The short answer
Water left in the drum at the end of a cycle means the drain path is obstructed somewhere between the pump trap and the house drain, and on most machines the obstruction is in the first stretch of it. On these models the two WH rows are one stem in two finishes. The path is short and almost all of it is reachable without tools, which is why the order below runs from the inside out.
What you observe
- Water standing in the drum at the end of the cycle — The machine washed and then failed to empty, which puts the fault on the drain side.
- The pump hums but nothing moves — A pump turning against an obstruction rather than a pump that has failed to turn at all.
- Clothes come out soaked rather than spun — A machine that cannot empty will not commit to a spin, so the load stays heavy.
- Water comes back after it has emptied — A siphoning problem at the standpipe rather than a fault inside the machine.
- NEAR MISS — the drum never filled in the first place — That is a fill or start fault and the machine never reached the step this page covers.
Causes, most likely first on the WH models
- Filter and pump trap blocked — First on these machines by a wide margin. Everything that comes off a load passes through here, and lint packed against coins and hair will stop a drain that was merely slow a month ago.
- Object jammed in the impeller — Second. Coins, wire from underwiring and pieces of plastic all reach the impeller, and a jammed impeller gives the characteristic hum without movement.
- Drain hose kinked, crushed or badly routed — Third. The hose lives behind the machine where it gets crushed against the wall, and a hose looped too high asks the pump for more lift than it has.
- Standpipe or house drain restricted — Fourth, and outside the appliance: if the sink beside it also drains slowly, the problem is the house rather than the washer.
- Drain pump failed — Last. A genuinely failed pump is silent rather than straining, which is what separates it from the far commoner jam above it. No counted corpus covers these models, so this ranks mechanisms rather than measured shares.
Check in this order, and why
- Read the plate and confirm which of the pair you have — It takes a moment and then you can stop thinking about it: the two rows differ in finish letters, not in the parts this fault involves.
- Get the water out before anything else — Use the drain hose into a low bucket. It makes every later step possible and tells you whether the water is clean or carrying debris.
- Open the filter and clear the trap completely — The commonest cause and the one that needs no tools. Expect coins, and expect the smell.
- Turn the impeller by hand with the power off — It should move freely. Anything gritty or locked is your answer.
- Pull the machine out and follow the hose — Look for a crush point behind the cabinet and for a loop standing higher than the machine was designed to lift.
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. The pump trap holds sharp debris more often than not, so look into it before you reach into it, and wear a glove. Drain the machine before opening the trap: a full drum empties through that opening in seconds and takes the floor with it.
Models in the WH family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| WH-2700BB | contoure:washer:wh |
| WH-2700T | contoure:washer:wh |
When to call a technician
Call when the trap, the impeller, the hose and the standpipe are all clear and the machine still will not empty, because what is left is the pump and its wiring. Call sooner if the pump is silent rather than humming, which points at the pump itself. Call at once if water is escaping onto the floor as well as standing inside, because then you have a leak and a drain fault together. Say which of the two finishes you have when you call. It will not change the part, but it settles the question before anyone travels.
Other pages for this family
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Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
