Why is your Samsung dishwasher not draining? For any dishwasher to work effectively, clean water must flow in, and dirty water must be able to drain out without any problems. However, there are times when the appliance will fail to drain the water and you’re left with a mess.
If your Samsung dishwasher isn’t draining, it will display error codes indicating a draining problem. The problem could be caused by clogs in the drain hose, a fine filter, drain pump, or water inlet assembly. Besides that, parts like the check valve and drain solenoid could also fail to open. These prevent water from flowing out, and your Samsung dishwasher not draining.
Let’s take a closer look at why your Samsung dishwasher isn’t draining and what you can do to fix it.
Caution!
Before performing any repairs on your Samsung dishwasher, always disconnect the appliance from its power supply. Doing this will eliminate the danger of electrocution and reduce any injury risk.
Working with dishwashers also involves dealing with water. So, shut off the water supply to the appliance and prepare towels to wipe up any spills.
Lastly, be sure to keep your user manual and any available technical sheet nearby. These documents are helpful references to help with locating and identifying essential components.
“No Drain” Error Codes
Some Samsung dishwasher models will display error codes to inform you of draining problems. Among the codes that you might come across include:
- 5C
- SC
- 5E
- SE
- OC or 0C
- DELICATE light flashing
To know which error codes apply to your Samsung dishwasher model, refer to the user manual. There, you’ll find standard error codes and what they mean.
False Error Codes
In some cases, you might also experience false error codes. That’s when the dishwasher displays any of the error codes listed above, suggesting a draining issue, even though the appliance continues to function and drain normally.
While this issue is happening, the dishwasher may also stop mid-cycle after 9 minutes for no apparent reason.
If that’s the case, then the problem might not be with the drain, but the Drain Sensor or Samsung Dishwasher ECS Sensor instead. Unfortunately, over time, these sensors experience wear and tear and might get dirty or fail.
Connect with an Appliance Repair Tech
Click here to use the chatbox to speak with one of our technicians.
No in-home service calls. No appointments.
So, you’ll need to locate and clean these sensors. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to replace it entirely.
Why is Your Samsung Dishwasher Not Draining?
Suppose your Samsung dishwasher is not draining at the end of the cycle. Here are six reasons why that might be the case and what you can do about it.
Drain Hose Clogged
What it is: The drain hose allows all of the dirty and used water from your dishwasher to flow out into your household plumbing. Since the dishwasher is typically located in the kitchen, the drain hose is connected to the same drain as the sink, or it might share one with the garbage disposal.
How it fails: Your Samsung dishwasher will have a challenging time draining all of the water out if there’s something preventing water from flowing through the drain hose.
Firstly, the hose might be kinked and therefore restricting the flow of water. That tends to happen when the dishwasher shares a drain with the sink.
However, if the appliance shares the same drain as the garbage disposal, check to ensure that the drain isn’t clogged with food bits or other junk.
How to fix: To fix this, start by inspecting the entire length of the dishwasher’s drain hose. Make sure that no part of the hose is kinked. Then, remove the hose to check that there are no blockages, such as a buildup of food bits or other items coming from the garbage disposal.
Lastly, check to ensure that you’ve removed the knockout plug, especially if you’ve just installed new garbage disposal. The knockout plug will prevent the dishwasher from draining down the same drain.
Check Valve Worn Out
What it is: At some point along the length of the dishwasher drain hose, you’ll find a check valve. This valve ensures that water only flows one way, i.e. away from the dishwasher. In doing so, it prevents any dirty water from back flowing into the dishwasher instead.
How it fails: When a check valve becomes faulty, it will get stuck either in the open or closed position. When it gets stuck in the closed position, none of the water being drained out of your Samsung dishwasher will be able to flow out into your household plumbing.
That will result in your dishwasher failing to drain and displaying the relevant error codes.
How to fix: When faced with a faulty check valve, you can start by cleaning the valve and putting it back. That might clean away any dirt or debris that’s causing the valve to be stuck in the closed position.
However, if the check valve still causes problems even after you’ve cleaned it, then you’re better off replacing it with a new part. Check valves are inexpensive, and a new one will last you for a long time to come.
