Bosch [E15] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

Because Bosch say three things that cut against it. They instruct owners to always transport the dishwasher upright to stop residual water reaching the controls. They state the water damage protection system will not function unless the power is connected, and the trick begins with unplugging. And their lifetime AquaStop water damage guarantee requires the appliance to be connected to the power supply and installed to their instructions. Beyond all that, it drains the tray without fixing the leak that filled it.

No. Bosch publish a reset — off, unplug or pull the fuse, wait two minutes, restore power — but they attach it to the general "a technical fault is present" entry, not to this code. E15 has its own entry and its entire content is turn off the tap and call customer service.

Not in what it means or what you should do. Siemens and Neff manuals give E:14 and E:15 the same meaning — the water protection system has activated — with the same instruction. In the long display format E:14 appears as E:30-00 and E:15 as E:31-00. There are two codes here rather than one, and both are telling you the same thing. Be aware that the Siemens website disagrees with the Siemens manual about this specific code, and treats E14 as a water supply problem for the owner to inspect. We follow the manual, because a code from the flood family is the wrong place to guess.

Turn the tap off first, because that is the half that stops more water arriving. Bosch’s entry for this code names only the tap, and the power-off step appears elsewhere in their manual, attached to the general technical-fault reset. Leaving it plugged in is not an oversight on their part: they state that the water damage protection system does not function unless the power supply is connected, so an unplugged machine with the tap on is the worst of the combinations. If you want it isolated as well, close the tap first and then switch off at the socket.

Both, in different situations, and their manual never reconciles them. The AquaStop guarantee section tells owners they can leave the appliance unattended with the tap on afterwards, and that the tap only needs closing for a long absence such as a holiday. The fault table a few pages earlier tells them to turn the tap off for E:14, E:15 and E:16. The first is about a machine working normally; the second is about a machine reporting that water has gone somewhere it should not. This code is the second case.

No, and that is worth knowing, because it tells you where the advice comes from. The same manoeuvre is recommended online for Neff and Siemens machines, for Beko’s E01, and even for the anti-flood code on Indesit-platform machines, which share no engineering with any of them. It is a generic trick for getting a float to drop rather than anything derived from a manufacturer’s documentation, which is why no manufacturer’s documentation contains it.

Yes. This is a genuine inconsistency worth knowing about. The Bosch UK web page for E15 never mentions the water supply and instead suggests inspecting the base and ordering parts. Every other Bosch source — the GB manual, the EU manual, Bosch US and Siemens — leads with turning off the tap. On a flood code, follow the manual.

Yes. Those are the same code on newer display generations, and F15 is the same again. If your display alternates between E:31 and 00, that is this page.

Unlikely, and the dry floor is the whole point. The tray catches the leak before it reaches your kitchen. A dishwasher sits sealed under a worktop and usually runs overnight, which is exactly why the float exists.

Be careful if you do. Bosch warn that the plastic housing on the supply hose contains an electric valve and must never be immersed in water, and that the supply hose itself contains electric power cables and must never be cut. There is mains voltage in places you would not expect around the base of these machines.