The short answer
E10 is a fault in the zeolite chamber heater — the crystal drying system — as the table records. That chamber holds a mineral that releases heat as it takes up moisture, and a heater regenerates it between cycles. A fault here costs you drying performance rather than washing, and it is not an owner-serviceable component.
Code table
Reference| code | meaning | owner-checkable |
|---|---|---|
| E10 | There is a Zeolite (Crystal Dry) chamber heater fault/error. | no |
| E05 | There is a wash arm diverter circuit in main control board fault/error. | see page |
| E17 | An E16 or E17 error code indicates an issue with water flowing into the dishwasher or the filling system. | see page |
What you observe
- Dishes come out wet at the end of the cycle — The drying stage is what depends on this chamber.
- The cycle completes but posts the code — Washing finishes; the drying stage is what failed.
- Plastics are wetter than usual even for this machine — Plastics rely most on the heat the chamber releases.
- NEAR MISS — everything is wet and the cycle never heated — A machine that washes cold has a heating fault, which is a different code.
Likeliest causes first
- The chamber heater element or its circuit — First, because the code names it: the regeneration heater runs hot on every cycle and is the part that fails.
- The wiring and connections to the chamber — Second: a high-temperature connection degrades, and the control reads that as a heater fault.
- The control stage that drives the heater — Last: board-side failure, proved rather than assumed because it is the dearest outcome.
Check in this order
- Confirm washing is still working properly — Clean but wet dishes localise the fault to the drying system and nothing else.
- Cut the breaker for a minute and run one more cycle — Separates a stored code from a genuine heater fault.
- Leave the chamber to a technician — It sits in the machine body and is not accessible without dismantling.
Owner-safe steps
- Run a normal cycle and check whether washing is unaffected — Clean dishes tell you the fault is confined to drying.
About 60 min
- Open the door at the end of the cycle to air-dry — A workable substitute for the drying stage while the fault stands.
About 10 min
- STOP HERE — the chamber is inside the machine body — Reaching it means dismantling, with water and live circuits alongside.
Safety first
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel — a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. A dishwasher sits on a live circuit and a water supply at once: close the supply valve as well as the breaker, and expect standing water in the base of the tub.
When to call
Call when washing is fine and drying has stopped, and the code survives a reset. Ask what the repair costs before agreeing: the drying system is a comfort feature and opening the door at the end of a cycle is a genuine alternative. On an older machine this is a fair place to decide the repair is not worth it, and nothing about that choice is unsafe.
Neighbouring codes — E05 and E17 appear beside E10 in the table and are recorded against different hardware — different questions with different answers. A shared prefix on this brand is not a shared fault.
What this page does not cover
Read this as the class-level answer. The meaning of E10 here is the one the shared Bosch dishwasher table publishes, which applies to the model lines that use that table and to no others; a family- or model-specific page, where one exists, is linked below and outranks this one for your unit. Part numbers, wiring detail and torque figures belong on that page, not here.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
