The short answer, at family level
On the Criterion CDW dishwasher family standing water is nearly always a blocked path rather than a dead pump, because a drain pump discharging through a hose that must rise into a high loop or air gap before it falls to the waste. On a built-under machine that path runs out of sight under the counter, which is why the check order below starts where you can actually see. A small amount of clean water in the sump is normal and is not this fault. The table below lists the five models this profile covers.
What owners of these models actually see
- The sink backs up when the machine drains — Then the blockage is in the household waste, not in the machine. This is the one cause on the list that is not an appliance fault at all.
- A foul smell from a machine that looks clean — Water that never fully leaves sits in the sump and the hose. The smell is the first sign of a drain that is slow rather than blocked.
- The machine hums at the end of the cycle but nothing drains — The pump is being asked to run and cannot move water: something is blocking it, jamming the impeller, or the outlet path is closed.
- NEAR MISS: water on the floor rather than in the tub — That is a leak, not a drainage fault, and the first move there is to shut off the supply rather than to run another cycle.
What it usually turns out to be here
- The filter and sump are blocked — First and cheapest: soil, labels and broken glass collect where the water leaves. On this platform the filter comes out from inside the tub with no tools and no panel off.
- The drain hose is kinked, blocked or has lost its high loop — Second: a drain pump discharging through a hose that must rise into a high loop or air gap before it falls to the waste, and that loop is what stops the waste siphoning back. A hose crushed behind the machine after an installation is the version of this most people meet.
- The disposer plug or the waste connection is blocked — Ranked high because it is so often missed: a newly fitted disposer keeps its knockout plug until someone removes it, and a machine plumbed into it will never drain until that happens.
- Something is jamming the drain pump impeller — A hum with no flow is this cause until proven otherwise. Glass, a stone or a bone fragment stops the impeller dead without damaging the motor.
Where to start, and why here
- Bail the water out and pull the filter — Scoop the standing water into a jug, take the filter out and look into the sump. Most drainage faults on this platform are visible and reachable at this point. Work down in order rather than jumping to the likeliest cause.
- Listen for the pump at the drain step — Start a rinse cycle and listen. A hum with no flow means a blockage or a jammed impeller; total silence points at the pump or the control instead.
- Check the drain hose behind and under the machine — Look for a crush point, a kink, and the high loop or air gap. The tub is plumbed and powered under the counter, so a leak is usually seen on the floor before it is seen in the machine
Before you open anything
Safety
Switch the machine off at its breaker before putting a hand into the sump; a capacitor in the control can hold a charge after the power is off. Wear a glove: broken glass in the sump is the injury that actually happens on this job. Do not bail with a mains-powered wet vacuum standing in the water, and do not run the machine again to see what happens once it has failed to drain, because that is what puts the water on the floor.
Models in the CDW family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| CDW2FCM* | criterion:dishwasher:cdw |
| CDW4FCM* | criterion:dishwasher:cdw |
| CDW5TCM* | criterion:dishwasher:cdw |
| CDW7TCM* | criterion:dishwasher:cdw |
| CDW7TCT1S | criterion:dishwasher:cdw |
Where the owner line falls here
Where the line falls here is worth stating plainly. Clearing the filter, the sump, the hose and the waste connection is owner work, and it resolves most of these. Call when the pump is silent at the drain step, when the impeller cannot be cleared from the sump side, or when the machine has to come out from under the counter to reach the hose. On this platform the machine has to be unplumbed and drawn out from under the counter before most work can start, which is where a straightforward job becomes a longer one.
Other faults on these models
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