Drain Fine Filter Clogged
What it is: Inside your Samsung dishwasher, there’s a drain filter. This part is located towards the bottom of the appliance, where water pools before it’s removed through the drain hose.
The purpose of the drain filter is to catch any of the solid food bits once they’ve been washed off of your dishes. That way, none of it will be recirculated back throughout the dishwasher, and none of it will clog up the drain hose or your household plumbing.
How it fails: Over time, the drain filter will get saturated with food waste. The more waste builds up, the harder it will be for water to drain out of the appliance. If the filter is not cleaned and the buildup becomes worse, the dishwasher will fail to drain any water.
At that point, your Samsung dishwasher will begin displaying the relevant error codes, bringing your attention to the draining problem.
How to fix: Thankfully, fixing this is very straightforward. What you’ll need to do is remove the drain filter from the bottom of your dishwasher and clean it thoroughly.
Before you remove the filter, first remove as much of the waste buildup as possible. That will prevent the waste from clogging other parts of the drain system as you take out the filter.
Once the filter is cleaned, reinstall it the same way as before.
Drain Pump Failed
What it is: At the bottom of your Samsung dishwasher is a drain pump. This electrical component forces all of the used water out of the dishwasher using an impeller. In doing so, it pushes the water through the drain hose towards your household plumbing.
How it fails: Draining problems can be caused by a faulty drain pump. This component can fail in two ways: electrically and mechanically.
For instance, the pump could short out due to an electrical fault, or it could burn out from excessive wear and tear over the years. Mechanically, a foreign object could jam the impeller. A stuck impeller will not be able to drain the water inside.
How to fix: To troubleshoot and fix the drain pump, first check it for any blockages. Clean the drain pump and remove any foreign objects or buildups of food there.
A multimeter will help you troubleshoot it for an electrical fault. If there is one, you’ll need to replace the pump with a new one.
Note: We earn a small commission on purchases, at no additional cost to you.
Drain Solenoid Failed
What it is: Some older Samsung dishwashers rely on a drain solenoid. That is an electrical component that opens and closes to control the draining of water out of the appliance.
How it fails: A faulty solenoid will prevent the dishwasher from draining if it gets stuck in a closed position. As a result, no water will drain out, and the appliance will display the relevant error codes.
How to fix: Fixing this will require a new drain solenoid replacement. You’ll find the solenoid on the bottom of the dishwasher, near the other draining components (i.e. near the drain pump and drain hose).
Water Inlet Assembly Clogged
What it is: When draining your Samsung dishwasher, the water will flow through the water inlet assembly on the way to the drain hose and out of the appliance.
How it fails: Assuming you’ve ruled out all the other possibilities, then it’s likely that your dishwasher draining problem is happening at the water inlet assembly.
Remember: water flows through the water inlet assembly on its way to the drain hose and out of the machine. So, naturally, blockages can occur at the water inlet assembly, consisting of food bits or other particles.
The longer this blockage is left unresolved, the more severe it will become until no water can flow through. That’s when your Samsung dishwasher will begin flashing the relevant error codes.
How to fix: To fix this, you’ll need to clear the blockage. First, remove the left-hand panel on the dishwasher that covers the water inlet assembly. Next, you’ll see several grey hoses attached to the assembly, which you’ll want to remove as well.
With the hoses removed, you’ll be able to clean out any blockages using your fingers or a small brush.
How To Force-Drain A Samsung Dishwasher?
In order to force-drain dishwasher, press and hold CANCEL or START button (depends on the model you have) for 3 seconds. If after this drain reset not all water was drained out, you most likely have a jammed drain pump or clogged drain hose.
How To Check The Drain Pump Of Samsung
Dishwasher?
- Pull the lower rack out.
- Remove the cylindrical microfilter.
- Wipe any moisture or water from the filter.
- Remove the drain-pump cover by pushing its handle in the up direction and pulling it out.
- Check the impeller to make sure its in good condition and try to spin the impeller by finger. Then, remove any dirt from the pump.
- Put the drain-pump cover back into place, and then press down until you hear a clicking sound.
How To unclog the drain hose on Samsung dishwasher?
In order to unclog the drain hose, you need to disconnect a hose from the sink and use a screwdriver to remove any blockage from the hose or from the sink drain tailpiece or food waste disposer, depending on your setup.
