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Washer Leaking Water: Causes & Fixes

From the bottom, the door or the back.

The single most common leak has a part that costs almost nothing: the rubber washer inside each fill hose coupling. GE states the consequence flatly, that if the black rubber inserts supplied in the installation pack are not fitted there will be water leaking from the fill hoses at the faucet, and Whirlpool asks for a washer at both ends of each hose.

Before you work on your washer

  • Power: Unplug the washer or switch off its circuit breaker before removing panels or touching wiring.
  • Water: Turn off the water supply valve before disconnecting hoses or the inlet valve.
  • Heat: Water and the heating element can be hot right after a cycle; let the washer cool first.
  • Sharp debris: Wear gloves when reaching into the filter or sump; broken glass often collects there.
  • Stop: If you smell burning, see smoke or sparks, or find water near wiring, switch off the breaker and call a technician.
  • Mains wiring, the power cord, or the outlet is involved: Work on the washer's mains wiring, power cord, outlet, or house circuit is not a do-it-yourself repair. Do not open the cabinet to test or replace wiring, the drain pump's electrical connections, or the lid switch circuit.
  • Water on or near the power cord, outlet, or wiring: Water from the tub, the pump filter, or a hose has reached the washer's power cord, its outlet, or wiring inside the machine. Do not touch the washer, its cord, or standing water around it.
  • Disconnect power before opening the washer: Unplug the washer or switch off its circuit breaker before removing the pump filter or access panel, before pulling the machine out, and before touching any wiring.
  • Heavy appliance: get a second person: A washer is heavy and awkward, and it can tip when it is pulled out or tilted. Do not move, tilt, or lift it by yourself; have a second person help you.
  • Water left in the tub can be scalding hot: A tub left full after a hot or sanitize cycle holds very hot water. Let it cool for about an hour, then drain the water out through the emergency drain hose into a flat container before you open the pump filter.
  • Never mix bleach with another cleaner in the washer: Clearing an odour usually means running a cycle with chlorine bleach or a washer cleaner. Run one product at a time and rinse between them. Bleach plus ammonia, a toilet or drain cleaner, or an acid such as vinegar releases toxic gas in a small, closed laundry room.
  • Shut off the water supply before disconnecting hoses: Close both water faucets and drain the inlet hoses before you disconnect any hose or move the washer, or the hoses will still be under mains water pressure.
  • Hard and sharp objects collect in the pump filter: The drain pump filter and coin trap collect loose change, buttons, pins, and other hard items from pockets. Pull debris out carefully and wear gloves; anything broken or pointed in there can cut you.

Why your washer is leaking water

  1. Lint, coins or deposits stopping the door gasket sealing: On a front loader the door seal is the usual suspect, and the reason is mundane: Whirlpool describes lint, dirt and small items such as coins getting trapped in the rubber gasket so the door cannot seal. Deposits on the door glass do the same thing, which is why a leak can start without anything having broken. Difficulty 2/5.
  2. Fill hose washers missing or the couplings loose: The single most common leak has a part that costs almost nothing: the rubber washer inside each fill hose coupling. GE states the consequence flatly, that if the black rubber inserts supplied in the installation pack are not fitted there will be water leaking from the fill hoses at the faucet, and Whirlpool asks for a washer at both ends of each hose. Difficulty 2/5.
  3. Drain hose not secured in the standpipe, or sealed with no air gap: A drain hose that is not properly in the standpipe floods the floor during the spin, when the pump is working hardest. GE asks for the hose secured and fully inserted into the drainpipe, and adds the detail that decides whether it drains at all: a gap is needed between the hose and the standpipe to let air in. Difficulty 2/5.
  4. House drain too slow for the washer: it backs up at the spin: A washer can outrun the house drain, and when it does the water that appears on the floor never came out of the machine. Whirlpool publishes the number: the sink and drainpipe have to carry away no less than seventeen gallons, or sixty-four litres, a minute. A slow or partly blocked drain backs up at the spin and looks exactly like a leaking washer. Difficulty 3/5.
  5. Excess suds from non-HE detergent, over-dosing or thickened bleach: Suds leak. Whirlpool names excess suds from non-HE detergent, or from too much of the right detergent, as a cause of the washer leaking outright, and GE's reasoning is the same: HE detergent does not make the bubbles that overflow. Difficulty 1/5.
  6. Internal leak: tub seal, pump housing or outer tub: If every hose, the seal, the dispensers and the house drain check out and water is still appearing under the machine, what is left is inside it: the tub seal, the pump or the outer tub itself. That is where the owner's part of this ends and a technician's begins, and a washer that leaks internally should not be left running unattended in the meantime. Difficulty 4/5.
  7. Clothing trapped between the door and the seal: A sleeve or a corner of a duvet caught between the door and the seal leaks every time, and it is the one cause that repeats load after load without anything being wrong with the machine. Whirlpool's instruction is to pull the seal back, look for what is trapped, and make sure everything is inside the basket before the door closes. Difficulty 1/5.
  8. Dispenser blocked with product build-up, or a pod left in the drawer: A blocked dispenser overflows at the front rather than emptying into the drum. GE adds the detail behind a lot of these: detergent pods will not dissolve in the dispenser and belong in the drum with the clothes, and the dispenser trays need cleaning at least once a month to clear product build-up. Difficulty 1/5.
  9. Fill hose itself damaged: a hole or split rather than a loose coupling: A coupling that is tight and still weeping usually means the hose itself has gone. GE's flooding check is the fill hoses and the drain hose for holes, damage or improper installation, and a hose with a hole in it cannot be cured by tightening: it gets replaced. Turn the taps off before inspecting them, because a fill hose is under mains pressure whenever the washer is not running. Difficulty 2/5.
  10. Washing added after the cycle started, raising the water level over the inner tub: On a top loader there is a way to make the machine overflow with nothing broken at all: adding washing after the cycle has started. Whirlpool explains that the water level then rises higher than expected and can go over the inner tub onto the floor, and sets a limit of one or two small items on the highest water level setting. Difficulty 1/5.
  11. Bulk dispenser at the base of the machine left open: Some front loaders have a second dispenser at the base of the machine for bulk detergent, and Whirlpool lists it among the causes of a leak from underneath: it has to be completely closed. It is easy to leave ajar and almost impossible to see. Difficulty 1/5.
  12. Hot and cold fill hoses on the wrong ports: Hoses put on the wrong way round leak too, and they also produce something that gets mistaken for a leak. Whirlpool asks for the hot and cold inlet hoses on their matching ports and notes that reversing them can cause leaking or condensation: water that appears without anything being loose. Difficulty 2/5.
  13. Not a fault: the one-off spill when the shipping plug comes out of a new machine: On a newly installed machine there is a shipping plug in the drain outlet that has to come out before the drain hose goes on, and GE warns what happens when it does: a small spill of water from factory testing, which is normal. Knowing that in advance stops a new owner diagnosing a leak that is not one. Difficulty 1/5.

