Samsung 4C means the machine is not filling with water properly, or is filling too slowly. The control has timed out waiting for the water level to rise. On older Samsung models the same fault can show as 4E.
Safe checks, in order
- Check the tap is fully open. The washing machine tap behind the machine gets knocked during cleaning or plumbing work, and a half-open tap is enough to trigger 4C. Turn it fully on.
- Straighten the inlet hose. Pull the machine out gently and look for a kink where the hose bends behind it, especially if the machine was pushed back recently.
- Rinse the inlet mesh filter. Turn the tap off, unscrew the inlet hose at the machine end, and you will see a small mesh filter in the port. Pull it out with pliers, rinse the grit and scale out under a tap, refit it and reconnect the hose firmly.
- Check your water pressure. Run the kitchen tap. If pressure is low everywhere, there may be work on the mains or a problem with your own supply, and the machine is only reporting it.
- Try a different programme. Run a short rinse. If it fills on one programme and not another, note which — that detail helps us.
What usually causes 4C
- The tap off, partly open, or a failed tap that looks open but is not.
- Low mains pressure, common at peak times in some estates and in top-floor flats.
- A kinked or squashed inlet hose.
- The inlet mesh filter clogged with grit and scale. This is a hard-water pattern: homes normally supplied by Leixlip, around 200 mg/L, and by Bog of the Ring, around 336 mg/L and very hard, clog mesh filters far sooner than homes in softer Vartry and Ballymore areas at around 75 mg/L.
- A failed inlet valve — the coil has gone, or the valve is stuck with scale and will not open.
- In a cold snap, a frozen or airlocked hose in an unheated utility or garage.
What it is not
4C names a fault family — fill — not a guaranteed part. The same code appears for a closed tap and for a dead valve, and Samsung models vary in how many valves they have and how the code is timed. Do not order a valve on the strength of the code alone. This page covers not filling; the related symptom page is washing machine overfilling, which also deals with fill faults at the other extreme.
Before you book — two details that save time
First, tell us whether the machine fills a little and then stops, or does not fill at all. A machine that starts filling and gives up points more to pressure or a partly blocked mesh; one that never starts points more to the valve or the machine not calling for water. Second, note whether the problem began after plumbing work, a water outage, or moving the machine. Those three events account for a large share of 4C calls we attend in Dublin — a tap left half closed by a plumber, grit in the mesh after mains work, or a hose kinked when the machine went back. None of that changes the price, but it gets us to the cause faster on the one visit. A related job worth doing while the hose is off is cleaning the pump filter — grit that reaches the mesh often reaches there too. Our guide to cleaning the washing machine filter and pump shows the safe way to do it, with the power off and a tray ready for the water that always comes out. If your checks above fix the code, that is the best outcome — no visit, no bill, and you know what to check next time it appears.
The priced fix
At the machine we confirm pressure at the hose, test the mesh and the valve coils, and check the machine is calling for water when it should. An inlet valve replacement sits inside our standard band: €149–€249 all-in, including the €79 call-out, which is credited in full against the repair. A fixed written price is given before work, there is no second call-out charge, and the repair carries a 1-year workmanship warranty. If the machine is not worth fixing, you pay only €79 with the verdict in writing. See Samsung repairs in Dublin and the cost guide. Prices checked November 2026. Ring 645 465-6305 or book a repair.
