E15
Bosch Dishwasher E15 Error
Water has collected in the sealed base pan under the dishwasher and lifted the safety float. Bosch's anti-flood system responds by refusing to start a cycle and running the drain pump — sometimes continuously, even with the door open. The machine is protecting your floor; E15 is the alarm, not the fault itself.
Also displayed as: E15 with the tap symbol lit · Moderate — heavy lifting · 45 minutes
The short version: You can reset E15 yourself by draining the base pan — but understand what you're resetting. The float came up because water got in. Reset it once, then watch like a hawk: if E15 returns, there is a real leak, and resetting it again just lets that leak keep feeding your floor.
STEP 1 Likely causes, in order
Work down this list — it runs from the most common and cheapest to fix, to the least common and most involved.
- A slow leak from the inlet valve or a hoseThe water inlet valve and its hose connections sit over the base pan. A drip every few seconds is invisible from the front and fills the pan over days.
- Excess foam spilling overPlates pre-rinsed with dish soap, or rinse aid overdosed, foam up during the wash. Foam and wash water can spill over the sump into the base.
- A worn door or sump sealA hardening gasket lets spray escape along paths that end in the base pan. Seals typically give up gradually — E15 starts as a monthly event, then a weekly one.
- Blocked filters raising the water levelFilters choked with grease and food let water pool higher than designed inside the tub, and some of it finds the overflow path into the base.
STEP 2 The safe checks
Power off and water off wherever a step says so. Nothing here opens the machine's cabinet, touches a gas line, or defeats a safety device.
- Close the water tap and switch the machine offE15 machines often have an AquaStop inlet hose — the supply tap under the sink still gets closed first. Breaker off if the pump won't stop any other way.
- Pull the filters and clean themLift out the mesh filter assembly from the tub floor, rinse it thoroughly, and check the sump beneath for glass or labels. Refit it seated flat — a raised filter edge is its own overflow path.
- Drain the base pan by tilting (the reset)With the supply closed and towels spread, ease the dishwasher out of its opening and tip it backward to about 45 degrees, holding it there while water runs out of the base onto the towels. This empties the pan and drops the float — the code will clear when you power back on. Take your time: a full dishwasher is heavy and awkward.
- Check your detergent habitsDishwasher detergent only, measured dose, and no dish-soap pre-rinse left on plates. If a 'rinse everything with dish soap first' habit lives in your kitchen, E15 will come back no matter what you fix.
- Run one empty cycle and watch underneathSlide the machine back but leave access if you can, run an empty cycle, and check under the front edge with a flashlight and a dry hand every few minutes. Dry at the end = the reset held.
Stop here and call a professional if…
- E15 returns within a few cycles of the tilt reset. The leak is active and ongoing — every further reset just re-arms the alarm while water keeps reaching the floor structure.
- You see water dripping steadily from the inlet valve, a hose, or the bottom of the door during the test cycle. Don't run the machine again until it's repaired.
- The drain pump runs constantly and tilting produced a lot of water — more than a cup or two. A volume like that means a significant leak, not condensation or foam.