Dishwasher leaking onto the kitchen floor
The one dishwasher problem worth stopping for immediately. Turn the water off first, then work out where it is coming from — the answer is often not where the puddle is.
What it usually means
Do this before reading any further: turn off the tap feeding the dishwasher, usually under the sink and often a small lever valve on the flexible hose, and switch the machine off at the wall. A dishwasher is plumbed into the mains and normally runs unattended, which is why a leak here does more damage than a leak from almost any other appliance in the house.
Once it is safe, the useful question is where the water is coming from, and the puddle is a poor guide. An integrated machine sits in a sealed box under a worktop, so water follows the path of least resistance and appears at the front long after it started somewhere at the back. Water on the floor at the front of the plinth can equally well be a split inlet hose behind the machine.
Most leaks come from one of five places. The door seal, which perishes and goes hard with age. The door itself, if the machine is not level, so water sits against one side of the seal instead of being held evenly. The inlet hose, particularly at the connections. The waste hose, especially where it clips into the sink waste. Or the tub and pump, which is the most serious and the least common.
There is one specific cause worth ruling out first because it is free and extremely common: too much detergent, or the wrong detergent. Washing-up liquid in a dishwasher produces an enormous volume of foam, and foam escapes past a door seal that handles water perfectly well. If anyone has put washing-up liquid in the machine, that is almost certainly your answer and there is nothing wrong with the appliance.
Also worth knowing: most dishwashers have an anti-flood system with a float in a base tray under the tub. If that has triggered, the machine will show a code and refuse to run. That is the system working. The widely shared advice to tip the machine over and drain the tray clears the code without touching the leak, and it disables the protection that is currently containing the problem.
How to narrow it down
Work through these in order.
Has anyone used washing-up liquid in it?
If so, that is your leak. Dishwasher detergent is formulated not to foam; washing-up liquid foams enormously and pushes out past the seal. Run empty rinse cycles until the foam is gone and the machine will be fine.
Is the machine level?
Put a spirit level on the door edge, side to side. A machine that has settled, or was never levelled during installation, holds water against one corner of the seal and leaks there consistently. Adjusting the feet is free.
Is the door seal soft or hard?
Run a finger round it. A healthy seal is soft and springs back. One that has gone hard, shiny or cracked at the bottom corners is no longer sealing, and it is a common wear part rather than a sign the machine is finished.
Does it leak on every cycle or only some?
Only on hot or long cycles points at a seal that fails when it expands, or at a component that only comes under pressure at temperature. Every cycle suggests a hose or connection that is simply split.
Is there a code showing?
A machine that has detected water in its own base tray will normally report it — Bosch as E:15, Electrolux group as an i-code, Samsung as LC, LG as AE. That means the anti-flood system has done its job, and it needs the leak found rather than the code cleared.
When it is urgent
Take care
What it costs
Typical repair cost
£0–£260
Typical UK prices including parts and labour, updated August 2026. Your quote may differ.
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