Bosch E24 on a dishwasher
The dishwasher cannot drain — water is left standing in the bottom.
The same code appears on Neff and Siemens machines — they share the same control platform.
You can fix this yourself
No special tools or qualifications needed
About 1 hr to work through
Free to £150
DIY: Up to £40 in parts
What E24 actually means
The machine ran its drain pump and the water did not go. Like the washing machine equivalent, this is nearly always a blockage rather than a failure, and the blockage is usually somewhere you can reach without tools. The one trap worth knowing: on a new installation it is very often the dishwasher spigot blanking plug that was never knocked out of the sink waste.
Before you start
Electrical safety: Unplug the machine before putting your hands into the sump.
Sharp objects: Broken glass and shards of crockery collect in the dishwasher filter. Look before you reach, and consider gloves.
What causes it, most likely first
Blocked filter assembly in the base
Most likelyThe cylindrical filter and flat mesh in the tub floor collect grease, labels, seeds and paper. Left long enough they choke the drain path completely.
How to check: Twist out the filter and hold it up to the light. If you cannot see light through the mesh, that is your fault.
Blocked sink trap or waste spigot
Most likelyThe dishwasher usually drains into the sink waste. A grease-blocked trap stops the dishwasher dead. On a newly installed machine, the blanking plug inside the waste spigot may never have been removed at all.
How to check: Disconnect the drain hose from the spigot into a bucket and look inside the spigot for an intact plastic blank.
Kinked or blocked drain hose
CommonThe hose is often squashed behind the machine when it is pushed back into its housing, or silted with grease along its length.
Blocked or failed drain pump
OccasionalGlass fragments or a fruit stone can jam the impeller. Under the filter housing there is usually a small removable cover giving access to the pump.
Drain pump£15–£40 for the partDIY with care
How to fix it, step by step
Unplug the machine and bail out the standing water
Scoop the water from the sump with a cup, finishing with a sponge, until the base is dry enough to work in.
10 minCup, SpongeRemove and deep-clean the filter assembly
Twist the cylindrical filter anticlockwise and lift it out, then lift out the flat mesh below it. Wash both in hot soapy water with a washing-up brush — grease needs scrubbing, not rinsing. Check the sump underneath for glass and debris.
15 minWashing-up brush, GlovesCheck the waste connection under the sink
Pull the machine out. Disconnect the drain hose at the sink spigot into a bucket. Look inside the spigot for the moulded blanking plug — if the machine has never drained properly since installation, this is almost certainly it. Then clean out the sink trap.
20 minBucket, ScrewdriverClear the drain pump impeller
With the filters out, remove the small cover in the sump floor to reach the impeller. Turn it with a finger — it should move freely. Remove any glass or debris jamming it.
10 minTorch, GlovesReassemble and run a rinse cycle
Refit the filters, making sure the cylindrical one is locked in with a positive twist — running without it properly seated lets debris straight into the pump. Restore power and run the shortest rinse programme.
10 min
Need an engineer for this E24?
We list 75 dishwasher repair businesses across the UK, 35 of which are Bosch-authorised. Diagnostic callouts typically start around £55, and many will put that towards the repair if you go ahead.
- 0800 037 4915London
- 01795 424 337SittingbourneSame day
- 01344 669700BracknellSame day
Parts you might need
Typical UK prices for the part alone, before fitting. Worth knowing before you accept a quote — the part is often a small share of what a repair is priced at.
Drain pump
Empties the dishwasher sump at the end of the cycle.
£15–£40
Worth repairing, or replace it?
At the top of this range the repair costs a significant share of a graded replacement, which typically starts around £190. Worth getting the quote first, then deciding — on a machine under about five years old a repair usually still wins.