Miele [F373] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

This is the most quietly useful page Miele publish, because the fault is almost always something the owner did the day before. Miele give F373 as a leak detected in the area of the drain filter, and their stated cause is precisely one thing: the drain filter has not been screwed tight.

The remedy is to screw it tight. What makes it worth understanding rather than just following is the sequence it sits in. A Miele that reports F11 sends you to clean the drain filter, which is a proper owner job that Miele document and expect. You take the filter out, clear it, put it back, and if it goes back a quarter turn short of home it seals well enough to hold still water and not well enough to hold water under pump pressure. The next cycle runs, the pump pushes, and a small amount escapes into the floor tray, where the Waterproof system finds it.

So the commonest route to F373 is having correctly followed Miele’s own advice about a different code. Worth knowing that the filter needs to be firm and square rather than merely turned until it stops, and that a cross-threaded filter can feel tight while sealing on nothing at all.

1. 1

   Switch the machine off and unplug it before you touch the filter housing.

2. 2

   Put a shallow tray and towels down. There will be water in the housing and there may already be some in the floor tray.

   After an interrupted hot wash the water can still be hot enough to scald. Let it stand if you are unsure.
3. 3

   Unscrew the filter completely and look at the seal. It should be intact, supple and sitting in its groove rather than rolled out of it.

4. 4

   Screw it back in squarely. Start the thread by hand and make sure it turns freely for the first turn before tightening — that is how you avoid cross-threading it.

5. 5

   Dry the floor tray as far as you can reach, plug back in, and run a short cycle while watching. The code should not return.