Bosch Dishwasher E22 Error: Clean the Filter, Clear the Code

Your Bosch stops part way through the cycle, the display reads E22 or E:22, and when you open the door there is a shallow pool of grey water sitting around the filter in the floor of the tub. Nothing is broken. On most Bosch dishwashers built in the last ten years or so, E22 is the machine saying the filter is blocked and water can no longer get through it. It is the cheapest code Bosch has: no parts, no screwdriver, about ten minutes at the sink once the water has cooled.

One question splits this in two: where is the water? A shallow pool around the filter is normal for E22 and points at the filter. An inch or more standing across the tub floor, water the machine tried to pump out and could not, is a drain fault that Bosch usually flags as E24 instead. Water under the machine rather than in it is the base pan, and that shows as E15.

Start With These 30-Second Checks

1. 1With the door closed and your hands out of the tub, hold the Start button for about three seconds to cancel the stuck cycle. On most Bosch models that also runs a short drain. Then switch the dishwasher off at the wall switch or the breaker and leave the door open: nothing else on this list happens with the machine live.
2. 2After a hot or sanitize cycle the water in the sump can be close to 150F, so leave the door open 20 to 30 minutes before you put a hand or your face over the tub.
3. 3Look at the filter with a flashlight. A grey film over the fine mesh, a ring of hardened grease, or a soaked paper label lying flat across it is the whole diagnosis.
4. 4Judge the water by eye. A pool around the filter is expected; half an inch across the whole tub floor means the drain path is involved too.
5. 5Think back over the last few loads. A burst pod wrapper, a broken glass, a peeled jar label or a spoonful of rice is what actually blocks a Bosch filter.

1. Bail Out the Water Before You Touch the Filter

Do this first or the rest gets messy. Lifting a blocked filter out of standing water tips that water sideways across the sump, and on some installs over the edge into the base pan under the machine. That is how a five minute E22 turns into an E15 lock as well.

1. 1Switch the dishwasher off at the wall switch or at the breaker, and leave the door open. The drain pump can start on its own once the door is closed again.
2. 2Wait 20 to 30 minutes after a hot cycle so the water is no longer scalding, and pull on rubber gloves.
3. 3Scoop the water into the sink with a cup or a measuring jug. Three or four cupfuls is normal for the pool that sits around the filter, up to eight if the machine stopped early in a wash. If you take out a gallon or more, it never drained at all and you are looking at E24, not E22.
4. 4Take the last half inch out with a turkey baster, then a sponge, until the sump is down to a damp film.
5. 5Lay an old towel along the bottom of the door opening to catch what drips when you lift the filter out.

2. Take the Filter Apart and Rinse All Three Pieces

A Bosch filter is three pieces that come apart in your hands: the coarse plastic cylinder, the fine filter cup it sits in, and a flat metal micro mesh screen under both. Rinsing only the cylinder is why E22 comes back for a lot of people.

1. 1Switch the dishwasher off at the wall switch or the breaker and leave the door open. If it ran a hot cycle in the last half hour, wait 20 to 30 minutes, then pull rubber gloves on and scoop the standing water out with a cup. Now pull the lower rack all the way out and lift it off its rails if it is in your way.
2. 2Grip the plastic cylinder in the floor of the tub, turn it counterclockwise until it stops, and lift it straight up.
3. 3Lift out the flat metal screen underneath. On most models it comes free once the cylinder is out; on some it slides forward off a lip.
4. 4Pull the cylinder apart into its coarse and fine halves and rinse everything under a hot tap. Work an old toothbrush around the outside of the fine mesh, which is where the grease film sits.
5. 5If the mesh is still grey, soak all three pieces 15 minutes in hot water with dish soap or half a cup of white vinegar, then brush again.
6. 6Hold the fine filter up to a light before you refit it. You should see daylight through the whole mesh. Any patch that stays dark is still blocked.

3. Clear the Sump and the Pump Opening Underneath

With the filter out you are looking at the sump: a shallow well with the circulation intake on one side and the drain pump opening on the other. Whatever slipped past the filter ends up here, and a teaspoon of it in the wrong place holds the code.

