Bosch tumble dryer fault codes

Bosch dryers are the clearest case on this site of a manufacturer’s website and a manufacturer’s manuals describing different machines. Bosch UK publish five error codes online. Their current manuals name none of those five — two of them name a code of their own, E:08 -10 and E:69, that the website in turn never mentions — and dispose of every other numeric code in one line reading "All other error codes." What your dryer actually shows you is more likely to be a short word than a number — and most of those words are prompts rather than faults. Siemens and Neff, who build on the same platform, publish no dryer codes at all, so this page covers what we can verify for all three.

Where the code shows on a Bosch

Expect a word rather than a number. Bosch’s own display legend for current machines lists two short strings and a set of pictograms, and only one of them indicates anything wrong. Hot means the machine is running its cool-down and is explicitly not a fault. End means the programme finished. CrE — or CArE, and the spelling depends on your model rather than your brand — is a prompt to run the appliance care programme. CP1 and CP2 appear while a care programme is being set up, alternating with the running time, and are not faults either; CP2 is the intensive programme, which Bosch say must not be cancelled, and it runs about four hours on the CrE machines and about two and a half on the CArE ones. Pictograms cover the condensation container, the fluff filter, the self-cleaning function and the child lock. Two numeric codes do appear in current manuals and nowhere on the website: E:08 -10, which the Home Connect models call a "Critical malfunction" and answer with a five-second hold on the on/off button, and E:69, which the WTH85226GB shows alongside the filter pictogram for a soiled fluff filter or base-unit filter. Older Bosch vented machines do not even manage that: their manuals answer faults with a row reading "One or more indicator lights are flashing", which is as much diagnosis as those machines offer. The five numeric codes on Bosch’s website — E01, E03, E04, E06 and E16 — are real and we have pages for them, but be aware they appear in no Bosch manual we examined, and that every one of them is a cleaning or loading problem. Bosch have published the codes with easy answers and pushed everything else into a single catch-all row.

How to reset a Bosch

Bosch’s reset advice depends on which of their two documentation universes you are in. For the five website codes, the answer is always to fix the underlying thing — empty the container, clean the filter, reduce the load, close the door — and restart, rather than to cycle the power. In the manuals, where numeric codes are handled by one catch-all row, the standard instruction for a malfunction is to restart the appliance — on the Home Connect models by pressing and holding the on/off button for approximately five seconds — and, if the fault returns, to disconnect it from the power supply for at least 30 seconds before calling customer service with the exact message. Before either, take the washing out and spread it rather than leaving it heaped in the drum. One genuinely important exception: if the display shows Hot, nothing has gone wrong and there is nothing to reset. The machine is cooling the load deliberately and Bosch’s own note is "Do not change the set programme." Interrupting a cool-down is the one thing on a dryer you should not do to make a message go away.

Most common Bosch faults

The Bosch codes people look up most.

Every Bosch fault code

6 published codes. Filtering happens in the page — every one is in the HTML.

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Showing 6 of 6 codes

Every published Bosch fault code with its meaning and severity
Code	What it means	Severity
E01	A blockage in the filter or heat exchanger. Bosch publish an eleven-step fix for it that most of their current machines cannot accept.	Get it checked
E03	The condensate tank is full. Bosch attach their own scope warning to this one, which is unusual and useful.	Usually simple to fix
E06	Bosch say the lint filter is blocked. Their own page for this code then reprints the text for a different code, so their summary line is all the description that exists.	Get it checked
E04	You have put too much in. Bosch give the most practical loading test in this whole category — a hand’s width above the washing.	Usually simple to fix
CrE	Not a fault. The machine is asking you to run its care programme — and it is spelled two different ways depending on your model, which is why it is hard to look up.	Usually simple to fix
Hot	Explicitly not a fault. The machine is cooling your washing on purpose, and Bosch ask you not to interfere with it.	Usually simple to fix

Bosch models

Codes can differ between generations. Check yours.

Guides that help with Bosch faults

Looking for Bosch’s own support? www.bosch-home.co.uk. We are not affiliated with Bosch.