---
title: "Dishwasher not draining"
description: "Electrolux dishwasher not draining: the maker publishes one code for this — i40, a clogged filter or sump — and names the glass trap specifically."
url: "https://electroluxmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-not-draining/"
date_modified: "2026-09-11"
Appliance type: "Dishwashers"
---


# Electrolux dishwasher not draining

### What to do in the next ten minutes

Pull the lower rack, twist out the filter assembly and lift out the glass trap beside it. Rinse both under a hot tap. Run a cycle empty. If water still stands with the filter removed, stop and book it — the problem is past the filter.

### Why the filter fills faster here

Two reasons and neither is the machine. Detergent formulations changed and manufacturers now tell people not to pre-rinse, so more solid food reaches the sump than the design assumed. And South Florida water is hard, so scale forms on the filter mesh and gives everything else something to cling to. A filter cleaned twice a year on this badge is a machine that very rarely produces this call.

The filter and sump have loaded up

Modern detergents and less pre-rinsing than people used to do, plus the scale this county's water leaves behind to hold it all together.

The drain path is blocked past the machine

A disposal knockout nobody punched out, a kinked hose, or a high loop that has slipped. None of it is the appliance.

The pump or its impeller has failed

The genuine repair at the end of this list, and the only one that needs the machine drawn out.

Clear the filter and glass trap

No tools, five minutes, and it is the answer often enough to always be first.

Run one cycle with the filter out

The single test that separates maintenance from repair.

Check the disposal and the air gap

A new disposal with an un-punched knockout is a classic and it has nothing to do with the dishwasher.

Standing water in the bottom at the end of a cycle

What it usually means

i40 is the maker's code and it points at the filter first

Filter and glass trap lift out by hand, no tools

Water still standing with the filter out is what makes it a repair

What to do in the next ten minutes

Pull the lower rack, twist out the filter assembly and lift out the glass trap beside it. Rinse both under a hot tap. Run a cycle empty. If water still stands with the filter removed, stop and book it — the problem is past the filter.

Why the filter fills faster here

Two reasons and neither is the machine. Detergent formulations changed and manufacturers now tell people not to pre-rinse, so more solid food reaches the sump than the design assumed. And South Florida water is hard, so scale forms on the filter mesh and gives everything else something to cling to. A filter cleaned twice a year on this badge is a machine that very rarely produces this call.

### Is it safe to run it with water in the bottom?

A small amount of water in the sump is normal and by design — it keeps the seals wet. Standing water above the filter after a completed cycle is not.

### It drains slowly rather than not at all.

Same list, earlier stage. Slow draining is the filter or a partial blockage, and dealing with it now is cheaper than dealing with it when it stops entirely.

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