Samsung dishwasher error codes: most of them are the drain hose, the filter, or water where it should not be.

The dishwasher waited for its fill and the water level never rose. Nine times in ten the water is not reaching the valve.

1. The supply valve under the sink (a small lever or knob on the hot line) is fully open — a valve a quarter turn open fills so slowly the control gives up.
2. The braided line to the dishwasher is not kinked where it bends up under the cabinet floor.
3. The hot tap at the sink runs with normal pressure; a house filter that has clogged, or a well pump between cycles, stalls the fill.
4. A new install: the supply line is on and the valve under the sink was actually turned on after the hookup.

Open the valve all the way, straighten the line, reset and run a Quick cycle. If the valve is open and the pressure is good, the inlet valve on the dishwasher (behind the kick plate, where the line attaches) is not opening — a part.

The drain pump ran and the water level did not drop in time. The display's 5 reads as an S, so 5C and SE are the same code.

1. The filter in the floor of the tub — twist the round cylinder out, lift the flat screen under it, rinse both under the tap and look into the sump for a seed, a glass chip or a label.
2. The drain hose under the sink — not kinked behind the cabinet, rising in a high loop before it drops to the disposal or the tailpiece.
3. A disposal installed this year: its dishwasher knockout plug is punched out (the dishwasher cannot drain into a sealed inlet). Run the disposal for a few seconds with water — a full disposal backs the dishwasher up.
4. An air gap on the counter: pull its cap and clear the gunk.
5. The sink drains freely; a slow sink is the house drain, not the dishwasher.

Clean the filter, fix the hose or the disposal, and run Start held three seconds to drain. A pump that hums with the sump clear and moves nothing is the drain pump — a part, and on a machine under warranty a warranty call.

The level sensor saw more water than the cycle asked for. Either the inlet valve is not closing, or water is coming back in from the drain.

1. Turn the supply valve under the sink off. If the tub keeps filling with the supply off, the water is coming back through the drain hose — a disposal or a sink drain backing up, or a hose with no high loop.
2. If the filling stops with the supply off, the inlet valve is not shutting.

Fix the high loop or the clogged drain and the code clears. An inlet valve that will not shut is a part — leave the supply off until it is replaced so the floor stays dry.

The sensor in the base pan under the tub found water, or moisture. A Samsung reports this before anything reaches the floor — and reports it after a move or a suds-over too.

1. Was the dishwasher just moved, tilted or re-installed? Water left in the base from the last cycle sloshes onto the sensor. Switch the breaker off, pull the dishwasher forward, tip it back on a towel with a helper and let the base dry.
2. Dish soap or too much detergent — a tub of suds pushes foam out the door vent into the base. Run a Quick cycle with nothing in it and a cup of white vinegar if the last load foamed.
3. The door gasket — a chip, a flat spot at the bottom corners, or a rack pulled through it. The gasket is the seal the tub relies on.
4. The spray arms are seated and turn freely; an arm knocked off its post sprays the door seam.
5. Under the sink: the supply and drain connections at the dishwasher's inlet are dry when you run a cycle and feel them.

Dry the base, fix the suds or the gasket, reset and run a Quick cycle. A base that fills again with the gasket good and the connections dry has a leak inside — a hose off the pump, the sump seal, a cracked tub — a service call.

The control read less water in the sump than it put in. On a Samsung that almost always means the filter is packed and the water cannot reach the pump.

1. The filter — the cylinder and the flat screen in the floor of the tub, out and rinsed. Look at the sump under them for a seed or a bone.
2. The spray arms turn by hand and their holes are clear (a toothpick clears a blocked hole).
3. Reset and run a Quick cycle.

A clean filter clears it. A code that returns with a clean filter and water at the valve is the level sensor — a part, a technician's.

The control measured the water in the tub far hotter than the cycle asked for, or the heater did not answer. The heater is a band around the bottom of the sump.

1. The hot water at the kitchen sink — a water heater set above 150°F feeds water the dishwasher reads as a heater fault. 120°F at the tap is the setting.
2. Reset (breaker off one minute) and run a Quick cycle; feel the water through the door at the first pause — scalding means the heater is stuck on.

Turn the water heater down and the code clears. A dishwasher on 120°F water that still prints HC has a heater relay stuck on or a failed heater — a part, a technician's. Switch the breaker off until it is seen; a heater that will not switch off is the one dishwasher fault never to leave running.

The sensor that reads the water temperature in the sump is open or shorted.

1. Reset (breaker off one minute) and run a Quick cycle.

A temperature code that returns is the thermistor at the sump or its connector — a part, replaced from under the tub. Service call.

The panel sees a key held down for more than half a minute.

1. Press each button once; feel for one that does not spring back.
2. Wipe the panel on the top edge of the door — a drip of rinse aid on a membrane panel holds a key down.
3. Switch the breaker off for one minute.

A key that stays stuck after cleaning is the panel assembly in the door — a part.

The main control under the tub and the panel in the door lost communication with each other.

1. Switch the breaker off for five full minutes, switch it on and start a cycle.

An AC code that comes back is a board or the harness through the door hinge — a service call.

Not a fault. The panel is locked so a child cannot start or stop the dishwasher; the lock icon is lit (some displays print CL).

1. Press and hold the two buttons marked with the padlock for three seconds (the panel prints which pair).

The lock turns off and the panel answers again.

Not a fault. On models with Auto Release the door pops open an inch or two at the end of the cycle to let the steam out and the dishes dry.

1. Leave it. The dishes finish drying with the door cracked; pulling it fully open sooner is fine too.

Nothing to fix. A door that pops while the cycle is still running is a different thing — the latch — and the dishwasher stops when it happens; a latch that will not hold is a part.