Washing machine full of water and will not drain
Water left in the drum locks the door and cancels the spin, so one fault presents as three. In most machines the cause is behind a flap at the bottom front.
What it usually means
A washing machine measures the water inside it with a pressure sensor rather than a float: a sealed column of air in a small hose, squeezed harder as the level rises, reporting back to the control board. That detail explains why a drainage fault never arrives alone. Until that sensor reads empty, the board keeps the door locked, refuses to spin, and either sits there or reports a code.
So the symptom you have — a drum with water in it, a door that will not open and no spin — is one fault wearing three hats, and the thing to chase is the water.
What removes it is a small pump behind the kick plate at the bottom front, and in front of that pump sits a filter designed to catch everything the pump cannot survive. Coins, buttons, hair grips, the wires out of underwired bras and the studs off jeans all end up there, and so does a felt of fibre that builds steadily. It is meant to be unscrewed and rinsed every few months. Most machines are opened for the first time when this happens.
Past the pump the water leaves through a corrugated hose to either a standpipe or a spigot on the sink waste, and both fail in their own way. A hose pushed too far down a standpipe siphons, so the machine drains continuously and refills. A hose lifted too high, or looped over a worktop, gives the pump more head than it was built for. A sink waste that drains slowly on its own account will not accept a washing machine's discharge either.
And one non-blockage cause is worth knowing because it is invisible: if the little hose feeding that pressure sensor silts up, the machine misreads the level. A full drum can read empty, or an empty one can read full and never let go of the door.
How to narrow it down
Work through these in order.
Can you hear the pump running when it should be emptying?
Put your ear near the bottom front of the machine at the point in the cycle where the water should go. A steady mechanical whirr with nothing leaving means the pump is turning against a blockage or its impeller is jammed. Complete silence points at the pump itself, its wiring, or a board that is not asking it to run.
When did you last open the filter?
Behind a small flap or panel at the bottom front is a screw-out filter, and on nearly every machine a short emergency drain hose beside it so you can empty the drum into a tray first. If you have never opened yours, open it now with towels down: this single check accounts for a large share of these faults.
What did you last wash?
Anything shedding heavily — new towels, a fleece blanket, a dog bed, work clothes with grit or sand in them — can put enough fibre through in one cycle to clog a filter that was fine last week. So can a single sock finding its way past the drum seal, which is more common than it sounds.
Where does the waste hose go, and how high does it rise?
Follow it to the back. Most manufacturers specify a maximum height of around a metre for the top of that hose, and if it is looped over a worktop or pushed hard down inside a standpipe you get either a pump working past its limit or a machine that siphons its own water away and keeps refilling.
Does the kitchen sink drain properly?
If your machine discharges into the sink waste and the sink is slow, the blockage is in your plumbing and not in the appliance. Clearing the trap under the sink fixes both, and it is worth ten minutes before you pay anyone to look at the machine.
Is there a code showing?
Then most of the work is done for you: every make has a specific drainage code and they are among the best documented in the industry. Hotpoint show F05, Bosch E18, Samsung 5E, LG OE, Zanussi E20, Beko E5 and Miele F11 — look yours up rather than guessing at which part it points to.
Did it drain perfectly well until today, or has it been getting slower?
A sudden stop usually means something arrived in the pump this cycle. A drum that has been emptying more sluggishly for weeks, or finishing with clothes wetter than they used to be, is a filter and hose that have been silting up gradually, and the same is true of a spin that has grown less effective.
Codes commonly shown with this
- 5ESamsungThe machine could not empty within the time it allows. On a Samsung this is the single most common code, and the filter behind the front flap is the usual answer.Get it checked
- F05HotpointThe machine cannot pump out, so the door stays locked with water inside. Hotpoint treat it as an owner job, and two of their own documents agree on the causes.Get it checked
- E18BoschThe machine could not pump out in the time allowed. Bosch point at the filter and the drain hose, and warn that the water you are about to release may be scalding.Get it checked
- OELGThe machine could not drain the water it used. LG point at the drain filter and the drain hose, and both are owner-accessible.Get it checked
- E20ZanussiA draining fault, and on a machine with no display it is the one that beeps twice. Blocked filter, blocked hose, or a failed pump, in that order.Get it checked
- E5BekoBeko give E5 as a clogged pump filter. This is the drainage code that most people arrive at through E18, and unlike E18 it really does mean the filter.Get it checked
- F11MieleThe drain is restricted. Miele publish a maximum drain height of one metre, and they warn that straightening a kinked hose can weaken it enough to split later.Get it checked
When it is urgent
Take care
What it costs
Typical repair cost
£0–£150
Typical UK prices including parts and labour, updated September 2026. Your quote may differ.
Get an engineer to look at this
We do not pass enquiries to a repair firm, so there is no form here. When you book a qualified appliance engineer, tell them the make, the model and the exact code or message on the display, and ask whether they carry parts for this make — that is what turns one visit into a repair rather than a quote.
Technical review
Not reviewed by an engineer
No engineer has read this page. Severity follows what the manufacturer publishes, and we would rather tell you that than let a byline imply a sign-off.