Find the cause for your washer

Before anything else: has the water reached anything electrical?

Step-by-step checks for a washer leaking water

Check the dispensers

About 20 minutes

  1. Pull the dispenser drawer right out and look for set detergent, softener sludge or an undissolved pod.
  2. Rinse the drawer and its housing; GE asks for this at least monthly to clear product build-up.
  3. Put pods in the drum with the clothes from now on: they do not dissolve in the dispenser.
  4. On a front loader with a bulk dispenser at the base of the machine, check it is completely closed.

Front loader: check under the door seal

About 25 minutes

  1. Open the door and pull the edge of the rubber gasket back.
  2. Clean the underside and into the folds as far in as you can reach, and take out the lint, hair, coins and grit that collect there.
  3. Wipe the door glass and the face the seal presses against: deposits there stop it sealing.
  4. Look for cracks or tears in the rubber; a split gasket needs replacing rather than cleaning.
  5. Check no clothing is trapped between the door and the seal before you close it.

Check the detergent, the bleach and how the machine is loaded

About 40 minutes

  1. Check the detergent is HE on a high-efficiency machine, and that it is measured to the label rather than poured.
  2. Check which bleach is in use: the thick no-splash and easy-pour chlorine bleaches carry a thickening agent that can raise suds.
  3. Never mix a bleach product with another cleaner while you are changing what you use.
  4. On a top loader, stop adding washing after the cycle has started; one or two small items is the published limit on the highest water level.
  5. Run a rinse and spin with no detergent and see whether the leak stops.

Work out where the water is actually coming from

About 40 minutes

  1. Dry the floor completely and put sheets of newspaper or paper towel under and around the machine.
  2. Run a short cycle and watch it through: note whether the water appears while filling, while washing, or only during the spin.
  3. Note where the paper wets first: at the back, under the middle, at the front of the door, or at the base.
  4. Keep towels between any water and the outlet or power cord, and stop if water reaches either.

Test whether the house drain can take the flow

About 25 minutes

  1. Watch the standpipe or laundry tub during the spin, when the pump is moving the most water.
  2. Water rising and coming back out of the standpipe means the drain, not the washer, is the problem: it has to carry away at least seventeen gallons, sixty-four litres, a minute.
  3. Check the laundry tub and any nearby drain for slow running, which is the same fault at an earlier stage.
  4. If the drain backs up, that is a plumbing job rather than an appliance repair.

Check the drain hose in the standpipe

About 25 minutes

  1. Unplug the washer, then pull it out far enough to see the drain hose and the standpipe.
  2. Check the hose is secured and fully inserted, and that the retainer or clamp is holding it.
  3. Check there is still an air gap around the hose inside the standpipe: a hose jammed in so tightly that it seals will not drain properly.
  4. Check the standpipe height against the figure in your own manual, not a number from another brand: GE specifies a thirty-inch minimum, Whirlpool a thirty-nine to ninety-six inch range.
  5. On a machine installed in the last few days, remember the shipping plug spill is normal and one-off.

