Samsung’s dishwasher article defines LC and LE as a leakage error: the dishwasher’s leak sensor detects moisture. It adds that the dishwasher will attempt to drain automatically, and on WaterWall models it suggests checking whether the water reflector is blocked. That automatic drain is why an LC dishwasher often seems to run its pump on its own after the code appears; it is trying to empty the tub so that whatever is leaking has less to leak. Whether the moisture came from a genuine leak or from something more innocent is the whole question, and it is answered from the outside before anything is opened.
Make It Safe Before You Look
With the dishwasher switched off at its breaker, and the water supply valve under the sink closed, you can look without the pump restarting or a valve opening while your hand is near the base. Do those two things first, every time, even if the floor looks dry. The leak sensor sits in a tray under the tub with the wiring and the pump beside it, and that tray is not a place to reach into on a live machine.
Where Innocent Water Comes From
A dishwasher that was overfilled with rinse aid, or had a bottle of it spilled on the door, drips concentrated surfactant into the base over the next cycles and the sensor reads it as a leak. A cycle interrupted with the door pulled open sharply sends water over the door lip. A unit installed against a warm cabinet side or over a heat register condenses on the outer tub and drips. A new installation whose drain hose was not looped up under the counter can siphon back into the base. None of these is a failed part, and all of them dry out; if the base is dry when you look and the code returns days later, the source is intermittent and is one of these before it is a hose.
Where Real Leaks Come From
Pull the toe-kick panel off, which on Samsung models is held by two screws at the bottom front, and shine a torch into the base with the power still off. Water pooled at the front and a wet lower door seal means the door gasket or the lower door seal; water at the back means the supply connection, the drain hose or the sump; water on the sides means the tub seal at the pump or a spray arm mount. Look for mineral trails, which mark where water has been running for a while. Check the fill hose connection at the inlet valve for a drip, since that is where a compression nut works loose. A cracked sump, a split pump seal or a perished door gasket are all parts, and all are replaced with the dishwasher pulled out.
WaterWall Models
On the discontinued WaterWall models the spray bar slides across the tub on a track with a reflector behind it. A reflector that is jammed by a dropped utensil sprays water at the door seal from an angle it was not designed for, and Samsung’s note on LC is about exactly that. With the power off, open the door, look at the reflector and the track for anything caught in them, and clear it. A reflector that will not move at all shows 7E rather than LC, and that is a motor or sensor problem for a visit.
Drying Out and Resetting
Once the source is found and dealt with, the base has to be dry before the code will clear. With the power off, mop the tray with a cloth or leave the toe-kick off overnight with a fan on the floor. Restore power and run a short cycle while watching the base with a torch. If LC returns with a bone-dry tray, the sensor or its connector is the suspect. Do not run the dishwasher repeatedly with water in the base to see whether the code goes away, because the pump motor and the wiring sit in that water. Book a Samsung dishwasher repair and say where the water was and whether the floor around the unit has been wet.