Standing water at the end of a cycle usually gets blamed on the pump. On a machine that has never drained properly since it was fitted, the pump is rarely the problem.
The missing high loop
The drain hose has to rise to just under the countertop before it falls to the waste connection. That loop is what stops water siphoning back out of the waste and into the machine. Fitters in a hurry run the hose straight along the floor of the cabinet, and the machine appears to leave water in the bottom every single time.
Open the cabinet next to the dishwasher and look at how the hose runs. If it never rises, that is your fault, and correcting it costs nothing but a bracket.
The disposal knockout
Where the drain connects to a garbage disposal, the disposal ships with a moulded plug in that inlet which has to be knocked out during installation. It is missed often enough that we check it as a matter of routine. With the plug in place the dishwasher has nowhere to drain to at all.
Then the ordinary causes
- The filter. Unscrews from the base and should be rinsed every few weeks. Most people have never removed one.
- The drain pump impeller. Glass fragments, fruit stones and labels get past the coarse filter and jam it. On most machines this is reachable and it is a same-visit fix.
- A kinked hose behind the machine, usually created when the dishwasher was pushed back into place.
What a little water means
A small amount of water in the sump is normal and correct. It keeps the seals wet so they do not dry out and leak. Standing water above the filter is not normal, and that is the line we look at.
If your dishwasher has never drained properly since the day it was installed, say so when you call 847-941-0334. It changes what we check first, and it often means the visit costs less.
