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Why won't my dishwasher drain?

Standing water in a dishwasher is a blocked path more often than a broken pump — and the path has exactly four checkpoints: the filter, the drain hose, the air gap or high loop, and the connection into the sink drain.

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What it usually is

  1. A clogged internal filter and sump

    Modern dishwashers have a cylindrical filter at the tub floor that most owners have never removed. Food film and glass shards accumulate until water simply cannot reach the pump.

  2. The drain hose kinked or blocked

    The corrugated hose to the sink pinches behind the unit or clogs at its narrowest point — commonly right at the connection into the disposal or drain tee.

  3. A disposal connection still wearing its knockout plug

    After a disposal replacement, the dishwasher inlet plug must be knocked out; a forgotten plug blocks drainage completely. New-disposal-then-no-drain is this, every time.

  4. A failed drain pump or its check valve

    If the machine hums at drain time with clear paths, or is silent when it should pump, the pump or its one-way valve has failed.

What you can check yourself

Twist out the filter, rinse it, and clear the sump beneath (wear a glove — glass hides there). Bail the tub, pull the unit forward and straighten the hose. Run the disposal briefly — it clears the shared connection. After any disposal work, verify the knockout. Then run a rinse cycle and listen for the pump.

When it’s a job for a pro

A silent or humming pump with clear paths is a part replacement — moderate cost, awkward access under the tub. Repeated clogs deserve a look at hose routing and the high loop, which prevents dirty sink water from back-feeding.

Filter and hose clearing is $0 DIY; a drain pump typically runs $150 to $350 installed. The knockout fix is a screwdriver and thirty seconds.

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