What this means on these models
On the Criterion DG dishwasher family standing water is nearly always a blocked path rather than a dead pump, because a drain pump discharging through a looped hose. On a machine that is connected and disconnected at the tap, the drain hose is handled constantly, which is where the kinks come from. A small amount of clean water in the sump is normal and is not this fault. One model in the roster, so the notes below apply exactly.
What owners of these models actually see
- Standing water covering the tub floor at the end of a cycle — More than a cupful, and dirty. That is a drain fault. A small amount of clean water in the sump between cycles is by design.
- Glass fragments or a fruit stone in the sump — Anything hard that got past the filter can jam the pump impeller. It is worth finding before assuming a part has failed.
- Water comes back into the tub after the cycle finishes — Water returning means siphoning: the drain hose has lost its high loop or air gap, and the sink is feeding back into the machine.
- 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.
Causes, most likely first on this platform
- 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 looped hose, 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. Confirm your own model against the table first.
- 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. On a portable or tap-connected variant the supply and drain are made and broken at every wash, which adds two failure points no built-under machine has
- Check the waste connection at the sink or disposer — Run the sink and watch. If it backs up, the fault is in the waste and not in the machine, and a new disposer may still have its knockout plug in place.
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 DG family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| DG1-A6301-AM | criterion:dishwasher:dg |
When this stops being owner work
The split on these models is not subtle. 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 supply and drain connections have to be broken before most work can start, and on a tap-connected machine those fittings are the parts that have been handled most.
The rest of this family
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
