The remote for a Gree air conditioner carries more symbols than most people ever press. There is a snowflake and a sun that everybody recognises, and then a row of small icons nobody explains, one of which is quietly the reason the room smells stale.
This page sets out every Gree air conditioner symbol in plain language, taken from Gree owner manuals rather than from guesswork. Start with the chart, then read the section that matches whatever is showing on your screen.
Gree air conditioner symbols at a glance
Here is the quick answer. Gree fits several remote models and not every button appears on every one, so if something on yours is not listed, check the sections further down on locked remotes and on faults. If your system is a different brand, our general guide to air conditioner symbols covers the ones every manufacturer shares.
Gree Mode, Fan and Airflow Symbols
| Symbol | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Snowflake | Cool mode. The unit moves heat out of the room. | Set a temperature below the room temperature. The range is 16 to 30 degrees. |
| Sun | Heat mode. Only on reverse cycle models. | Expect a wait before warm air arrives. The fan holds off so it does not blow cold. |
| Water droplet | Dry mode. The unit dehumidifies. | Fan speed is locked to low. The fan also pauses at times, which is normal. |
| Fan blades | Fan mode. Air is circulated only. | No cooling and no heating. If the room will not cool, check you are not on this. |
| AUTO | Auto mode. The unit picks cooling or heating. | Temperature cannot be adjusted in auto on most models. |
| Bars or blocks | Fan speed. Auto, low, medium or high. | Press FAN to cycle through them. More bars means more airflow. |
| Arrows, up and down | Up and down swing. The louvre that aims the air. | Hold the button for two seconds to set a fixed angle instead of swinging. |
| Arrows, left and right | Left and right swing, on models that have it. | Same idea, across the room rather than up and down. |
| Crescent moon | Sleep mode. | The unit eases the temperature overnight. Works in cool, heat and dry. |
Feature and Timer Symbols on a Gree Remote
| Symbol | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| TURBO | Turbo. Maximum output. | Super high fan speed to reach the set temperature quickly. |
| I FEEL | The remote reads the temperature where you are sitting. | Leave the remote in the room, not in a drawer. It reports every 10 minutes. |
| X FAN or BLOW | The fan keeps running after you switch off. | Runs 10 minutes to dry the indoor unit. This is the anti smell button. |
| Padlock | Child lock. The keypad is locked. | Press plus and minus together to unlock. |
| Clock | The clock is being set, or the time is shown. | Nothing to do. This is not a timer. |
| T ON or ON blinking | Timer on is set. | The unit will start by itself. Clear it if you did not mean to set it. |
| T OFF or OFF blinking | Timer off is set. | The unit will stop by itself. |
Gree Indicator and Display Symbols
| Symbol | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 8 degrees | 8 degree heating, in heat mode. | Holds a minimum of 8 degrees in an empty property. |
| Wifi | Wifi is switched on. | Press MODE and TURBO together to toggle it. |
| Small bulb | Light. The brightness of the unit display. | Turns the indoor unit display light on or off. Nothing to do with operation. |
| Leaf or HEALTH | Health, sometimes called scavenging, on models that have it. | An air treatment function. Switch it on or off as you prefer. |
| SE on the display | Energy saving is running in cool mode. | The unit is adjusting the set temperature to save power. |
| CL on the display | Auto clean is running. | Let it finish. It cycles between cooling and heating to clean the unit. |
| Small signal mark | The remote is sending a command. | Nothing to do. It blinks once each time you press a button. |
Every meaning above comes from Gree owner manuals. Where a function varies by model, the page says so rather than guessing.
The five Gree mode symbols and what each one actually does
Mode is the setting that matters most. Choose the wrong one and nothing else on the remote will make the room comfortable. The MODE button cycles through all five.
Snowflake, the cool mode symbol
The snowflake is cool mode, and it is where most Gree units sit all summer. The system takes heat out of the room and pushes it outside.
The setting range on a Gree remote is 16 to 30 degrees. Each press of plus or minus moves it a single degree, and holding the button moves it faster.
One habit worth breaking. Setting 16 degrees does not cool the room faster, it simply asks the unit to keep going until the room reaches 16. If you want speed, use turbo and leave the temperature where you actually want it.
Sun, the heat mode symbol
The sun is heat mode, and it appears on reverse cycle models. The system runs backwards, drawing heat out of the outdoor air and delivering it inside.