What To Do If Drain Error Light Shows Up, But No Drain Issue?
Do you have Samsung dishwasher DW80F600UTS or a similar model, that has a “Drain error” message, which is 5C, SC, 5E, SE or ND , sometimes during mid-cycle, but at the same time, it might running and draining absolutely fine?
Or maybe the dishwasher stops every 9 minutes?
You might have an issue with Drain Sensor or Samsung Dishwasher ECS Sensor.
This sensor over time gets dirty and all that you can do is to clean it or replace it with a new one. You can get an ECS sensor here.
Note: We earn a small commission on purchases, at no additional cost to you.
So I have a Samsung DW80R5060US. We’ve had issues for a while with it not draining properly. The landlord asked us to reset it as it was an issue about a year ago and had several techs out to try and service it. It would usually run the length of the cycle and then toward the end give an OC code and water would be in the bottom of the tub. Unplugging the dishwasher for 30 min and then plugging it back in would usually reset it and it would drain again. This worked several times and then stopped draining all together this week even when trying to reset it. When a load did complete I would see a fair amount of water running out from the gray circle grid thing on the side of the machine into the basin. If I saw this I would soak it up with paper towels. Also, this week, I would try to start a cycle and the drain pump would not start at the very beginning of the cycle as well as the dishwasher would only run for a few minutes and then start the OC code. After taking the filters off, I saw the check valve was broken apart but I can’t find it in any of the hoses I looked into. I’m not sure what to do from here. Any suggestions or thoughts would be great!
Can you tell if you have all of the pieces of the check valve? If you’re missing pieces, they could be stuck somewhere, clogging the drain route. It sounds like you already looked into that, but I have to ask.
Have you replaced the check valve yet? Some of the more sophisticated machines will not operate if it senses a malfunction in one or more parts.
Here is a link to the User’s manual, in, in case that’s helpful.
Thank you for all these informations! I did all the proposed inspections.
The thing is that the draining is working properly when I force it manually (press start for 3s). The pump is running and all the water is draining, I can hear it going through the pipes under my sink. I did replace the check valve, a small rubber flap since it was twisted, I thought I found the cause. Unfortunately it seems like the drain is simply not initiated at all during the cycle. The cycle starts and go for around 20 minutes, and then it just errors out without even starting the pump.
I have a DW80R9950US, almost two years old in a new construction home, and recently it’s intermittently showing a 5C code. I pre-rinse all dishes, I’ve checked the drain hose, the fine filter is clean, the drain pump entry area is clear. In about 1/3 of the cycles that I run I’m getting the code, and the code is only throwing at the last drain of the cycle. It will go almost an entire cycle without problems (draining fine in each part of the cycle sequence), and then the last drain of the cycle will throw the code. It’s happened in a Normal cycle, an Express 60 cycle, even a Cancel&Drain cycle.
Seems more electrical than mechanical. ??
Thanks for the site!
I have very similar problem with my Samsung dishwasher DW80R7061UG. Has run perfectly for 1and1/2years. Now I get an error code 5C at the last minute of the RINSE end of a full cycle or express (60 min) cycle. That prevents going into drying. Unit under warranty. Three times technicians came out and confirmed my observations which included the drain pump working fine all during the wash and rinse cycle up until the end of the rinse cycle. Before I called into the warranty company I checked and disconnected all drain plumbing connections with all OK. Also had electrician check all electrical. After 3 warranty Tec attempts to find out what was going on and the replacement of a course filter, drain pump and circulating pump the error code still came in. On a call to Samsung by the 3rd Technician they connected an electrical meter to the power connection, ran the unit in rinse cycle to a bucket at ground level ( not up to the air gap) with NO code. Now they tell me its my problem but can’t explain why the unit works all during a full cycle up until the end when connected to the air gap at top of sink. I have no idea what the Warranty company will come up with next? I am very frustrated. No dishwasher for 3 months.
Had an OC code, full of water (my fault), didn’t knock out the new garbage disposal plug. Drained fine after fixing the garbage disposal issue but after multiple attempts (including power shut off at breaker) won’t “run” even though power on… can’t change wash “type/cycle” either, only the express wash that it was on.