VERIFIED
Bubbles where they should not be
Open the door and find foam up to the spray arm, or a ring of suds on the floor, and E22 starts to make sense as a protective response. A tub full of bubbles confuses water movement and can overflow the door seal. It is one of the more cheerful explanations for a code, because you can fix it with a bucket and a towel.
What E22 means
Bertazzoni has no universal published meaning for E22 across its dishwashers, so this page does not assign a fault to it. When suds are present, treat the foam as the first thing to clear and the code as secondary. Foam interferes with how water moves through the tub and over the spray arms, so stopping is a reasonable response until it clears.
Why foam happens
- Hand dish soap was added, even a squirt, because the machine ran out of tablets.
- Too much detergent in soft water, which does not need as much.
- Rinse aid spilled into the tub instead of the reservoir.
- A dish with residual soap from hand-washing went in first.
- A new detergent that suds more than the old one.
Clearing it step by step
- Switch off the dishwasher and mop up any suds on the floor.
- Pour a tablespoon of cooking oil or a cup of milk over the foam, which breaks the bubbles down.
- Scoop out foam with a cup and wipe the tub.
- Run a rinse cycle with no detergent.
Repeat the rinse until the water runs clear. Then run a normal cycle with the correct detergent and measure it properly.
Kitchen water and detergent
Water softness varies across the Bay Area. In soft-water areas, a full tablet can be too much, and owners often get better results with a half dose. In hard-water areas the opposite is true. The packaging has a guide, and your water utility can tell you hardness.
If E22 returns without suds
A repeat on a clean tub with the right detergent means the issue is not foam. Then the technician checks the water movement and the sensing on the machine itself, which needs the unit opened. We diagnose first, give a written estimate, and replace nothing without approval. The sensing reports how much water is in the tub while the pump moves it, and a fault in either can look similar from outside.
What to tell us
Mention the detergent brand and form you use, whether you recently changed it, and how much foam you found. If it happened right after a switch to a new product, go back to the old one for a few cycles before you decide the machine is at fault.
A photo of the foam level is useful if it comes up again.
Frequently asked questions
It is best avoided. Even a small squirt can produce a lot of foam in a dishwasher.
A tablespoon is fine and is rinsed away, but do not add anything else.
Occasionally it can leak onto the floor, but one episode rarely damages it.
If the tub is clean and the code returns, the cause is elsewhere and needs testing.
Model compatibility: Bertazzoni reuses codes across series and model years, so E22 may mean something different on another appliance or generation. Confirm this against your model’s documentation and record your full model number before acting.