Two behaviours in heat mode look like faults and are not. First, the indoor fan will not start until the indoor heat exchanger has warmed up, which the manual describes as a delay of up to about three minutes to prevent blowing cold air at you. Second, when frost forms on the outdoor unit in cold weather, the unit runs an automatic defrost and heating stops for roughly eight to ten minutes.
So a Gree that blows nothing for the first few minutes, or pauses partway through a cold morning, is following its programming rather than failing.
Water droplet, the dry mode symbol
The droplet is dry mode, and it is the symbol most people never press. Instead of chasing a temperature, the unit pulls moisture out of the air.
On a humid Melbourne evening when the room is not really hot but feels heavy, this is the right setting. Fan speed is locked to low in dry mode and cannot be adjusted, which is why it runs so quietly.
Dry mode also stops the indoor fan for periods of roughly three to twelve minutes. That is deliberate, and it stops the moisture already collected from being blown straight back into the room.
Fan blades, the fan mode symbol
The fan symbol means the indoor fan runs and nothing else happens. No cooling, no heating, very little electricity.
This matters more than it sounds. If the room is not getting cooler and the remote shows the fan symbol rather than the snowflake, the unit is not broken. It is on the wrong mode, and that is one of the common call outs that turns out to be no fault at all.
AUTO
Auto lets the unit choose between cooling and heating based on the room. On most Gree models the temperature cannot be adjusted while auto is selected, which surprises people who assume the plus button has stopped working.
Some models allow it to be unlocked. With the unit switched off, pressing plus and SET together for five seconds enables temperature adjustment in auto on those models.
Fan speed and airflow symbols
Fan speed shows as a row of bars or blocks. The FAN button cycles auto, low, medium, high and back to auto. On auto the unit raises and lowers the speed as the room changes.
Swing is shown as arrows. Up and down swing is on every model, and left and right swing appears on some. Holding the swing button for two seconds or more stops the louvre at a fixed angle rather than letting it sweep.
A practical tip for summer. Aim the air high rather than straight at the sofa. Cool air falls, so pointing it towards the ceiling mixes the room more evenly and stops one person freezing while the far corner stays warm.
Comfort and energy saving symbols
TURBO
Turbo runs the fan at super high speed to reach the set temperature in the shortest time. It works in both cool and heat.
Use it when you walk into a hot house, then let it drop back. Turbo is about speed, not about a lower final temperature.
Crescent moon, sleep mode
Sleep adjusts the temperature gradually overnight and is available in cool, heat and dry. On many Gree remotes there are three sleep settings rather than one.
Sleep 1 raises the temperature in cool mode by one degree an hour, up to two degrees. The second setting, Sleep 2, follows a preset temperature curve built into the unit. Sleep 3 lets you build your own curve across the night on models that support it.
I FEEL
I FEEL is the symbol worth knowing about. Switch it on and the remote measures the temperature where the remote is, then sends that reading to the unit every 10 minutes. The unit then works to the temperature where you are sitting rather than the temperature up on the wall.
There is a catch that causes real complaints. If the remote is left in a sunny spot, in a drawer, or in another room, the unit chases a temperature that has nothing to do with where anybody is. A Gree that seems to overcool or undercool for no reason is very often an I FEEL remote left somewhere silly.
HEALTH and the light symbol
Health, sometimes called scavenging, is an air treatment function on the models that carry it. It is switched on and off from the remote and does not change heating or cooling.
The light symbol controls the brightness of the display on the indoor unit itself. It is useful in a bedroom and it has no effect on how the system runs.
What does X FAN mean on a Gree air conditioner?
X FAN, shown as BLOW on some remotes, is the most useful button on a Gree and the one almost nobody presses.
Press it in cool or dry mode and the indoor fan keeps running for 10 minutes after you switch the unit off. That runs the moisture off the indoor coil instead of leaving it sitting there damp.
Damp coil, dark box, warm room. That combination is where the musty smell from an air conditioner comes from. X FAN is the built in answer to it, and using it every time costs nothing.
Two limits to know. X FAN is not available in auto, fan or heat mode, and on some remotes it is reached by holding the FAN button for two seconds rather than by a button of its own.
Timer symbols and the clock
Gree separates the clock from the timers, and the two get confused constantly.
The clock symbol is just the time of day. Press CLOCK, then adjust with plus and minus within five seconds. It does nothing on its own.
T ON, or a blinking ON, means an auto start timer is set. T OFF, or a blinking OFF, means an auto stop timer is set. Both are cleared through the same button that set them.
