Error code
Samsung dishwasher: Cannot drain
Samsung dishwasher — reported by blinking lights rather than by a code. Standing water and a cycle that will not finish, reported in lights instead of 5C.
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What we can confirm
Code Delicate, from the manufacturer's own documentation
This code has no number, because this equipment has no display to put one on. The appliance signals it instead — an alarm, a symbol or a pattern of lights — and what it means is recorded in the documentation that ships with it.
The code
Delicate
Standing water and a cycle that will not finish, reported in lights instead of 5C. The order that solves most of them is filter, hose, disposer connection, pump — and on a machine that has never drained since it was fitted, the disposer knockout plug.
or call (305) 506-1256
What it narrows down to
the machine cannot empty itself
Diagnostic
From $95, credited to the repair
On the same appliance
What else belongs to the dishwashers
On this make a code belongs to the appliance rather than to a product line. These are the other conditions this machine can display, and the models that can show this one — a display often has more than one thing to say, and the model number decides what any of it costs to put right.
Other codes this appliance can display
two different conditions, and which one depends on the wash system
the wash pump is not running as it should
the incoming water is too hot
water is not arriving at the pressure or temperature the machine needs
the machine cannot empty itself
the moving reflector is not traveling as it should
there is less water in the tub than the cycle needs
not an error — the machine is waiting to be connected to a phone
the panel reads a button as stuck
the panel and the main board have stopped talking
the tub is running hotter than it should
the temperature inside cannot be read correctly
The same digits mean different things on different equipment. Search the full code list
In more detail
About Samsung dishwasher: Cannot drain
What the appliance is actually reporting
Standing water and a cycle that will not finish, reported in lights instead of 5C. The order that solves most of them is filter, hose, disposer connection, pump — and on a machine that has never drained since it was fitted, the disposer knockout plug.
The other light combinations that mean this
Delicate · Quick+
Samsung publishes forty light combinations for the dishwasher alone, and several of them mean the same thing. They are grouped here by what they mean rather than made into forty near-identical pages, and every combination the maker names is printed above.
Where this appears, and why not to clear it
On the cycle lights, on a machine with no digital display. Samsung publishes what each combination means, and on those models the combination is the entire diagnosis — it disappears the moment the power is cut. Write it down or photograph the panel before switching anything off. Samsung adds one caution of its own and it saves service calls: on some models the lights blink to show cycle status, so treat it as an error only if the machine is misbehaving as well.
Which machines this one applies to
Models with no digital display, which report by blinking their cycle lights. Samsung itself flags that several of its codes mean two different things depending on the model — dC, 3E and BE2 on washers, and 1E on dishwashers — so the model number is what settles which reading applies to your machine. It also publishes nothing at all for freezers, ice makers and range hoods, which is why those appliances have symptom pages here and no code pages.
What to do about it
- Take out the filter assembly, clean it and refit it.
- Check the drain hose is not kinked and rises into a high loop.
- If it drains into a disposer, confirm the knockout plug was removed at installation.
- If all of that is right, the drain pump is the repair.
Where this goes next
The job this usually becomes is dishwasher drain repair, and that page carries a starting figure and the reasons that move it. If it turns out to be nothing — and on this make a real share of these are modes, reminders and settings rather than problems — the visit ends there and you pay the diagnostic and nothing else, or call (305) 506-1256 and describe what the panel is doing before booking anything.
This article is based on:
- Official manufacturer documentation
- Internal repair procedures
- Technician repair history
- Company quality standards