What to check yourself
Step 1. Open the supply valve fully
Under the sink there is a valve for the dishwasher. Half open delivers enough water to look normal at the tap and not enough for the machine to fill in the time it allows. After any plumbing work, this is the first thing to check.
Step 2. Straighten and inspect the inlet hose
Pull the machine out far enough to see the hose along its whole run. Kinks behind the machine after it has been pushed back into the cabinet are common and cost nothing to fix.
Step 3. Clean the inlet filter
Where the hose meets the valve there is a small mesh screen that collects grit and limescale. Turn the water off, unscrew the hose, lift the mesh out and rinse it. In hard water areas this is routine maintenance rather than a fault.
Turn the supply valve off before disconnecting anything, and have a towel ready: the hose holds water even when the valve is shut.
Step 4. Check the house pressure
Run the kitchen tap at full flow. Weak flow throughout the house is a plumbing problem, and no work on the dishwasher will help.
What a technician will look at
Described so you know what you are paying for, not as steps to repeat.
Replace the flow meter or the inlet valve
If water arrives properly and the code persists, the sensor is failing rather than the supply. Both parts sit behind the lower panel on a live appliance.
When to call a technician
Once the valve, the hose and the inlet filter are ruled out. A machine that fills visibly but still reports E14 has a sensor fault, and that needs the panel off.
What the repair costs
| Repair | Part only | Fitted by a technician |
|---|---|---|
| Opening the valve or cleaning the inlet filter | - | Free |
| Flow meter or inlet valve replacement | - | $150 to $350 |
A new machine of the same class runs $500 to $1,500. Once a quote passes about a third of that on an older appliance, the repair stops making sense.
Codes people confuse this with
Questions people ask
- What is the difference between E14 and E18?
- E18 says the water level came out too low, which points at how much arrived. E14 says the meter counting the water did not report as expected, which can happen even when the fill looks normal. The checks overlap, but a machine that visibly fills and still shows E14 is a sensor problem rather than a supply one.
Which machines this applies to
Applies to
All Bosch dishwashers. Machines with newer electronics show E3000 for the same fault.
Last checked
2026-08-04