The short answer
An AEG WHP washer that will not drain is blocked far more often than it is broken, and the blockage is usually in the first place you can reach. Water leaves a washing machine through a filter, a pump, a hose and a standpipe, in that order. A failure anywhere in that chain looks identical from the front, so the fix is to work along it from the accessible end rather than to guess at the pump. The table below lists one model for this family, so there is no second configuration to rule out before you begin.
How the water is behaving
- The drum is still full when the programme ends — A complete blockage rather than a partial one.
- It empties slowly and the programme over-runs — A restriction, which is what a filter half full of lint gives.
- The pump is clearly working but nothing moves — It is pushing against something, and that something is usually visible in the filter housing.
- It drains and then water returns to the drum — A siphon at the waste connection, which is outside the machine entirely.
- NEAR MISS — it drains properly but the load stays wet — That is a spin fault and the cycle page for this family covers it.
Where the path is closed, most likely first on the WHP line
- The pump impeller jammed or the pump dead — An object past the filter reaches the impeller and stops it, which sounds exactly like a running pump achieving nothing, and it is the residual once the chain is clear. On the WHP family this holds without qualification, because the family covers one configuration rather than a spread of them.
- The pump filter full of lint and debris — It is the designed trap, the first thing the water meets, and the part almost nobody cleans — which is exactly why it leads on every machine of this type.
- The standpipe or waste connection blocked — This is outside the appliance, and it is the only cause that can push water back into the drum — a symptom no internal fault can produce.
- The level sensing reading the drum as empty — A machine that believes it has already emptied stops pumping with the drum still full, and it is the one cause here where the pump is entirely innocent.
The order to work through on these models
- Listen for whether the pump runs at all through the drain stage — Silence and straining mean different repairs, and the checks above must be clean first.
- Isolate the machine, put a tray underneath and open the pump filter — The accessible end of the chain and the likeliest find, so it always goes first.
- Pour a jug of water into the standpipe and watch it go — Decides whether this is an appliance repair at all.
Models in the WHP family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| WHP120 | aeg:washer:whp |
Isolate it first
Safety
Isolate the machine at its breaker, or draw the plug, before any panel is disturbed — a motor capacitor can hold stored charge well after the drum has come to rest. Shut both taps and let the drum empty through the pump filter before anything is unfastened, with cloths already down. Never reach for a plug while standing in water. The lid or door switch stays exactly as the factory wired it: it halts the drum whenever the machine is opened, and it is the one item on a washer nobody should work around. Anyone who feels a tingle from the cabinet or the taps should stop and leave the machine isolated.
When to call a technician
Call a technician when the filter, the hose and the standpipe are all clear and the machine still will not drain, because the next step is inside the cabinet. Call sooner if water is escaping onto the floor while the pump runs, or if the machine trips its circuit during the drain — a pump that is drawing enough current to trip protection is a fault to leave switched off rather than to retry.
Other problems covered for this family
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
