezer fan one in the fridge and two in the freezer. Is t possible for the fan to be running and the fan sensor to be out?
I can not answer your question, sorry
But i have a service manual for LG fridge here