1. 1Confirm again that the dishwasher is dead at the wall switch or breaker and that the door stays open.
2. 2Wipe the sump out with paper towel. Lift seeds, glass, labels, twist ties and bits of bone out rather than pushing them around the well.
3. 3Find the round pump cover in the sump floor if your model has one and lift or twist it off. Some Bosch models use a small plastic cover, others leave the impeller exposed.
4. 4Turn the impeller one full circle with a gloved fingertip. It should move freely with a slight ratchet feel. If it stops against something, do not force it and do not lever at it with a screwdriver: take the object out with pliers, and if it will not come out that way, stop here and book a technician. A snapped impeller blade turns a free clean into a new pump.
5. 5Refit the pump cover and turn it until it seats and locks. A cover left loose or left off is a straight ticket to an E24 on the next cycle.

4. Refit the Filter Until the Arrows Line Up

A good share of the codes that come back within the hour are a filter that was cleaned properly and then dropped in without being turned. Unlocked, it lifts during the wash and lets everything you just removed straight back into the sump.

1. 1Confirm the dishwasher is off at the wall switch or the breaker, and leave it off until this whole list is finished and your hands are out of the machine.
2. 2Put the flat metal screen back first, lying flat, with no corner riding up on the sump rim.
3. 3Push the coarse and fine halves of the cylinder back together until they click.
4. 4Drop the cylinder into its seat and turn it clockwise until the arrow on the filter lines up with the arrow on the tub floor. On most models you feel a soft stop.
5. 5Try to lift the filter straight out without twisting. If it comes up, it is not locked. Turn it further until it will not.
6. 6Take your hands out of the tub, slide the rack back in, close the door, and only then switch the power back on at the wall switch or breaker. Run a rinse cycle with the machine empty.

5. If the Filter Was Already Clean

Some machines show E22 with a filter that looks fine. Then the restriction is further along the water path, or on the supply side instead, and which one depends on your model range.

1. 1Switch the dishwasher off at the wall switch or the breaker and close the water tap that feeds it, usually under the sink beside the drain. Then ease the machine forward only as far as the hoses allow, feeding them through by hand so nothing pulls tight, and straighten any kink in the drain hose. Check the high loop is still fixed up under the counter.
2. 2See whether the water tap or check water supply symbol is lit next to the code. On some Bosch ranges that pairing points at the fill side rather than the filter.
3. 3If it is lit, with the tap already closed from step 1, unscrew the inlet hose from it and brush the small screen inside the coupling clean under running water.
4. 4Before you screw the hose back on, hold a bucket tight against the open valve and run it for one minute. It comes out hard, so hold on. A healthy dishwasher supply gives at least 2 gallons, roughly 8 litres. Do not measure at the kitchen faucet instead: its aerator caps the flow at 1.5 to 2.2 gallons a minute and will read as starved even when the supply is fine.
5. 5Reconnect the hose hand tight plus a quarter turn, open the tap slowly and watch the joint for a minute before you push the machine back.
6. 6Check the code list in your own model's manual before buying anything. Bosch has reused two digit codes across platforms and decades, and E22 does not mean the same thing on every series or in every market.

Tools You Will Probably Need

When to Call a Pro

If the filter, the sump and the drain hose are all clear and E22 still appears in the first minutes of a cycle, you are past what a rinse fixes. What is left is the circulation pump, the flow sensor, or the board reading them.

1. 1Book the visit if E22 returns within three cycles of a genuinely clean filter and a clear sump.
2. 2Ask the technician to test the circulation pump and the flow sensor before replacing either. The sensor gets swapped on a hunch more often than it deserves.
3. 3Check the age first. Bosch's standard US warranty covers the whole machine for a year, with longer limited cover on some parts, so a machine under a year old is a warranty call.
4. 4On a machine over ten years old, get the quote before the work. A pump plus labour often lands close to an entry level replacement.
5. 5Write down what you cleaned and when the code came back. It saves the technician the first half hour.