LG refrigerators report faults with a two-part display, and two of the pairs owners see most are Er FF and Er rF. LG's code list defines FF as the freezer fan motor and rF as the refrigerator, or fresh-food, fan motor. The control expected the fan to run at a commanded speed and got no confirmation back. A dead motor can do that. Far more often on an LG, ice can.
Why a Fan Code Is Usually an Ice Problem
The freezer fan sits behind the rear panel of the freezer compartment, pulling air across the evaporator coil and pushing it around the cabinet. If the automatic defrost falls behind, frost builds on the coil, grows toward the fan and eventually stops the blades. The fan motor is fine; it is frozen in. The same thing happens in the fresh-food section on models with their own evaporator there. So the code tells you which compartment, and the underlying question is whether the defrost system has been keeping up.
What You Can Hear and See
Stand by the open freezer with the room quiet. On most models the fan stops when the door opens and restarts after the door has been closed for a while, so close it, wait, and listen through the cabinet. A healthy fan is a soft rush of air; a fan touching ice ticks or grinds; a frozen one is silent. Look at the rear panel of the compartment. Frost on the panel itself, or a sheet of ice at the bottom of the freezer floor, points at defrost. A fan that is loud and running while the code shows points at the motor or its wiring.
The Owner-Level Reset
Unplug the refrigerator, or switch it off at its breaker if the plug is not reachable, wait a few minutes and restore power. That clears the display. If the code returns within a day, nothing was fixed and the pattern is the useful information. If frost is the cause, a full manual defrost lets the machine run again for a while: with the refrigerator unplugged, move the food out to a cooler with ice packs, leave both doors open and towels on the floor, and let the ice melt naturally over several hours. Do not chip at ice or use a heat gun; the evaporator behind the panel is thin aluminium carrying refrigerant.
Handle the Food by Temperature, Not by Looks
A refrigerator that has been struggling has probably been warmer than it showed for a while. The FDA's guidance sets the line at 40°F and two hours: perishables that have spent longer than that above it should not be kept. Use a thermometer in the compartment and in the cooler rather than judging by whether things feel cold or look normal, and treat frozen food that has thawed fully and warmed as spoiled even if it refreezes later.
What Belongs to the Technician
A manual defrost is a reprieve, not a repair. If ice was the cause, something in the defrost circuit, the heater, the defrost sensor or the control, failed to do its job and will fail again. Diagnosing that means removing the rear compartment panel to reach the evaporator, heater and fan with the refrigerator disconnected from power, and checking components that sit inside the sealed-system area. That is a visit. Book an LG refrigerator repair with the exact code, whether you heard the fan, how much frost you found, and the model number from the plate inside the fresh-food compartment.