Maintenance procedure · Written to ASD-STE100 Issue 9 · Formatted to ANSI Z535

Water Standing in the Bottom of a Dishwasher

A diagnostic for water left in the tub after a cycle — how much water is normal, the four checks you can make from outside the machine, and the three sounds that mean stop and call a technician
ApplicabilityDomestic built-in and portable dishwashers that hold water in the tub at the end of a complete cycle
Task time56 min to 1 hr 40 min editorial estimate
PersonnelOne
Revisionv1 · 2026-08-12
BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Before you begin. This procedure is general reference information, not professional advice. Equipment varies by manufacturer, model, and year. Always follow the documentation supplied with your equipment — where it differs from this page, follow the manufacturer. Verify that you have the tools, the working conditions, and the ability to do this task safely. If anything is unclear, if the equipment is damaged, or if the task exceeds your experience, stop and use a qualified professional. You are responsible for your own safety and for the outcome. This site accepts no liability for any loss, damage, or injury arising from the use of this information.

Specifications marked unverified could not be traced to a manufacturer source. Do not rely on them — obtain the value from your equipment documentation.

Summary

Water sitting in the bottom of a dishwasher after a cycle is not always a fault, and that is the first thing worth knowing. GE Appliances says that on its dishwashers without an ultra fine filter, one to two cups of clean water covering the bottom of the tub is normal, and that on models with one, water in the filter area is normal but should not cover the tub floor. Whirlpool's own troubleshooting reads the same sight differently and treats water slightly above the filter screen as a sign of a partial restriction. This page prints both, because the two makers are describing their own machines and a reader cannot tell which account applies without their own documentation. Then it walks the four checks you can make from outside the machine: the filter and the sump, the air gap on the sink, the garbage disposer, and the drain hose under the sink.

What this page will not do is tell you to open the drain pump. Bosch's own troubleshooting says the most common reason a dishwasher stops draining is food debris clogged in the filter or the water pump — two different parts, and only one of them comes out by hand on every machine. Bosch sends you to your own owner's manual for the pump cover, because how you reach it differs from one dishwasher to the next. So this page names the pump as a genuine cause, gives you the three sounds Whirlpool ties to it, and then stops and routes you to a technician rather than guessing at your machine. The knockout plug in a new garbage disposer and a blocked air gap on the sink are the two causes almost nobody checks, and both of them are outside the dishwasher entirely.

Necessary equipment

ItemNote
FlashlightUse the flashlight to look into the sump and below the sink.
Absorbent towelsPut the towels on the floor in front of the dishwasher.
Cup and bucketMove the water from the tub into the bucket with the cup.
Turkey baster or hand pump optionalRemove the last water from the sump with this tool.
Soft brush optionalClean the mesh of the filter with a soft brush.
Pen and paperWrite each check and its result before you speak to a technician.

Read the water level in the tub

Estimated 4 min to 7 min

NOTESome water in the sump is normal on some machines.
Water level in the tub that is normal for your dishwasher
Unverified — do not rely on this value
CONSULT THE USER DOCUMENTATION FOR YOUR MODEL OF DISHWASHER

No tier-1 source was found for this value. Take it from the documentation supplied with your equipment.

Two manufacturers describe the same sight differently and this page does not average them or choose between them. GE Appliances ('Dishwasher - Not Draining', ge-dishwasher-not-draining, read 2026-08-12) states: 'On models without an Ultra Fine filter at the bottom of the tub, 1 to 2 cups of clean water covering the bottom of the tub is normal.' and 'On models with an Ultra Fine filter, water in the sump (filter area) is normal but the water should not cover the bottom of the tub.' Whirlpool ('Dishwasher Not Draining', whirlpool-dishwasher-not-draining, read 2026-08-12) instead lists as a diagnostic clue: 'Water slightly above the filter screen often indicates a partial restriction in the filter, sump, or hose.' Each maker is writing about its own machines, and a reader looking at a shallow layer of water gets opposite readings from the two. Read the normal level in the documentation for your own model.
Clean water in the tub that GE Appliances calls normal on a model with no ultra fine filter
Manufacturer or standard verified
1 to 2 cups

Source: Dishwasher - Not Draining · tier 1 · accessed 2026-08-12

WARNING

WAIT FOR THE DISHWASHER INTERIOR TO COOL BEFORE YOU TOUCH THE WATER IN THE TUB.
Hot water can burn your skin.

