Candy [E3] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

Candy give E3 as the dishwasher not draining water, with three checks: make sure the drain pipe is not bent, trapped or blocked, that the filter is not clogged, and that the siphon is not clogged. That is the whole of the official meaning — this is a manufacturer with a deliberately short code list, so each code covers more ground than a Bosch or an AEG equivalent would. Their installation figures fill in what "blocked" and "trapped" mean in practice: the outlet hose should discharge into a standpipe at least 40 cm above the floor with an internal diameter of at least 4 cm, it may be extended to 2.5 m provided it is kept no higher than 85 cm, and if it is hooked over the sink it must not be immersed in water or the machine can siphon back.

What Candy do provide, and almost nobody else does, is a precise way to read the fault on a machine with no display. Their method: every LED flashes together, the number of flashes gives the code, then a five-second pause before it repeats. So three flashes, a five-second gap, three flashes again means error 3. The detail that every light flashes in unison matters, because on other brands it is a single specific indicator, and people watching the wrong lamp count the wrong thing.

One caveat before you start counting. This flash method appears in the manuals from about 2021 onwards. The 2018 and 2019 Candy and Hoover manuals say only that the indicator light for the selected cycle blinks rapidly with an intermittent audio signal, with no count attached at all — so on an older machine there is genuinely nothing to count, and the flashing tells you there is a fault without telling you which.

1. 1

   If your machine has no display, confirm the count first. Watch all the lights together, count the flashes, wait through the five-second pause and count again to check you got the same number.

2. 2

   Switch off at the wall, then bail out the standing water with a jug before touching anything. You cannot see the bottom of the tub through it.

   Wear gloves and let it cool if the cycle stopped hot. There may be undissolved detergent in that water.
3. 3

   Lift out the bottom basket, turn the filter handle anticlockwise and pull the filter unit upwards. Press the two buttons on the sides to release the central container, lift out the flat gauze, and wash the whole unit under a jet of water — Candy allow a small brush.

4. 4

   Check the recess underneath for anything hard that could jam the pump, using a cloth rather than bare fingers because broken glass is what usually turns up.

5. 5

   Refit the gauze flat in the bottom of the tub and screw the filter unit back into it clockwise — Candy warn that poor seating affects the machine’s efficiency and that it must never run without the filters. Then check the sink drains freely and the waste hose is not kinked, trapped or hooked into standing water behind the machine.