VERIFIED
Yesterday’s water
You open the dishwasher in the evening to load it and find a few inches of water in the bottom. The display says E32. The previous cycle finished, or at least the machine believes it did, but the water never left. It is a quieter cousin of the cycle that stops with a full tub.
Interpreting E32
No single meaning is confirmed for E32 across every Bertazzoni dishwasher. A tub that holds old water simply tells you the drain stage is the first place to look, and what to ask of the machine. Because the meaning is not confirmed for every model, treat E32 as a pointer toward the drain stage rather than a verdict on one part.
Look, smell, and listen
- Is the water clear, gray or greasy, and does it smell sour?
- Does the pump run for a short time when you start a drain or cancel?
- Does the sink drain freely while the water sits in the tub?
- Was the dishwasher accidentally switched off partway, for instance by a wall switch?
That last one is common in homes where the dishwasher shares a switched outlet with the disposal.
What you can do
Scoop the water out with a cup, wipe the bottom, and take out the filter to clean it. Check the drain hose for a kink. Then run a short rinse cycle with the tub empty and see whether it drains cleanly this time.
If you find a lot of grease in the water, avoid pouring cooking fat into the sink in the first place, because it solidifies in the cooler drain. The filter is the removable screen that catches food debris, and a clogged one can hold water in the tub even when the pump is healthy.
Why sitting water matters
Stagnant water breeds odor and mold, which then makes the whole tub smell. If the water has been there several days, run a cleaning cycle once it drains. An E32 that appears once after the machine lost power differs from one that returns after every cycle.
When to book
If the rinse cycle again leaves water, or E32 reappears, the pump, its wiring, and the sensing that tells the control the water has gone should be tested with the machine open. That is not safe for owners. We diagnose first, write up the estimate, and replace nothing without your approval.
Tell the technician how long the water sat and whether the sink drain was fine, so the first tests go to the right place.
What to log
Write down how long the water sat, what it looked like, and whether the pump made any sound at all when you tried to drain. A silent pump and a humming pump point to different tests, so even a short note makes the first visit more productive.
Frequently asked questions
The model-dependent code does not say. Blocked filters and kinked hoses are the common reasons, and a pump or sensor fault is possible.
It can smell and grow mold, so remove it and run a cleaning cycle once the drain works.
Yes, if the outlet is switched. Make sure it is on whenever the machine should be running.
Model compatibility: Bertazzoni reuses codes across series and model years, so E32 may mean something different on another appliance or generation. Confirm this against your model’s documentation and record your full model number before acting.