  1. Open the door of the dishwasher at the end of a complete cycle.
    <1m
  2. Look at the water in the floor of the tub.
    • Clean water in the sump is not the same as dirty water across the floor of the tub.
    <1m
  3. Read the user documentation for your model for the normal water level.
    • GE Appliances gives one to two cups as normal for its models with no ultra fine filter.
    • Whirlpool gives a different account for its own machines.
    • The two makers do not agree, so your own documentation decides.
    2m
  4. Record the water level and the date.
    1m
  5. If the water level is normal for your model, stop here.
    <1m

Listen to the drain part of a cycle

Estimated 13 min to 26 min

NOTEThe sound tells you if the drain pump operates.
  1. Close the door of the dishwasher.
    <1m
  2. Start a rinse cycle.
    <1m
  3. Listen to the dishwasher at the end of the cycle.
    • The drain pump makes a sound for some minutes at the end of a cycle.
    10m
  4. Listen for a steady hum, a grinding noise, or no sound at all.
    • Whirlpool relates a steady hum with no water movement to a jammed impeller or an obstruction in the pump.
    • Whirlpool relates a grinding noise to hard debris such as glass in the pump area.
    • Whirlpool relates no pump sound during the drain to an electrical or a control fault.
    <1m
  5. If you hear one of these three sounds, do not continue with this page.
    <1m
  6. Speak to an appliance technician about the drain pump.
    • Tell the technician which sound you heard.
    2m

Examine the filter and the sump

Estimated 18 min to 29 min

WARNING

SET THE CIRCUIT BREAKER FOR THE DISHWASHER TO OFF BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR HAND INTO THE TUB.
The control panel alone does not remove the power. An electric shock can injure you.

  1. Set the dishwasher to OFF.
    <1m
  2. Set the circuit breaker for the dishwasher to OFF.
    • Make sure that the display and the lights are off.
    2m
  3. Close the water supply valve below the sink.
    1m
  4. Put a towel on the floor in front of the dishwasher.
    <1m
WARNING

DO NOT PUT A DRAIN CLEANER IN THE DISHWASHER.
Whirlpool says that these chemicals can damage components and can cause a safety hazard.

WARNING

EXAMINE THE WATER AND THE SUMP FOR BROKEN GLASS BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR HAND INTO THE TUB.
Broken glass and other sharp debris can cut your hand.

  1. Move the water from the tub into the bucket with the cup.
    5m
  2. Remove the last water from the sump with a baster or a hand pump.
    2m
  3. Remove the lower rack from the dishwasher.
    <1m
  4. Remove the filter as the user documentation for your model shows.
    • The release direction and the number of parts are different for each maker.
    1m
  5. Look into the sump with the flashlight.
    • Whirlpool tells the reader to look for glass in the sump.
    <1m
  6. Remove each hard object and all food soil from the sump.
    2m
  7. Rinse the filter with water from the tap.
    1m
NOTICE

DO NOT OPERATE THE DISHWASHER WITHOUT THE FILTER IN ITS CORRECT POSITION.
Damage to the dishwasher can occur.

  1. Install the filter again in its correct position.
    1m
  2. Install the lower rack in the dishwasher.
    <1m
  3. Set the circuit breaker for the dishwasher to ON.
    1m
  4. Open the water supply valve below the sink.
    <1m

Examine the drain path below the sink

Estimated 16 min to 29 min

NOTEThe air gap and the disposer are not parts of the dishwasher.
  1. Open the cabinet doors below the kitchen sink.
    <1m
  2. Find the drain hose of the dishwasher with the flashlight.
    1m
  3. Examine the drain hose for a kink and for a crushed part.
    • Whirlpool and GE Appliances both name a kinked drain hose as a cause.
    • A separate page on this site gives the full method for the high loop.
    1m
  4. Look on the sink deck for an air gap.
    • An air gap is a small chrome cylinder on the sink deck near the faucet.
    • GE Appliances says that the air gap is part of the plumbing and not part of the dishwasher.
    • Many kitchens have no air gap, because not all local codes make it necessary.
    <1m
  5. If your sink has an air gap, remove its cover and its plastic cap.
    1m
  6. Remove all material inside the air gap.
    2m
  7. Install the plastic cap and the cover again.
    <1m
WARNING

DO NOT PUT YOUR HAND INTO THE DISPOSER.
GE Appliances says that a serious injury can occur.

