My dishwasher has standing water at the bottom. What should I do before the technician comes?
Turn the dishwasher off, do not run another cycle, and bail out the standing water with a cup and a towel. Then check the filter at the bottom of the tub, because a blocked filter is the most common cause and the one you can clear yourself.
Do not keep running cycles to see if it clears. If the pump is jammed by a piece of glass, every extra cycle is the motor pushing against the obstruction.
If there is broken glass in the tub, do not reach into the sump with bare hands. Leave it and tell us when you call.
When the filter is clean and the water still stands, it is usually the drain pump, the check valve, or a kinked drain hose behind the machine. That is a visit.
Step by step
- Switch the dishwasher off at the wall switch or the breaker.
- Scoop the standing water out with a cup, then soak up the rest with a towel.
- Twist out the cylindrical filter at the bottom of the tub and rinse it under the tap.
- Look in the sump underneath for glass, a fruit sticker, or a bone fragment, and remove anything you find by hand.
- If the sink has a garbage disposal that was recently installed, check that the knockout plug was removed from the disposal inlet.
- Run a short cycle. If the water still stands, stop and call.
Related service: Dishwasher repair
Ask us directly
If this is your appliance right now, the phone is faster than reading. The service call is $85 and it is credited toward the repair.