The short answer
Water that will not drain on an ADB dishwasher usually comes down to something solid in the pump: a chip of glass, a label or a fruit stone is exactly the right size to jam an impeller, and the machine will hum and move nothing. The order that follows puts the likeliest and cheapest causes first, and it is the order worth working in rather than starting with the part that sounds most serious.
What you actually observe
- A hum or buzz at the point in the cycle where it should drain — The pump is being asked to run and cannot move water.
- Water backs up into the sink when the machine drains — A shared drain restriction rather than an appliance fault.
- Standing water in the sump at the end of every cycle — Water arrived and did not leave, which is the whole of this fault.
- Water is on the floor instead of in the sump — NEAR MISS: read the leak page for this machine, not this one.
- Body: Where a step below depends on which ADB listing you own, the table above is the reference; nothing here is written from a model outside it.
What causes it on the ADB platform, in likelihood order
- 1. The valve that stops water coming back — A check valve held open by debris lets the drain line empty back into the sump, so the machine drains and refills itself from the waste pipe between cycles. It ranks here because a one-listing family gives one set of moving parts, so on ADB the mechanical causes are ranked by wear rather than by variant.
- 2. A loaded filter and sump — It is first because it is the commonest single answer, it needs no tools, and it is also the cause that makes every other symptom worse while it is left alone. Second on ADB, because the cause above it is found without tools and this one needs the cabinet empty first.
- 3. A drain connection that was never opened — A food-waste disposer arrives with the dishwasher inlet blanked off. If that plug is not knocked out when the drain hose is connected, the machine can never drain, from the first cycle onward.
- 4. The household drain the machine shares — It is worth ruling in early because it is a plumbing job rather than an appliance repair and the two go to different people.
The order to work in on this platform
- 1. Check whether a dry sump refills with no cycle run — That behaviour names the check valve by itself.
- 2. Lift out the filter and look at what is under it — The commonest answer, and it costs nothing but a minute.
- 3. Ask whether a disposer was fitted at the same time — If the machine has never drained, this one question is usually the whole diagnosis.
Before you open anything
Safety
Switch the machine off at its breaker or unplug it before reaching into the sump; a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off, and a standard household branch circuit is 15 A or 20 A at 120 V. Assume broken glass is in the sump every time, use a cloth, and never bail with a vacuum cleaner that is not rated for water. The ADB roster is a single listing, ADB1300AF**, so everything here applies to one build rather than to a range.
Models in the ADB family — The listings this family covers; it is a family page, not a model page.
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| ADB1300AF** | amama:dishwasher:adb |
When to call a technician
The line is the pump. Filters, hoses, knockout plugs and the shared waste are owner or plumber territory; an impeller that will not turn or a pump that never runs at all is an appliance technician's job.
The other symptoms covered for this family
Related pages
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
