Hoover E3 fault codewhat it means and how to fix it
The machine is not draining. Hoover’s remedy runs from the filter outwards to your own plumbing, and one step tells you how to empty it into the sink.
Take care
What E3 means
E3, or three flashes of every LED with a five-second pause between repeats, means the washing machine does not drain water. Hoover’s published remedy is a chain that works outwards from the machine: check the filter is not clogged, check the drain hose is not bent, kinked or trapped, check the home drainage system is not blocked, and try draining the water into the sink. That last step is worth reading twice, because it is a diagnostic rather than a repair.
If the machine will happily pump into a bucket or a sink but not into its standpipe, the machine is fine and your waste pipe is blocked — and that is a different trade and a different bill. Some Candy-badged versions of the same manual expand the filter step into a longer sentence about foreign bodies in the filter compartment obstructing the flow of water, which is the same instruction with more detail.
What the filter actually collects is coins, hair grips, bra wires, buttons and the grey felt of accumulated fibre, and on a machine that has never had it opened there can be a surprising amount of it. The filter is behind the small hatch at the bottom front, and on an integrated HBWM machine you have to open the cupboard door to reach it.
What causes it
| Cause | What is actually happening | How likely |
|---|---|---|
| Pump filter clogged | First on Hoover’s list and the answer most of the time. Coins, hair grips and compacted fibre reduce the opening until the pump cannot shift the water. | Common |
| Drain hose kinked or crushed | Trapped behind the machine when it was pushed back, or squashed against a wall. Restricts flow without any blockage being present. | Common |
| Household waste pipe blocked | The standpipe or sink trap rather than the machine. Hoover’s own suggestion to drain into the sink is how you tell this apart from a machine fault. | Occasional |
| Object jammed in the pump impeller | Something got past the filter and stopped the impeller turning. Often audible as a buzz or a click where the pump should be running. | Occasional |
| Drain pump failed | No sound at all at the point in the cycle where the pump should start. The most likely paid outcome and still a modest repair. | Occasional |
What to try yourself
Switch off at the wall before you open anything. There is standing water in the machine and you are about to let it out near a socket.
Lay old towels down and have a shallow tray ready. A full drum holds far more water than a bowl will take, and it comes out at floor level with no way to stop it mid-flow.
Open the hatch at the bottom front. On models that have one — Hoover say "only available on certain models" — pull out the small corrugated hose, remove its stopper and drain the water into a container, in stages, until the drum is empty. Hoover want all the water out before the filter comes off, and an absorbent cloth under the filter because a small amount still comes out as you remove it.
Turn the filter anticlockwise to the limit stop, as Hoover put it, pull it out, and clear everything from it and from the housing behind it. Reach in and feel around the impeller — it should turn freely by hand.
Feel for coins and bra wires with care. There is often something with an edge in there and the impeller housing is a bad place to cut a finger.Check the drain hose from the machine to the standpipe for kinks and crushing, and free it if it is trapped behind a foot.
Do Hoover’s last check: unhook the drain hose end and hold it in a sink or bucket, then run a spin. If it drains happily there but not into the standpipe, the blockage is in your plumbing, not the machine.
Refit the filter turning it clockwise until, in Hoover’s words, it will not turn any further and the handle is horizontal — that is the locked position. Hoover suggest a smear of liquid soap on the filter seal to help it home. A filter left cross-threaded leaks onto the floor on the next fill; their own leak-on-the-floor row says to make sure the front filter is correctly closed.
Get a qualified appliance engineer to look at your Hoover E3
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.
What it costs to fix
Typical repair cost
£0–£170
Time on site
45 minutes
Nothing if the filter or the hose is the answer. A drain pump fitted is £100 to £170. A blocked household waste pipe is a plumber rather than an appliance engineer and usually less.
Typical UK prices including parts and labour, updated September 2026. Your quote may differ.
Own this appliance and had this code? . Nothing is published until a person has read it.
Related Hoover fault codes
- E2Get it checkedThe machine cannot load water. Hoover send you to a filter most owners have never heard of, inside the fill hose connection at the back of the machine.Related: same brand
- E7Get it checkedA door problem. If the door is locked shut, Hoover want you to unplug and wait two to three minutes before trying it again, and the wait is the point.Related: same brand
- E4Get it checkedToo much foam or too much water. Hoover’s entire published remedy is about detergent, which tells you what they think causes it.Related: same brand
Own a Hoover washing machine? Save it and its codes come first next time.
Related guides
Common questions about Hoover E3
How do I get the water out before I open the filter?
Some Hoover machines — the manual says "only available on certain models" — have a short corrugated drain hose tucked behind the same bottom hatch as the filter. Pull it out, remove the stopper over a shallow tray, and let the water go in stages by pinching the hose to swap containers. If yours does not have one, unscrewing the filter slowly and letting it flow past the threads works, but expect it to be messy; Hoover’s own advice is an absorbent cloth underneath.
The machine drains into a bucket but not into the standpipe. Why?
Because the machine is working and your waste pipe is not. Hoover include the sink test in their own remedy for exactly this reason. A blocked standpipe or a silted sink trap is a plumbing job — often just a trap that needs cleaning — and no amount of work on the washing machine will fix it.
My machine flashes three times instead of showing a code.
Then it is telling you the same thing. Hoover publish that machines without a display flash every LED on the panel, with the number of flashes before a five-second pause being the code. Three flashes, pause, three flashes is E3, a drain fault, and the remedy is identical.
How much is a new pump?
A drain pump fitted is typically £100 to £170, at the higher end on an integrated machine that has to come out of its housing before anyone can work on it. Clearing the filter yourself costs nothing and resolves this code most of the time.
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.
Sources and how we verified this
We establish the facts from the sources below and then write the explanation ourselves. We do not copy manufacturer wording and we do not host their manuals.
- Manufacturer technical and service documentation
This page has not been reviewed by an engineer, and we would rather tell you that than imply otherwise. The severity rating follows what the manufacturer publishes: where they say isolate the appliance and call someone, so do we.