Indesit washing machine fault codes
Indesit washing machines show faults as F followed by two digits, and Indesit publish fourteen of them: F01, F02, F03, F05, F06, F07, F08, F09, F11, F12, F13, F15, F16 and F18. Ten of those fourteen get no advice on Indesit’s own site beyond a phone number. Machines without a display flash their indicator lamps instead, and this is where Indesit owners are worst served: Indesit publish an LED decoder, it renders the panel diagrams and the clickable lamps, and it contains no answers at all. No combination of lamps returns anything, and there is not even a "nothing found" message. An Indesit owner with flashing lights has nowhere on Indesit’s own site to go. Because Indesit and Hotpoint share one code table word for word, the pages here are only the codes where Indesit’s own documents genuinely differ — the pump access procedure, the door lock recall that names Indesit, and the code whose published remedy is broken. For the others, the Hotpoint pages carry the depth and apply unchanged to an Indesit machine.
Where the code shows on a Indesit
On a machine with a display the code reads as F followed by two digits, sometimes with a hyphen as F-01. On a machine without one, the fault is shown by a combination of flashing indicator lamps, and there is no published route from those lamps to a meaning: Indesit’s decoder tool ships empty. There are also several things these machines display that are not faults, and each one gets mistaken for one. H2O in the display means the machine has not filled with water — tap off, hose kinked, low pressure, or the inlet filter blocked. A flashing option lamp means the option you pressed is not compatible with the cycle you selected, and if it flashes with three beeps it means the option clashed with another option you had already chosen, so only the newer one has taken effect. The button marked CHILD LOCK locks the panel when held for approximately two seconds; note that the Hotpoint NSWM 1043C book calls the same feature KEY LOCK, and the Whirlpool W8 W946WR book holds its Key Lock for roughly three seconds and shows the words KEY LOCK on the display, so a manual for a sibling brand will not match your machine. And the worst of them: a machine where the drum turns after you press Start but no water arrives and no code appears is in demo mode. Switch it off, hold Start/Pause, press ON/OFF within five seconds, and hold both for two seconds. That is a machine that looks broken, is not broken, and takes ten seconds to fix — and it appears in the manual only, nowhere on Indesit’s support site.
How to reset a Indesit
Indesit give two different reset durations for the same machines and both are official. Their support site, on F01 and F18, says to disconnect the appliance from the mains for a minimum of two minutes, reconnect, wait thirty seconds, and try starting it again. The BWE 91484X Daily Reference Guide says, for the Options and Start/Pause lights flashing rapidly with a code such as F-01 on the display, to switch off, unplug, wait approximately one minute and switch back on — and applies that to every code rather than to two, with no second wait. Neither document mentions the other. The longer version — two minutes off, thirty seconds after reconnecting — satisfies both, which is the only reason these pages use it. What a reset will not do is clear a fault that is still present: a code that returns on the next cycle has been reported again rather than never cleared, and repeating the reset instead of acting on it is how a blocked pump becomes a failed pump.
Most common Indesit faults
The Indesit codes people look up most.
- F05Get it checkedWater is left in the drum. Indesit’s manual says the pump is self-cleaning and needs no maintenance, and then tells you how to clean it.
- F06Get it checkedA door lock fault, on a brand that recalled around half a million machines for door locks. Check the recall before you pay anyone to fit a part.
- F11Get it checkedA pump circuit fault, and the one code where Indesit’s own remedy is unusable — their page prints a broken template tag where the phone number should be.
Every Indesit fault code
3 published codes. Filtering happens in the page — every one is in the HTML.
Showing 3 of 3 codes
| Code | What it means | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| F05 | Water is left in the drum. Indesit’s manual says the pump is self-cleaning and needs no maintenance, and then tells you how to clean it. | Get it checked |
| F06 | A door lock fault, on a brand that recalled around half a million machines for door locks. Check the recall before you pay anyone to fit a part. | Get it checked |
| F11 | A pump circuit fault, and the one code where Indesit’s own remedy is unusable — their page prints a broken template tag where the phone number should be. | Get it checked |
Indesit models
Codes can differ between generations. Check yours.
Guides that help with Indesit faults
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.Read the guideWashing 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.Read the guideHow 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.Read the guide
Looking for Indesit’s own support? indesitservice.co.uk. We are not affiliated with Indesit.