If your air conditioner keeps switching itself on or off at odd moments, look for these symbols before assuming there is a fault. An unwanted timer explains far more of these calls than a failing control board does.
What does the padlock symbol mean on a Gree remote?
The padlock is the child lock, and while it is showing the remote sends no commands at all. Press a button and the padlock icon simply blinks at you.
The unlock is the same as the lock. Press plus and minus at the same time, and the padlock disappears.
This one catches people out because it is easy to trigger by accident when a remote is dropped or sat on. A Gree remote that suddenly does nothing is far more often locked than broken.
The 8 degree heating symbol
The 8 degree symbol appears in heat mode and holds the room at a minimum of about 8 degrees. It is designed for a property left empty in genuinely cold weather rather than for daily use.
Many Melbourne homes will never need it. It is worth recognising all the same, because a unit sitting in 8 degree heating appears to be heating very weakly and doing nothing else, which looks like a fault and is not one.
Wifi and the letters on the display
The wifi symbol shows when wifi is on. Pressing MODE and TURBO together toggles it, and holding the same combination for about 10 seconds resets the wifi connection, which is the first thing to try when an app has stopped connecting.
Two sets of letters appear where the temperature normally sits.
- SE means energy saving is running in cool mode. The unit is adjusting the set temperature to trim power use.
- CL means auto clean is running. On models with it, holding MODE and FAN for five seconds with the unit switched off starts a cycle that alternates cooling and heating to clean the unit.
Why is my Gree air conditioner remote not working?
Before assuming the remote has failed, work through these in order. Most remotes come back to life somewhere in the middle of the list.
- Check the padlock symbol. Press plus and minus together to unlock.
- Replace the batteries with two fresh AAA cells, fitted the right way around.
- Stand closer. The manuals give an effective range of up to about 8 metres, and that assumes a clear path.
- Clear the line of sight. A cupboard door left open or a tall pot plant is enough to block the signal.
- Move away from fluorescent lights and cordless phones, which the manuals specifically name as sources of interference.
- If the unit was only just switched off, wait. A Gree will not restart immediately and needs about three minutes.
If none of that helps, the fault is in the remote or in the receiver on the indoor unit, and that is a call worth making rather than a problem to keep poking at.
Which Gree symbols point at a real fault?
Almost everything on a Gree remote describes a setting rather than a problem. A few situations are worth treating differently.
- A light on the indoor unit is flashing while the remote looks normal. A flashing indicator on the unit itself is the unit reporting something, not the remote.
- A letter and number code appears where the temperature should be, such as a code starting with E, F, H or U. That is an error code, not a setting.
- The snowflake is showing, the temperature is set below the room, the filter is clean, and nothing happens.
- Water appears where it should not be, on the wall below the unit or dripping from the indoor fascia.
- The unit runs but the room never reaches the set temperature on a mild day, which often points at airflow or refrigerant rather than at the controls.
Those are worth a technician looking at. Everything else on this page is a setting you can change from the sofa.
A note on Gree caravan and portable units
Gree builds caravan and portable air conditioners as well as wall mounted splits, and the symbols carry across. Mode icons, fan speed, swing, sleep and turbo behave the same way on a rooftop caravan unit as they do on a split system in a lounge room.
What differs is the physical layout and the controller, since some caravan units use a wall panel rather than a handheld remote. The meanings stay the same even when the buttons move.
Getting your Gree back to doing its job
Most symbols on a Gree remote are the unit telling you what it has been asked to do. A snowflake, a droplet, a padlock, an X FAN icon quietly protecting you from a smell you would otherwise be paying somebody to fix.
Read the chart at the top of this page, match what is on your screen, and in most cases the answer is a button press away. Worth knowing too is how often you should service your air conditioner, because the symbols only cover the part of the system you can see.
When the symbols all look right and the room still will not behave, that is the point where guessing costs more than asking. We send a licensed technician who works on Gree split, multi head and ducted systems across Melbourne, and the price is confirmed before any work starts.
If the symbols are set correctly and the air coming out is still not cold, the cause sits further in than the remote, and our guide on why an air conditioner is not blowing cool air covers what to check.
Booking is straightforward. Our air conditioner service in Melbourne covers diagnosis and repair on every major brand sold here, and you can request a quote without committing to a visit.
For general advice on staying safe around electrical appliances at home, see Energy Safe Victoria.
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Reviewed by AC repair and service specialist on 22 October 2026. How we write our articles