  1. If your sink has a disposer, look into the sink drain with the flashlight.
    <1m
  2. Run the disposer for some seconds.
    • GE Appliances gives this step to clear the drain system.
    <1m
  3. For a new disposer, read the installation instructions for the knockout plug.
    • Whirlpool and GE Appliances both name this plug as a cause of no drainage.
    • InSinkErator fits the plug at the factory and knocks it out during installation.
    3m
  4. Speak to your installer if the knockout plug is still in the disposer.
    2m
  5. Fill the sink with water.
    1m
  6. Open the sink drain.
    <1m
  7. Look at the speed of the water in the sink drain.
    • A slow sink drain is a plumbing fault and not a dishwasher fault.
    <1m
  8. Speak to a plumber if the sink drain is also slow.
    2m

Decide the next step

Estimated 6 min to 9 min

  1. Start a rinse cycle.
    <1m
  2. Look at the water in the floor of the tub again.
    <1m
  3. Record each check and its result.
    2m
  4. Speak to an appliance technician if water stays in the tub.
    2m
  5. Give the technician the model number and your record of the checks.
    1m

Terminology

This page uses one term for each item and holds it throughout, as ASD-STE100 requires. Equipment sellers and other guides use the names below for the same parts.

standing water
Also called: water in bottom of dishwasher, dishwasher not draining, dishwasher won't drain, water left in dishwasher after cycle, dirty water in the bottom of the dishwasher
sump
Also called: the well under the filter, bottom of the dishwasher tub, dishwasher basin, filter area
air gap
Also called: chrome thing next to the tap, little cap on the sink, chrome cylinder by the faucet, dishwasher air gap overflowing
garbage disposer
Also called: garbage disposal, waste disposal unit, food waste disposer, in-sink grinder
knockout plug
Also called: knock-out plug, drain plug in the disposal, dishwasher inlet plug, new dishwasher not draining garbage disposal
drain pump
Also called: water pump, dishwasher pump, the pump that pushes the water out
dishwasher filter
Also called: dishwasher screen, food trap, ultra fine filter, filter basket

When to use a professional

This page examines the drain path. It does not repair the dishwasher.

Do not remove the drain pump. Bosch names the water pump together with the filter as the most common cause of no drainage. The method to remove the pump cover is different for each machine. Bosch sends the reader to the owner documentation for that method. Read the owner documentation for your model. Speak to an appliance technician if that documentation gives you no method.

Stop if you hear a steady hum, a grinding noise, or no sound from the pump. Whirlpool relates these three sounds to the pump or to a control fault. Speak to an appliance technician.

Do not put your hand into the disposer. Speak to your installer or to a plumber about the disposer and the knockout plug.

The air gap is part of the plumbing. GE Appliances says that the dishwasher warranty does not include the air gap. Speak to a plumber if water comes out of the air gap after you clean it.

Do not change the connection of the drain hose. Speak to an appliance installer.

Speak to an appliance technician if you see a damaged wire or a water leak. Speak to an appliance technician about an error code that you cannot read.

Common questions

Is it normal to have water in the bottom of my dishwasher?

Sometimes, and it depends on the machine. GE Appliances says that on its models without an ultra fine filter, one to two cups of clean water covering the bottom of the tub is normal, and that on models with one, water in the filter area is normal but should not cover the tub floor. Whirlpool's own troubleshooting reads the same sight the other way and lists water slightly above the filter screen as a sign of a partial restriction in the filter, sump or hose. The two makers are each describing their own machines, so this page prints both and sends you to the documentation for your own model rather than picking one. As a rough sanity check, clean clear water sitting in the sump is a very different thing from dirty water lying across the whole tub floor.

