Dishwasher Not Filling With Water

If you start a cycle and never hear the fill sound, or the dishwasher runs through motions with no water in the tub, the fault is somewhere between the shutoff valve under the sink and the inlet valve inside the unit — and every brand covered here has a dedicated code for it.

What this looks like

Usually it's silence where you'd expect a fill: no rushing-water sound in the first minute or two of a cycle, then either a stall, a code on the display, or a cycle that runs its full time with dry dishes at the end. Sometimes it's partial — the tub fills a little but not enough to cover the heating element or run a wash, which some brands flag as a separate low-water condition rather than a full no-fill fault. Either way, the dishwasher isn't getting the water it needs, and the most likely place to look is upstream of the machine before assuming a part has failed inside it.

Most likely causes, ranked

1. The water supply valve under the sink isn't fully open. Extremely common right after a new install, after under-sink plumbing work, or after anyone has been working near the shutoff.
2. A kinked, crushed, or damaged water supply line between the shutoff valve and the dishwasher's inlet fitting.
3. Household water pressure below the appliance's minimum. LG documents a required range of roughly 20–120 PSI; pressure below that on any brand can cause a fill fault even with everything else working.
4. A clogged inlet filter screen where the fill hose connects to the water inlet valve — a small mesh screen that catches sediment and can restrict flow enough to trigger a fault.
5. A failed water inlet valve or its solenoid. Once supply, hose, pressure, and the inlet screen are all confirmed fine, the valve itself is the remaining suspect.

Which error codes this can show as

• Bosch: E14 — the flow meter isn't registering the expected water flow during fill
• Samsung: 4E / 4C (fill pressure or temperature fault) and 9E (not enough water in the tub to run safely)
• LG: IE, LG's inlet/fill error — water level didn't reach the expected height within about 10 minutes
• Whirlpool: F6E1 — no water fill detected when the cycle called for one
• KitchenAid: H2O, a text code shown when the unit isn't detecting water entering during fill

What you can check yourself

1. Confirm the water shutoff valve under the sink is turned fully open, not just partway
2. Follow the supply line from the valve to the dishwasher and check for kinks or crush points
3. Run the kitchen faucet briefly to confirm normal pressure and rule out trapped air in the line
4. If your model has an accessible inlet filter screen where the hose meets the valve, shut off the water, disconnect the hose, and clean the screen
5. If you're using a third-party flood-safe supply hose, check the brand's compatibility notes — some flood-safe designs conflict with a dishwasher's own fill sensor
6. Power-cycle the unit at the breaker, then start a normal cycle and listen for the fill in the first couple of minutes

Related

• Dishwasher won't start — if the unit never begins a cycle at all, not just the fill step
• Dishwasher leak detected / water under the unit — a stuck-open inlet valve can also cause overfilling and leaks
• Bosch codes · Samsung codes · LG codes · Whirlpool codes · KitchenAid codes