The short answer
E6002 means the heat pump is blocked, as the table states directly. Something is physically obstructing the pump that circulates and heats the water, and the control has stopped rather than keep driving against it. The filter and anything that reaches the pump inlet are the first places to look, and those are owner-accessible.
Code table
Reference| code | meaning | owner-checkable |
|---|---|---|
| E6002 | The heat pump is blocked. | partly |
| E6001 | There is a heat pump internal heater fault/error. | see page |
| E6101 | There is an issue with the drain pump. This happens when the drain pump is blocked, clogged, or faulty. | see page |
What you observe
- The wash arms turn weakly or not at all — A blocked circulation pump cannot deliver pressure to the arms.
- The machine hums but little happens — A motor loaded against an obstruction is audible.
- The cycle stops with water in the tub — Circulation has failed, so the programme cannot continue.
- NEAR MISS — water drains away but nothing is clean — Draining fine while washing badly points at the spray arms instead.
Likeliest causes first
- Debris reaching the pump through a poorly seated filter — First: glass, fruit stones, labels and bone fragments pass a filter that is not locked home, and they end up exactly here.
- Heavy scale narrowing the pump — Second: deposit builds in the housing until the impeller no longer moves water, which reads as a block because it is one.
- A failed impeller or a seized bearing — Last: mechanical failure of the pump itself, which is what remains once the obstruction is ruled out.
Check in this order
- Take out and wash the filter assembly — Start here always: it is where the debris that reaches the pump comes from.
- Check the filter was seated and locked before this happened — A filter left loose is the usual route for hard debris into the pump.
- Look and feel for debris at the sump once it is empty — What you can reach from inside the tub is fair game; what you cannot is not.
Owner-safe steps
- Bail out the standing water and lift out the filter — Take the whole assembly apart as the manual shows and rinse it under a tap.
Tools: jug, spongeAbout 25 min
- Clear the sump of anything you can see or feel — Glass fragments are common here — use a cloth rather than bare fingers.
Tools: cloth, torchAbout 20 min
- STOP HERE — the pump body is under the tub — Reaching it means laying the machine over with water inside it.
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 the filter and sump are clean and the code still stands. At that point the obstruction is inside the pump, or the pump itself has failed, and both mean getting underneath the machine. Mention what you cleared: a technician who knows the filter has been done starts at the pump rather than repeating your work.
Neighbouring codes — E6001 and E6101 appear beside E6002 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
This page is written for the Bosch dishwasher class rather than for one model line, and E6002 is read exactly as the shared table records it. If your family or model has its own page, that page is the more specific answer and it is linked below — go there first when your model is named. Left out deliberately: connector positions, wiring colours and part numbers, which are family-specific.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