My dishwasher hums but the water does not go anywhere. What does that mean?

Whirlpool's troubleshooting ties that exact symptom to the drain pump: a steady hum with no water movement points to a jammed impeller or an obstruction in the pump, and a grinding noise can mean hard debris such as glass has reached the pump area. Neither of those is a check this page asks you to make. Bosch names the water pump alongside the filter as the most common cause of a dishwasher that stops draining, and sends you to your own owner's manual for the pump cover, because how you reach it differs from machine to machine. If your dishwasher makes one of those sounds, stop and call an appliance technician. Tell them which sound you heard — it is genuinely useful diagnostic information and it shortens the visit.

What is a knockout plug, and why would it stop a new dishwasher draining?

A garbage disposer leaves the factory with a solid plug sealing the inlet where a dishwasher drain hose connects. If the dishwasher is plumbed into the disposer and nobody removes that plug first, the dishwasher has nowhere to send its water and never drains at all. Whirlpool calls this a common misdiagnosis behind a supposedly clogged dishwasher, and GE Appliances says the same, pointing you at the disposer's own installation instructions. InSinkErator's instructions describe laying the disposer on its side and tapping the plug out with a screwdriver and a hammer, which is work that belongs to whoever installs the disposer. If your dishwasher is new, or the disposer under it is new, and it has never once drained, this is the first thing to ask about.

There is a small chrome cylinder next to my faucet and water sprays out of it. What is that?

That is an air gap, and water coming out of it means the drain path downstream is blocked. GE Appliances is explicit that an air gap is part of the plumbing and not part of the dishwasher, and that a dishwasher warranty does not cover cleaning or repairing one. Some state and local plumbing codes require one and others accept a high loop in the drain hose instead, which is why plenty of kitchens do not have one at all. Cleaning it is a short job: lift the chrome cover off, unscrew the plastic cap under it, and clear out whatever has collected. GE Appliances says that if it still leaks after that, you may need a plumber, because the blockage is further down the line.

Can I pour drain cleaner into the dishwasher to clear the blockage?

No. Whirlpool says not to use drain-opening chemicals inside a dishwasher, because they can damage components and create safety hazards, and GE Appliances publishes the same instruction. The chemical would sit in a plastic and steel sump against seals and a pump that were never designed for it. Everything this page asks you to do is mechanical: look, clear, rinse, and put it back.

How long should I keep trying before I call someone?

There is no clock on it, but there is a boundary, and it is the point of this page. The checks here — the water level, the filter and sump, the air gap, the disposer and the sink drain — are all things you can reach without opening the machine. Once you have made them and water still sits in the tub at the end of a cycle, you are at the end of what a homeowner can do without parts and a wiring diagram. Whirlpool says to call for service if draining does not improve, or if you find electrical concerns, water leaks, or error codes you cannot interpret. Write down what you checked and what you found before you call.

Does a dirty filter really stop the machine draining, or is that just something people say?

It is the single most common cause that both Whirlpool and Bosch name in their own troubleshooting. Whirlpool says the upper filter assembly is what keeps oversized items and very fine food particles out of the pump, so a loaded filter is both a symptom and a cause. Bosch's sentence is worth reading whole: the most common reason for a dishwasher to stop draining is because it has food debris clogged in the filter or the water pump. Note that Bosch names two parts there, not one — the filter is the part you can reach, and the pump is the part this page hands to a technician. This site has a separate page for cleaning the filter itself, because the release direction and the number of parts differ by manufacturer.

Sources

Every specification on this page is traced to one of these sources. Tier 1 is a manufacturer document, a published standard, or a government safety authority. See Standards for the full tiering rule.

