Bosch Dishwasher Not Draining: E24, E25 and Repair Costs

A Bosch dishwasher that will not drain has 6 usual causes, and Bosch is the one brand where you can reach the drain pump impeller yourself in about 10 minutes — no panels, no tools beyond a towel. The filter lifts out, a cover under it comes off, and the impeller is right there. That access is why a Bosch drain fault is often a free fix rather than a $335 pump. Across 2,160 completed dishwasher repairs our median invoice is $330, parts and labour included. Full pricing from real invoices: Bosch dishwasher error codes.

Match What Your Dishwasher Is Doing

Note any code on the display and whether the pump makes a sound. Those two facts do most of the work here.

E24 and E25 Mean Two Different Jobs

Bosch is more specific than most brands about drain faults, and the distinction saves money if you use it.

E24 says the water did not leave. The machine asked the pump to run, the pump ran, and the level did not fall far enough in the time allowed. That points at restriction anywhere along the path: the filter, the sump, the hose, the air gap, the disposal or the house waste pipe. The pump itself is usually fine — it was simply pushing against something.

E25 says the pump is blocked. The control detected that the pump could not turn properly, which on a Bosch almost always means an object has found its way to the impeller. Glass fragments are the classic, followed by fruit stones and the soaked paper labels off jars. This is a mechanical obstruction, not an electrical failure, and it is the one you can most often clear yourself.

One more thing worth knowing about both codes: they can persist after the blockage is gone. Clear the obstruction, bail the tub, then run a short cycle to let the machine see a successful drain. A code that clears on its own after one good cycle was reporting the truth; a code that comes straight back is telling you the restriction is still there, probably further down the hose.

The Filter Has to Lock, Not Just Sit

The Bosch filter assembly in the tub floor twists out for cleaning and twists back to lock. That final rotation matters more than it looks. Seated but unlocked, the filter leaves a gap around its edge, and everything it exists to catch goes straight past it into the sump and onto the impeller.

The symptom pattern is distinctive: dishes come out with a gritty film and drains get slower, both at the same time, on a machine whose filter you have been diligently cleaning. That combination is almost always a filter that has been refitted without the locking turn. It is worth checking even if you are sure, because the difference between seated and locked is a quarter turn and a small click.

The interval for cleaning it is monthly for most households, and fortnightly if you load plates without scraping. Bosch dishwashers use very little water per cycle by design, which is excellent for running costs and unforgiving about solids: there is not enough flow to carry food debris away, so it accumulates in the filter and then in the sump. Scraping plates is not fussiness on this brand, it is maintenance.

What You Can Check in Twenty Minutes

If the filter is clean and locked, the impeller turns freely, the disposal runs and the tub is still full, the fault is the pump, the hose beyond reach, or the control. That needs a meter and the machine pulled out, and this is where guessing gets expensive — two pumps and a board are three prices for one symptom.

What a Technician Actually Checks

The order matters, because each test rules out a branch of causes instead of replacing parts and hoping.

What Bosch Dishwasher Drain Repair Costs

These are complete invoices from our own jobs — part, labour and the visit together, not a parts price with extras added later. Ranges show the middle half of jobs, and the count is how many repairs each figure is based on.

Clearing the filter, sump and impeller during the visit is not a separate job. What raises the bill is a pump fitted while the glass that jammed the last one is still in the sump, or a pump replaced when the actual fault was a hose with no high loop.

Why Bosch Machines Are Less Forgiving About Solids

Bosch dishwashers are built around low water use and a long, gentle wash rather than a short, forceful one. That is why they are quiet, why they are efficient, and why they behave differently when food goes in with the dishes.

With less water moving at lower pressure, there is simply not enough flow to sweep solids through the system. Whatever comes off the plates stays in the filter, and once the filter is full it stays in the sump. On a machine that uses twice the water, the same debris would be flushed out with the waste. Here it accumulates, and the first symptom is not a stopped drain but a slow one and a film on glassware.

This is also why the drying design matters to the drain conversation. Bosch dries by condensation rather than with a hot tub element, so the tub interior stays cooler than on brands with a visible heating coil. Cooler interiors mean grease congeals rather than staying liquid, and congealed grease is what turns a filter mesh from clean to blocked in weeks rather than months. A monthly filter clean and a hot cycle with a dishwasher cleaner every couple of months is the whole prevention routine on this brand.

Repair or Replace

Bosch dishwashers are worth repairing more often than most, because the machines last well and the drain parts are cheap relative to the appliance.

Why the Same Fault Comes Back

Repeat drain visits on Bosch machines come down to three things, and the first is the filter interval. A filter cleaned during a service call fills again at the same rate, because nothing about the household changed. Monthly is the right rhythm, fortnightly if plates go in unscraped, and machines kept to that schedule rarely show E24 at all.

The second is the locking turn. A filter refitted without it channels debris straight to the impeller, so the owner cleans the filter faithfully and still ends up with an E25 a few months later. When we find a chipped impeller on a machine with a spotless filter, an unlocked filter is usually the reason the glass reached it in the first place.

The third is the hose, and specifically what happens after any work near the sink. A new waste trap, a replaced disposal, a plumber fixing something else — any of those can leave the dishwasher hose lying flat instead of looped, and then sink water finds its way into the tub between cycles. It looks like the machine has developed a fault a week after being repaired, and the fix is thirty seconds of lifting the hose and securing it high.

How Much Water Is Normal

A small amount of clean water in the sump at the end of a cycle is normal and by design — it keeps the seals from drying out. What is not normal is dirty water, water deep enough to cover the filter housing, or water that appears between cycles when the machine has not run.

A healthy Bosch empties its tub in roughly a minute, and the pump note changes audibly as the water clears. Because these machines are so quiet, that change is subtler than on other brands, and the more reliable check is simply looking at the sump after a cycle. If it is dry-ish and clean, the drain is working properly regardless of how quiet the pump sounded.

After any repair or clean-out, run one empty cycle with a dishwasher cleaner before loading dishes. It flushes what was loosened, confirms the drain time, clears any stale code, and shows up a filter that was not locked or a hose that was not reseated while the floor is still dry.

What To Do Right Now

Note the code. Unplug the machine, bail the water out, twist out the filter and wash it, then lift the cover underneath and turn the drain pump impeller with a fingertip. Anything wedged there is your E25 and lifting it out is the whole repair. Then run the disposal, check the hose under the sink rises to the worktop before it falls, refit the filter with the locking turn, and run a short cycle. If the code comes straight back with a clean impeller, the restriction is further down the hose and needs the machine pulled out.

Bosch Dishwasher Not Draining FAQ