What do you do if your Bosch Dishwasher Won’t Drain?

This seems to be a common problem so in this article I’ll do my best to show you what to do if your dishwasher is not draining properly or at all.

There are a number of reasons why your dishwasher won’t drain properly.  So here are some troubleshooting steps to help you decide what has caused the blockage in the first place, and help you correct it without having to call an emergency plumber!  (I had to do this once, and it cost me quite a bit of money.  In the end, he just hit a “reset”

button to get it working again!  Very frustrating!)

1. Check to see if the filter in the bottom of the dishwasher is blocked up. This is a main reason why your dishwasher won’t drain.  There is often food or even wrappers from bottles stuck to the filter and this can block the water from draining out of the bottom of the dishwasher and stop it from draining out.

2. Check the drain hose for blockages.  There is a drain hose which links the dishwasher to the “S bend” to remove the water.  Sometimes it’s behind a cupboard, or even under the floor, so search carefully.  It comes out of the bottom back of the dishwasher, and is often black, grey or white hose.  Be sure to check that it’s the hose that drains the water, not the one coming from the water supply.

Also, be careful that this hose, when disconnected, will sometimes leak water.  Get a bucket handy when you disconnect.  You will sometimes need a screwdriver (flat head) or even a pipe wrench to unscrew the joiner.  Most likely it’s just a pipe crimp and these can be removed easily.

Once you’ve got it off, blow through it, or connect it to another hose to blow out any blockages.  If your dishwasher won’t drain, cleaning out the blockages in any pipes could solve the problem for you easily.

3. Check your “S Bend” to make sure it’s not blocked.  This will be obvious.  Does water still go down your sink?  If no, then your S bend is probably blocked too, and this is stopping your dishwasher from draining.  Do a Google search to find out how to remove this (it’s quite easy) and get it cleaned out.  You never know, you might find something valuable in there! (I’ve heard of people finding wedding rings in the S bend frequently)

Once you’ve checked to find out why your dishwasher is not draining, make sure you run the dishwasher through a rinse cycle to clear out anything that might have been blocking the way after you’ve put all the bits back together.

Things to be careful of if your dishwasher won’t drain:

Unplug the dishwasher before you do any handy work.  Don’t want to get an electric shock while trying to fix the problem!

Get ready for water to be spilled.  Use towels and a bucket just in case.

Let others know what you’re doing so that they don’t go messing with the water while you’re pulling the sink to bits.  Nothing worse than a face full of dirty muck while you’re head deep under the sink.

Have fun!  It’s not often a hard problem to fix if you’ve got some determination.  So now you know what to do if your dishwasher won’t drain.