  1. Tier 1Dishwasher Not DrainingWhirlpool (Whirlpool Corporation) · accessed 2026-08-12 · re-verification due 2027-02-08
  2. Tier 1Newly Installed Dishwasher Not DrainingWhirlpool (Whirlpool Corporation) · accessed 2026-08-12 · re-verification due 2027-02-08
  3. Tier 1Dishwasher Troubleshooting: Dishwasher is not drainingBosch Home Appliances (BSH Home Appliances Corporation) · accessed 2026-08-12 · re-verification due 2027-02-08
  4. Tier 1Dishwasher - Not DrainingGE Appliances (a Haier company) · accessed 2026-08-04 · re-verification due 2027-01-31
  5. Tier 1Dishwasher - Cleaning the Air GapGE Appliances (a Haier company) · accessed 2026-08-12 · re-verification due 2027-02-08
  6. Tier 1Dishwasher - Water Leaks From the Air GapGE Appliances (a Haier company) · accessed 2026-08-12 · re-verification due 2027-02-08
  7. Tier 1How to Clean the Dishwasher FiltersWhirlpool Corporation · accessed 2026-07-29 · re-verification due 2027-01-25
  8. Tier 1Installing a New Garbage DisposalInSinkErator (Emerson Electric Co.) · accessed 2026-08-12 · re-verification due 2027-02-08

Revision history

Current version 1 · updated 2026-08-12 · next review due 2027-08-12

  1. v1 · 2026-08-12First draft, scaffolded as doc_type diagnostic per the backlog note. Built from eight tier-1 manufacturer documents, every one of them fetched and read in full on 2026-08-12: Whirlpool's 'Dishwasher Not Draining' and 'Newly Installed Dishwasher Not Draining' product-help articles, Bosch's US 'Dishwasher is not draining' self-help article, four GE Appliances support articles (not draining, cleaning the air gap, water leaks from the air gap) and Whirlpool's dishwasher filter cleaning article, plus InSinkErator's own installation article for the knockout plug. THE BOSCH SENTENCE IS QUOTED WHOLE in the source note and reflected whole on the page: 'The most common reason for a dishwasher to stop draining is because it has food debris clogged in the filter or the water pump.' Bosch names two components, and the second one is the one this page refuses to instruct: the filter branch is four steps, the pump is named as a genuine cause, given three diagnostic sounds from Whirlpool, and then routed to a technician. ONE SPECIFICATION PUBLISHES AS CONSULT-THE-MANUFACTURER with a conflict_note naming both sources: how much water in the tub is normal, where GE Appliances publishes one to two cups of clean water as normal on its models with no ultra fine filter and Whirlpool reads water above the filter screen as a partial restriction. The GE figure is published as a second, separately named specification attributed to GE Appliances, exactly as check-a-dishwasher-drain-hose-high-loop publishes Whirlpool's 20 in and GE's 32 in loop heights side by side; the two are not averaged. NO LOOP HEIGHT IS PUBLISHED HERE at all — Whirlpool's newly-installed article routes to the model's own installation instructions, and this site already carries check-a-dishwasher-drain-hose-high-loop with the sourced figures and their conflict note, so this record names the kink check and links out rather than restating it. The same is true of the filter cleaning method, which belongs to clean-dishwasher-filter. NOT CITED: a Bosch regional page (bosch-home.com/za) and several other Bosch country sites surfaced in search and were not opened, since the US self-help article is the first-party document for the market this site serves. Search results also surfaced justanswer, houzz and similar tier-3 threads; none was opened or cited. REGISTRY: the GE figure is cross-registered in data/specs.json under the key 'domestic-dishwasher|normal-clean-water-in-the-tub-with-no-ultra-fine-filter|ge-dishwasher-not-draining' with the sentence it was read from, so R8 re-verification changes the page and the store together. The page version is deliberately NOT bumped for that edit: no step text and no step numbering changed, and a version bump would discard reader checklist progress for a metadata change.

Corrections to this page are listed in the public corrections log. Reports that are credible and not yet verified are listed in the public errata register, and an open one renders above the step it concerns.

Comments and corrections

Found an error? A correction with a manufacturer source is applied and logged publicly. You can also write to corrections@fixchecklist.com.

Every step above carries its own report control, which tags the report with that step so a correction reaches the right place. For anything about the procedure as a whole — the order of the sections, a step that is missing, something that did not match your equipment — use this: report something about this whole procedure.

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