Samsung’s appliances share a design language on their displays, which is convenient for the eye and treacherous for anyone searching a code online. The washer list, the dryer list, the dishwasher list, the range and wall oven list and the microwave list are five separate Samsung support articles, and several strings appear on more than one of them with a different meaning each time. This post walks through the collisions we see most, so that you read the right list before you act.
1E and LE: Leak Sensor or Filter
On a Samsung washer, 1E, LE, 1C and LC are grouped as a water level or leakage error: moisture has been detected where it should not be, or the sensor that watches for it has a problem. On a Samsung dishwasher, 1E and IE mean something else entirely, and even there the meaning depends on the wash system. On WaterWall models it is a clogged filter, water not making it through the fine filter. On rotary spray-arm models it is a high temperature heater error. The dishwasher’s own leak code is LC or LE, which is the one string that does mean the same idea on both machines, moisture at a leak sensor. A washer owner who reads the dishwasher explanation will clean a filter that has nothing to do with the problem.
dC and dE: Door or Divider
Every Samsung laundry line uses dC, dE and their variants for a door that is not detected as closed and locked. On a Samsung range with a Flex Duo divided oven, the display can show -dE- or -dC- with dashes around it, and Samsung’s range article says that means the partition is not installed properly, not the door. The range has a separate plain-word message, door, for a door that is not closed. Reading -dC- as a door problem on a Flex Duo range leads to a fruitless check of the door while the divider sits a slot too high.
tE and tC: Which Temperature
On a washer, tE and tC are a thermistor error for the wash water. On a dryer, tS, tC, tO, tE and tE3 are grouped as an issue with temperature or the sensors that measure it, and Samsung’s first instruction is to clean the lint screen and vent. On a dishwasher, tE is a temperature sensor error and the instruction is to empty the machine, add detergent and run a normal cycle. On a Samsung microwave, TE is not a temperature code at all; it is a touch communication error on the control panel. Same two letters, four different parts and four different owner actions.
HC and HE: Heater or Overheating
Washers list HE and HC as a heater problem. Dryers list HC, hE and HC4 under heating errors with the meaning that the dryer is getting too hot, and the cure Samsung gives is airflow, not a part. Dishwashers split the two spellings: HC is a high temperature heater error, the interior is too hot, while HE is a heater error where the temperature is being detected incorrectly. If you own a dishwasher and read the washer page, you will look for a failed heater when Samsung’s dishwasher instruction is to power cycle at the breaker and run a Normal cycle.
C-10, C-20 and C-F0: Range or Microwave
Samsung ranges, wall ovens and microwaves all use C-numbered codes. On the range and wall oven article, C-10 appears during self-diagnosis and can be ignored if the oven heats normally, C-24 is the oven temperature rising faster than normal and C-F0 is a communication error between parts. On the microwave article, C-10, C-11 and C-12 are a gas or sensor error, C-20 to C-22 are the temperature sensor and C-F0 to C-F2 are communication. The numbering overlaps; the parts do not. A C-10 on a microwave has nothing to do with an oven temperature sensor.
How to Search a Samsung Code Safely
Add the appliance type to the search, and when a result opens, check the article title names your machine before you read the meaning. Better still, quote the code and the model number to us and let us read it from the right list. To book, use the page for the appliance that showed the code, for example Samsung dishwasher repair, and say exactly what the display showed, dashes and all.