Dishwasher Not Draining: Water Left in the Tub

A dishwasher that finishes a cycle with an inch of cloudy water sitting in the bottom, or one that stalls partway through with the tub full, has a drainage problem — and on every major brand, that problem eventually earns its own fault code if it isn't cleared.

What this looks like

The most common version: you open the door after a completed cycle and there's standing water pooled around the filter instead of a dry tub. A second version is a cycle that stops mid-run, sometimes with a code already on the display, sometimes just sitting quietly with water inside. A third is water backing up into the sink basin next to the dishwasher, or gurgling from a garbage disposal, which points at the shared drain line rather than the dishwasher itself. All three trace back to the same handful of causes: something is physically blocking water from leaving the tub.

Most likely causes, ranked

1. A clogged filter assembly. By far the most common cause across Bosch, Samsung, LG, Whirlpool, and KitchenAid alike. Food debris, labels, and small bits of glass collect in the removable filter at the bottom of the tub and slow or block drainage entirely.
2. A kinked, crushed, or badly routed drain hose. Behind-the-unit hoses get pinched during installation or when the dishwasher is pushed back into its cabinet space, and a hose that isn't looped high enough can also siphon water back in instead of holding it out.
3. A garbage disposal knockout plug that was never removed. On a new install, or after a disposal swap, the small plastic plug inside the disposal's dishwasher inlet has to be knocked out or the drain line is a dead end.
4. A blocked air gap fitting on the sink or countertop, if your installation uses one instead of (or in addition to) a high loop.
5. Debris jammed in the sump or a failing drain pump. Once the filter, hose, and disposal are all confirmed clear, a stuck pump cover, jammed impeller, or a genuinely failed drain pump or solenoid is what's left.

Which error codes this can show as

If the drain problem is bad enough or persistent enough, most brands eventually put a specific code on the display rather than just leaving water in the tub silently:

• Bosch: E24 (drain pump ran but water level didn't drop) and E25 (drain pump blocked or its cover isn't seated)
• Samsung: 5E / SE (also shown as 5C, SC, or SR on some units — all the same drain-fault family)
• LG: OE, LG's outlet/drain error
• Whirlpool: F9E1, a long-drain fault
• KitchenAid: F9E1, the same long-drain fault as Whirlpool

If your display is showing one of those already, that page has model-specific detail; the checks below apply regardless of whether a code has appeared yet.

What you can check yourself

1. Remove the bottom rack, then twist and lift out the filter assembly and rinse it thoroughly under running water, scrubbing off any caked-on residue
2. Wipe out the sump area underneath where the filter sits before reinstalling it, and make sure it locks or twists fully back into place
3. Trace the drain hose from the back of the dishwasher to the sink connection and check for kinks, crushing against the cabinet, or a loop that sits too low
4. If the dishwasher drains through a garbage disposal, confirm the knockout plug was removed and run the disposal briefly to clear its inlet
5. Check any air gap fitting on the sink or counter for a visible clog
6. Power-cycle the unit at the breaker for about a minute, then run a rinse-only or short cycle to see whether it drains cleanly

Related

• Dishwasher leak detected / water under the unit — a full tub that can't drain sometimes overflows into a leak instead
• Dishwasher stuck or stopped mid-cycle — if the stall happens before the drain phase even runs
• Bosch codes · Samsung codes · LG codes · Whirlpool codes · KitchenAid codes