The short answer
A leaking DWF machine is usually leaking from a joint you can see, not from the tub. On a built-in half of the joints that can leak are under the sink rather than in the machine. The single most useful thing you can do is note when in the cycle the water appears, because that alone narrows it to one of three causes. The 2 numbers in the table below share the construction this ranking is built on.
What you observe on these models
- A line of water on the floor directly under the door — Door gasket or door alignment.
- Spray that stops the instant the cycle pauses — A pressurised joint, not a tub leak.
- Water on the worktop beside the adapter — The only pressurised joint on the machine.
- A wet line along the bottom of the door — Short door, distorted seal.
- NEAR MISS — a wet floor with foam in it — Detergent, not a fault.
Causes, most likely first on the DWF family
- The door gasket and the door alignment — First on this platform: water at the front, across the floor in a line under the door, is a gasket or a door that has stopped closing square, and both are visible without a tool.
- Overfilling from a failed float or inlet valve — Second: a machine that keeps filling puts water over the door lip, and the tell is that the leak only happens during the fill rather than throughout the cycle.
- Connections under the sink: inlet, drain and the air gap — Third: dry everything and run a cycle while watching there.
- Suds from the wrong detergent — Fourth: hand detergent or dish soap in the dispenser foams over the door seal, and it leaves a leak with no fault behind it.
- The faucet coupler and its hoses — Last: the coupler carries mains pressure for the whole cycle, it is connected by hand each time, and a worn washer or a coupler not clicked fully home sprays at the tap rather than at the machine.
Check in this order, and why that order
- Work out when in the cycle the water appears — During the fill points at overfill; throughout points at the door or a hose; at the end points at the drain.
- Run a finger round the door gasket looking for hard, flattened or torn sections — A gasket that has taken a set is visible and it is the commonest leak on a built-in.
- If the water is under the machine with the outside dry, stop — That points inside the tub and to a technician.
- Run a finger round the seal, feeling for a section out of its channel — Displaced seals produce a leak in the same place every time.
- Check whether the leak only happens on long programmes — A creeping fill shows on the long ones first.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel. A capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Do it before the first panel rather than before the difficult one: the live parts are not where most people expect them.
Models in the DWF family — The numbers this page covers.
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| DWF18V** | avanti:dishwasher:dwf |
| DWF24V** | avanti:dishwasher:dwf |
When to call a technician
A gasket, a coupler washer and a connection under the sink are all owner jobs. On these models the line falls at the control board and the switches wired to it. Call without working through anything at all for a pump that grinds, or a machine that has never drained properly since installation.
Nearest pages of this class
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
