The short answer
Standing water in a dishwasher is a restriction, and the restriction is nearly always upstream of the pump: the filter, the sump, or the drain hose where it meets the sink waste. A small amount of water in the sump is normal on some machines; several inches over the filter is not.
What you are seeing
- Water covering the filter at the end of a cycle — Means: the drain step did not complete.
- The pump runs but the level does not fall — Means: a restriction downstream, or a jammed impeller.
- The machine drains and then refills — Means: a siphon from the sink waste or a missing high loop.
- Dirty water in the base with a clean cycle selected — Means: waste from the sink being drawn back into the machine.
- No pump sound at all — Means: the pump is not running or is jammed.
- Text: Observations that place the fault, and the near misses that mean a different one. Water under the machine rather than in it is a leak, not a drainage fault. A thin film of water in the sump between cycles is normal on many machines and keeps the seals wet.
Ranked causes on this platform
- Sump filter and its housing blocked — Why: Everything the wash removes ends up there, and a blocked filter stops the drain path before the pump ever sees the water.
- Drain hose kinked behind or under the machine — Why: The hose is squeezed when a built-in machine is pushed back into its housing, and the symptom appears right after any move.
- The machine being asked to work beyond its designed capacity — Why: Specific to compact appliances and easy to miss because nothing has failed: a load, a room or a duty cycle that a full-size machine would handle without comment is at the limit here, and the machine reports it as a performance complaint.
- Sink waste or disposer connection blocked — Why: The machine usually drains into the sink waste, so a blocked trap or an unremoved disposer plug stops it completely.
- Object or debris jammed in the drain pump — Why: Glass, seeds and labels reach the impeller and stop it; the pump then buzzes without moving water.
- Missing high loop or air gap allowing back-siphoning — Why: Explains the drain-then-refill and dirty-water patterns exactly, and it is an installation fault rather than a machine fault.
- Drain pump failed — Why: Identified by silence at the drain step after every restriction has been excluded.
- An installation shortcut carried over from a previous home — Why: Specific to appliances that move with their owner: a hose routed to suit the last kitchen, a faucet adapter reused, or a machine standing on a surface that flexes will all produce faults that look like component failures.
- Text: This is a compact dishwasher, and compact machines fail differently from full-size ones. Capacity comes first: the drum, the pump, the fan and the water path are all smaller, so the machine is far more sensitive to being asked for a full-size result than it is to any component defect. Restriction and load causes therefore rank above component failure throughout this list, and installation — clearance, levelling and hose routing — is part of the fault picture rather than a preliminary to it. One practical point shapes the order here: an apartment-scale appliance is usually installed by whoever lives with it, so the installation is recent, was done without a fitter, and is a live variable in a way it never is on a machine that was plumbed in once and left.
What to check, in order
- Check the installation and the clearance around the machine first — Why: Compact appliances are put where they fit rather than where they work best, so a blocked intake or an unlevel worktop is a live cause on this platform rather than a background condition.
- Listen during the drain step — Why: A running pump and a silent pump split the fault tree in half before anything is opened.
- Bail out the water and remove the filter — Why: The top-ranked cause, and the machine has to be emptied before anything else can be reached anyway.
- Clear the sump and check the pump impeller by hand — Why: Follows immediately because the sump is directly under the filter you have just removed.
- Check the sink waste and any disposer connection — Why: Placed here because a blocked waste stops the machine draining while the machine itself is perfect.
- Check the drain hose route and its high loop — Why: Last of the free checks, and the one that explains refilling and dirty water.
- Ask when and by whom the machine was last installed — Why: On an apartment-scale appliance the answer is usually recently and by the owner, which moves the installation to the top of the list rather than the bottom.
- Text: Each step either finds the fault or removes the next most likely cause from the list above.
Step by step
- Measure the clearance around the machine against the manual and confirm nothing blocks its intake or exhaust, then check it stands level on a firm surface. — Tools: a tape measure, a spirit level
About 15 min
- Start a drain or cancel cycle and listen at the base for the pump. Note whether you hear a hum, a buzz or nothing. — Tools: none
About 5 min
- Switch off at the spur. Bail the standing water out with a cup and soak up the rest with towels. — Tools: a cup, towels
About 20 min
- Twist out the filter assembly, wash it under a hot tap, and clear the sump underneath by hand, watching for glass. — Tools: gloves, a brush
About 20 min
- Check the drain pump impeller in the sump turns freely and is clear of labels, seeds and glass fragments. — Tools: gloves, a torch
About 10 min
- Under the sink, check the waste trap and, on a machine connected to a disposer, confirm the knock-out plug was removed at installation. — Tools: a bucket, a wrench
About 25 min
- Follow the drain hose from the machine and confirm it rises to a high loop under the worktop before falling to the waste connection. — Tools: a torch
About 15 min
- Check every connection made at installation — the supply, the drain, any faucet adapter and the levelling feet — before you accept that a component has failed. — Tools: a spirit level, a spanner
About 20 min
- Text: Checks a homeowner can safely make. Stop at the first step that would need a meter on live terminals.
Safety first
Safety
Switch the machine off at its spur or breaker before bailing water or reaching into the sump; a dishwasher combines standing water with mains voltage. A capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. The sump collects broken glass, seeds and knife points — wear gloves and look before you reach in. Wash water may be hot enough to scald immediately after a cycle, so let it cool first.
When to call a technician
Call a technician when the filter, sump and impeller are clear, the sink waste runs freely, the hose has a proper high loop, and the machine still will not drain — or when there is no pump sound at all. Bailing, filters, the sump and the waste connection are owner work; the pump is not. On a compact machine most of the boundary sits in the installation and the load rather than inside the cabinet, so work through both fully before booking a call.
Sources — No warehouse fact rows exist for Equator at this address, so this page prints no frequency, share or reliability figure. Every number above is a safety constant from the authoring allowlist, cited here with its publisher.
General guidance- 29 CFR 1910.147 — The control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout) — US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, fetched 2026-09-06
Nearby pages
What this page does not cover
Common Equator Dishwasher Problems — Slug: equator-dishwasher-problems — Relation: the routing page for this brand and appliance
This page is generalized information. It covers Equator dishwashers as a class: it carries no model numbers, no family-specific error-code table and no wiring detail, because no fact rows for those exist behind it. Compact platforms share filters, inlet valves and drain pumps across the segment; the part is matched by its physical fitting rather than by a brand catalogue number. Portable and slim models are frequently moved and re-connected, so the install itself — hose height, levelling, the faucet adapter — is part of the fault picture rather than a preliminary. The more specific pages listed below sit beneath this one, and where one of them differs from anything general said here, it takes precedence.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
