Washing machines fault codes by brand
Find your manufacturer below, then your code. Unlike a boiler, most washing machine faults are genuinely yours to fix — a blocked filter and a kinked hose between them account for an enormous share of call-outs. We will tell you plainly which codes are that, and which are the ones worth paying somebody for.
There is a live safety notice on some of these appliances
Whirlpool are still recalling Hotpoint and Indesit washing machines made between October 2014 and February 2018, over a door lock component that can overheat when the heater is running and pose a risk of fire.
Machines sold under the Whirlpool brand are not affected. If yours is a Hotpoint or an Indesit of that age, use the manufacturer’s model checker — and their interim advice is to wash at 20°C or below until it is dealt with.
Brands
Pick your manufacturer to see every code we cover.
Most looked-up washing machine codes
Across every brand in this category.
- 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
- F06HotpointA door lock fault — and the one code on this machine with an open safety recall behind it. If yours was built between October 2014 and February 2018, check the recall before anything else.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
- 4ESamsungThe machine asked for water and did not get enough in the time allowed. Nine times out of ten the answer is at the tap rather than inside the machine.Get it checked
- E18BekoBeko say E18 is an imbalanced load stopping the spin. Nearly every repair site says it is a drainage fault. Beko wrote the manual, and the remedies are completely different.Get it checked
- UESamsungThe load is on one side of the drum and the machine has refused to spin. Samsung are explicit that this is not a fault — it is the machine protecting itself.Usually simple to fix
- 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
- IELGThe drum did not fill to the level it wanted in the time allowed. LG treat IE and 1E as the same code, so you do not need to tell them apart.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
- E17BoschProblems with the water connection: tap, kinked hose, blocked inlet filter or low pressure. Bosch’s AquaStop hose has a filter at the tap end most owners do not know about.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
- F10MieleWater is not getting in. Miele point at the stopcock and the inlet filter, and both are owner jobs on their own guidance.Get it checked
- UELGThe load is heaped on one side of the drum. LG describe it as laundry piled to one side, and it is normal behaviour rather than a breakdown.Usually simple to fix
- E8BekoThe machine asked for water and did not get enough. Beko list five things to check before calling anyone, and most of them are outside the machine.Get it checked
- dESamsungThe machine cannot confirm the door is locked, so it will not start. On an AddWash there is a second hatch with its own interlock to check.Get it checked
- E10ZanussiA water supply fault, one beep on a machine with no display. The manufacturer gives a pressure range you can actually test against.Get it checked
- Flashing lightsHotpointNo display, just lights? Hotpoint decode them by which are lit, not how many times they flash — and every "count the flashes" table online is wrong.Usually simple to fix
- E23BoschWater has been detected in the base of the machine and the AquaStop system has cut in. Bosch say to turn the tap off immediately and stop using it until it is repaired.Stop — call an engineer
Symptoms
No code on the display? Start from what it is doing.
Washing machine door will not open
The lock is not jammed. It is being held deliberately, and there are only four things a machine holds it for — three of which clear themselves.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.Washing machine leaking from underneath
Water on the floor almost never starts where the puddle is. The shape of the cabinet means a leak at the back arrives at the front, so the useful question is when it happens.Washing machine not spinning
Most machines that will not spin have decided not to, rather than failed to. Telling a refusal from a breakdown takes one look at how the load is sitting.Washing machine symbols
Two different sets of symbols share this question. The ones on the clothes are an international standard you can learn in five minutes; the ones on the machine are not standardised at all.
How washing machines fault codes work
The single most useful thing to know about washing machine codes is that your machine was probably not made by the company on the front of it. Bosch, Siemens and Neff are one manufacturer running one control platform, so all three show the same codes with the same meanings. Zanussi, AEG and Electrolux are a second. Candy and Hoover are a third. Hotpoint and Indesit are a fourth. If you cannot find your exact brand, the sibling brand's list is not an approximation — it is the same list.
Nearly every code belongs to one of six families. Fill faults mean the machine asked for water and did not get enough in the time allowed. Drain faults mean it could not get the water out, and these are the most common codes on any machine by a wide margin. Heating faults mean the water did not reach temperature. Motor and tacho faults mean the drum is not turning as commanded. Door lock faults mean the interlock will not confirm the door is shut, and the drum cannot turn until it does. Imbalance faults mean the load is on one side of the drum and the machine has refused to spin rather than walk across the kitchen.
That last one is worth dwelling on, because it is the family people most often mistake for a breakdown. A machine that stops mid-spin with a wet load and a code has usually just failed to distribute a single heavy item. It is the machine working correctly.
Where washing machines differ most from boilers is who should be holding the screwdriver. Gas work is legally restricted in the UK; appliance repair is not, and a great deal of what these codes point at is genuinely a householder job — cleaning the pump filter, straightening a hose, checking a tap. But the exceptions are real. Inside the cabinet, mains voltage sits alongside standing water, and some components hold a charge after the plug is out. Anything that involves removing the lid or the back panel is a different proposition from opening the filter flap at the front, and a burning smell is never a code to reset and try again.
Draining
The machine could not empty. The most common family by a wide margin, and usually the filter.
Filling
It asked for water and did not get enough in time. Normally the tap, the hose or the mesh filter.
Door and interlock
The interlock will not confirm the door is shut, and the drum cannot turn until it does.
Balance and spin
The load is on one side of the drum. Usually the machine working correctly rather than a fault.
Heating
The water is not reaching temperature. The machine often still washes, just cold.
Motor and drive
The drum is not turning as commanded — which can be the motor, or just something jammed.
Guides
How to reset a washing machine, and what it will not fix
What each manufacturer says about resetting, how long to wait, the codes where a reset is the wrong move, and the displays that only look like faults.Washing machine repairs you can do yourself — where to stop
No law stops you repairing your own washing machine, so the line is drawn by what is inside the cabinet. Where it falls, and the recall to check first.How to find your washing machine’s model and serial number
The rating plate is in one of three places, and the brand decides which. Where each manufacturer says to look, and which of the numbers on it you need.