--- title: "Dishwasher not draining" description: "Samsung dishwasher not draining — samsung reports this as 5C on machines with a display and as a single blinking cycle light on the rest." url: "https://samsungmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-not-draining/" date_modified: "2026-09-04" Appliance type: "Dishwashers" --- # Samsung dishwasher not draining ### Two checks and a bucket Take the filter assembly out of the bottom of the tub, wash it under a tap and put it back. Then look at the drain hose where it leaves the machine — a kink there, or a hose without a high loop, holds a column of water the pump cannot lift. Between them those two account for a large share of these calls. ### What it usually means, by the kind of Samsung appliance Samsung sells one appliance in several forms, and the same behavior points at different things on each of them. A built-in side-by-side and an integrated column are not the same service situation, and a dual-fuel range and an induction range fail in different halves. - **Machines with a display** — 5C, SC, 5E or SE. Read the exact characters. - **Machines with no display** — A single cycle light blinking — Delicate, or Quick+ depending on the panel. Note which before switching it off. - **New installations** — If it has never drained properly, look at the installation before the appliance. ### The filter nobody knows about Older dishwashers ground food up. Modern quiet ones filter it instead, which is why they are quiet and why they need the filter cleaned. On a Samsung it is at the bottom of the tub, it twists out by hand in about ten seconds, and a great many households have never touched it. It is the first thing we check and it is often the whole answer. ### The installation problem that hides for years When a dishwasher drains into a garbage disposer, the disposer’s inlet has a knockout plug that must be removed first. If it is not, the machine cannot drain at all — and because it is an installation error rather than a failure, it is present from the first cycle. We find it on machines that have been ‘faulty’ since they were delivered. It lifts and twists out by hand, and it collects everything. The single most common cause. The drain hose A kink, or no high loop, or pushed too far into the standpipe. The disposer knockout plug Never removed at installation. The machine has then never drained, from day one. The drain pump Tested rather than assumed. A pump that runs and moves nothing is a different part from one that does not run. Clear the filter Bottom of the tub, twists out. Rinse it and look at what came off it. Check the hose and the high loop It should rise above the level of the tub before it goes down to the drain. If it drains into a disposer, check the plug The knockout in the disposer inlet has to be removed when the dishwasher is connected. Run a rinse and listen A drain pump running with nothing moving sounds different from one that never starts. Standing water in the bottom of the tub What it usually means The filter comes out by hand and most owners never knew it was there The disposer knockout plug is the classic never-drained-since-installation cause 5C and its blinking-light equivalent are the same condition Two checks and a bucket Take the filter assembly out of the bottom of the tub, wash it under a tap and put it back. Then look at the drain hose where it leaves the machine — a kink there, or a hose without a high loop, holds a column of water the pump cannot lift. Between them those two account for a large share of these calls. What it usually means, by the kind of Samsung appliance Samsung sells one appliance in several forms, and the same behavior points at different things on each of them. A built-in side-by-side and an integrated column are not the same service situation, and a dual-fuel range and an induction range fail in different halves. Machines with a display — 5C, SC, 5E or SE. Read the exact characters. Machines with no display — A single cycle light blinking — Delicate, or Quick+ depending on the panel. Note which before switching it off. New installations — If it has never drained properly, look at the installation before the appliance. The filter nobody knows about Older dishwashers ground food up. Modern quiet ones filter it instead, which is why they are quiet and why they need the filter cleaned. On a Samsung it is at the bottom of the tub, it twists out by hand in about ten seconds, and a great many households have never touched it. It is the first thing we check and it is often the whole answer. The installation problem that hides for years When a dishwasher drains into a garbage disposer, the disposer’s inlet has a knockout plug that must be removed first. If it is not, the machine cannot drain at all — and because it is an installation error rather than a failure, it is present from the first cycle. We find it on machines that have been ‘faulty’ since they were delivered. ### There is a little water in the bottom all the time. Is that normal? A small amount in the sump is normal and keeps the seals wet. Standing water above the filter, or enough to see clearly, is not. ### It drains if I run it twice. That is a restriction rather than a failure — the machine is getting there slowly. It is the stage before it stops entirely, and it is cheaper to fix now. --- **[Read full article: Dishwasher not draining](https://samsungmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-not-draining/)**