--- title: "Refrigerator not cooling" description: "Samsung refrigerator not cooling: the most common call on this badge, and the one where the first check is free." url: "https://samsungmiami.support/symptoms/refrigerator-not-cooling/" date_modified: "2026-09-04" Appliance type: "Freezers, Refrigerators" --- # Samsung refrigerator not cooling ### The two checks that cost nothing Look for a mode before you look for a part. OF OF, O FF or scrolling temperature bars on the display is Cooling Off mode — sometimes called Demo or Shop mode — where the panel is alive and the compressor is deliberately switched off. It is cleared by holding the top two buttons on the left of the panel for five to eight seconds until a chime sounds, and it is free. Then look at the load: a cabinet packed to the back wall blocks the vents the cold arrives through and misses temperature with nothing broken at all. ### What it usually means, by the kind of Samsung appliance Samsung sells one appliance in several forms, and the same behavior points at different things on each of them. A built-in side-by-side and an integrated column are not the same service situation, and a dual-fuel range and an induction range fail in different halves. - **French door and 4-Door Flex** — One cooling system usually serves both compartments through a damper, so a warm fridge with a cold freezer is an airflow question rather than a cooling one. On a 4-Door Flex, check what the convertible compartment has been set to before anything else. - **Side-by-side** — The two compartments are tall and narrow and the air path between them is long. Frost on the evaporator shows up as a fridge side that drifts warm days before the freezer side notices anything. - **Top and bottom freezer** — The simplest cabinets Samsung sells and the ones where a door seal does the most damage, because the fresh-food door is large and gets opened constantly. ### Why a mode gets checked before a part Every make has a showroom mode. Samsung’s is unusual in how easy it is to trigger and how convincing the result is: the panel lights, the buttons respond, the interior light works, and the compressor never runs. It is displayed as OF OF or O FF, or as temperature bars scrolling across the panel, and Samsung publishes the button combination that clears it. We have arrived at houses where the answer was eight seconds of holding two buttons, and it is not a rare visit. ### What the fan codes really mean here Samsung publishes 21E for the freezer fan and 22E or 22C for the fresh-food fan, and in both cases their own explanation is a fan that has iced up rather than a motor that has failed. That distinction is the difference between a defrost and a gasket on one hand, and a part on the other. It also explains a repair that keeps coming back: clearing the ice without finding what let the moisture in buys a few weeks. ### The order that saves money Mode, load, gaskets, fans, defrost, condenser, sealed system. Five of those seven are cheap or free, and in this city most calls end inside the first five. Nobody should be quoting a compressor over the phone. Cooling Off mode Samsung's showroom mode. Everything lights up, nothing cools. Free to clear, and the first thing we ask about. An iced evaporator fan Samsung publishes 21E and 22E for the two fans and says themselves that the usual cause is a fan frozen up after a door was left open or a gasket let go. The defrost circuit Frost builds on the evaporator until air cannot pass. The compartment gets warmer over days rather than suddenly. A door that stopped sealing In a Miami kitchen a gasket that has lost its grip lets warm wet air in all day, and the cabinet never catches up. A blocked condenser A coil that cannot shed heat makes the compressor run continuously and still miss temperature. The sealed system Real, and rare. Measured before it is priced, and we will say honestly when replacement is the better answer. Read the display for a mode, not just a code OF OF, O FF, OFF OFF or scrolling bars is Cooling Off mode. It is not an error and no service is needed. Measure both compartments A thermometer on a middle shelf in each, not a hand and not the panel. Which one is warm, and by how much, decides everything after this. Listen for the fans With the door switch held in, you should hear air moving. Silence in one compartment and not the other is a very short diagnosis. Look at the coil The condenser is at the back or underneath. If you cannot see through it, that is where the afternoon goes. Run a hand round both gaskets Closed on a dollar bill, the seal should drag on the way out all the way round. The lights are on and the food is warm What it usually means Cooling Off mode looks exactly like a broken refrigerator and costs nothing to clear Two fan codes, and the usual cause of both is ice rather than a dead motor The sealed system is last and it is measured, never assumed The two checks that cost nothing Look for a mode before you look for a part. OF OF, O FF or scrolling temperature bars on the display is Cooling Off mode — sometimes called Demo or Shop mode — where the panel is alive and the compressor is deliberately switched off. It is cleared by holding the top two buttons on the left of the panel for five to eight seconds until a chime sounds, and it is free. Then look at the load: a cabinet packed to the back wall blocks the vents the cold arrives through and misses temperature with nothing broken at all. What it usually means, by the kind of Samsung appliance Samsung sells one appliance in several forms, and the same behavior points at different things on each of them. A built-in side-by-side and an integrated column are not the same service situation, and a dual-fuel range and an induction range fail in different halves. French door and 4-Door Flex — One cooling system usually serves both compartments through a damper, so a warm fridge with a cold freezer is an airflow question rather than a cooling one. On a 4-Door Flex, check what the convertible compartment has been set to before anything else. Side-by-side — The two compartments are tall and narrow and the air path between them is long. Frost on the evaporator shows up as a fridge side that drifts warm days before the freezer side notices anything. Top and bottom freezer — The simplest cabinets Samsung sells and the ones where a door seal does the most damage, because the fresh-food door is large and gets opened constantly. Why a mode gets checked before a part Every make has a showroom mode. Samsung’s is unusual in how easy it is to trigger and how convincing the result is: the panel lights, the buttons respond, the interior light works, and the compressor never runs. It is displayed as OF OF or O FF, or as temperature bars scrolling across the panel, and Samsung publishes the button combination that clears it. We have arrived at houses where the answer was eight seconds of holding two buttons, and it is not a rare visit. What the fan codes really mean here Samsung publishes 21E for the freezer fan and 22E or 22C for the fresh-food fan, and in both cases their own explanation is a fan that has iced up rather than a motor that has failed. That distinction is the difference between a defrost and a gasket on one hand, and a part on the other. It also explains a repair that keeps coming back: clearing the ice without finding what let the moisture in buys a few weeks. The order that saves money Mode, load, gaskets, fans, defrost, condenser, sealed system. Five of those seven are cheap or free, and in this city most calls end inside the first five. Nobody should be quoting a compressor over the phone. ### It runs constantly and it is still not cold. That usually means cold is being made and not delivered, or that the cabinet cannot shed the heat it is producing. Ice on the evaporator, a stopped fan or a packed condenser all give exactly this. It is also a good sign for the repair: continuous running means the compressor is alive. ### Someone quoted me a compressor over the phone. Nobody can reach that conclusion without measuring at the appliance, and on this make there is a free explanation — Cooling Off mode — that produces the same symptom. It is the most over-diagnosed repair on a cold appliance in this city. --- **[Read full article: Refrigerator not cooling](https://samsungmiami.support/symptoms/refrigerator-not-cooling/)**