Shut the water off and check the fill hoses

About 30 minutes

  1. Turn both taps off at the wall before touching anything: the hoses are under mains pressure and the hot one scalds.
  2. Unscrew each coupling and check there is a rubber washer inside, at both the tap end and the machine end.
  3. Look over the hose bodies for bulges, cracks or rust at the collars.
  4. Check the hot hose is on the hot port and the cold on the cold.
  5. Refit hand tight plus a nudge, turn the water back on and watch each joint for a full minute.

How to fix a washer leaking water

Clear the dispenser and change how the pods go in

About 25 minutes · Difficulty 1/5

  1. Take the drawer out and soak off set detergent and softener sludge, and clean the housing behind it.
  2. Clean the trays at least monthly from now on to clear product build-up.
  3. Put pods in the drum with the clothes rather than in the dispenser: they do not dissolve there.
  4. Run a short cycle and watch the front of the machine.

Close the bulk dispenser at the base

About 10 minutes · Difficulty 1/5

  1. Find the bulk dispenser at the base of the machine, fitted to some front load models.
  2. Close it completely until it latches.
  3. Run a cycle and check underneath.

Cut the suds back

About 45 minutes · Difficulty 1/5

  1. Run a rinse and spin with no detergent to clear the foam already in the machine.
  2. Switch to HE detergent on a high-efficiency machine and measure it to the label.
  3. Change from a thickened no-splash or easy-pour chlorine bleach to a plain liquid one, and never mix bleach with another cleaner.
  4. Re-run a normal load and watch for the leak.

Keep the load inside the basket

About 10 minutes · Difficulty 1/5

  1. Before closing the door, push every item fully inside the drum and run a hand round the seal.
  2. Watch for sleeves, duvet corners and towel edges, which are the usual culprits.
  3. If the leak stops when nothing is trapped, that was the cause.

A new machine's one-off spill is not a leak

About 15 minutes · Difficulty 1/5

  1. If the water appeared once, when the shipping plug came out of the drain outlet, it is factory test water and normal.
  2. Dry it up and run a cycle.
  3. If water appears again on that cycle, it is a real leak and belongs back at the start of this guide.

Stop adding washing once the cycle has started

About 10 minutes · Difficulty 1/5

  1. Load everything before starting the cycle.
  2. If something has to go in late, keep it to one or two small items, and not at all on the highest water level setting.
  3. Run a normal load without adding to it and check the floor stays dry.

Clean under the door seal, not just across it

About 30 minutes · Difficulty 2/5

  1. Open the door and lift the edge of the gasket back.
  2. Clean the underside and into the folds as far in as you can reach, taking out lint, hair, grit and coins.
  3. Wipe the door glass and the sealing face clean of deposits.
  4. Watch for sharp objects in the fold: coins, pins and glass fragments collect there.
  5. Leave the door ajar between washes so the seal dries, and run a short cycle to check the leak has gone.
  6. If the rubber is cracked or torn, the gasket needs replacing.

Fit the hose washers and tighten the couplings

About 25 minutes · Difficulty 2/5

  1. Turn both taps off and unplug the washer before you undo anything.
  2. Fit a rubber washer at both ends of each fill hose; they come in the installation pack and are sold in any hardware shop.
  3. Tighten the couplings hand tight and then a short turn with a spanner. Do not overtighten: it distorts the washer and makes the leak worse.
  4. Turn the water back on and watch each joint for a full minute before pushing the machine back.

Replace a fill hose that has a hole or split

About 35 minutes · Difficulty 2/5

  1. Turn both taps off and unplug the washer.
  2. Replace both fill hoses as a pair rather than only the one that is weeping, and fit fresh washers at all four ends.
  3. Do not try to seal a split hose with tape: it is under mains pressure whenever the taps are open.
  4. Turn the water back on and watch every joint and the full length of each hose before the machine goes back.

Secure the drain hose and leave it an air gap

About 30 minutes · Difficulty 2/5

  1. Unplug the washer before moving it.
  2. Seat the drain hose properly in the standpipe and fasten the retainer or clamp so it cannot jump out under pressure.
  3. Leave an air gap around the hose rather than sealing it into the pipe, so air can get in behind the water.
  4. Check the standpipe height against your own manual's figure.
  5. Run a spin and watch the standpipe before pushing the machine back.

Put the hot and cold hoses on their proper ports

About 20 minutes · Difficulty 2/5

  1. Turn both taps off.
  2. Swap the hoses so hot goes to the hot port and cold to the cold.
  3. Check the washers are in place as you refit them, then turn the water back on and watch the joints.

When to call a technician about a washer leaking water

  • Get the house drain cleared
  • Book service for a leak inside the machine

Sources

  1. Washer - Leaking in Rear, GE Appliances (retrieved 2026-09-23)
  2. Front Load Washer - Leaking Water, GE Appliances (retrieved 2026-09-23)
  3. GE Appliance - Circuit Breaker Trips, GE Appliances (retrieved 2026-09-21)
  4. Washing Machine Not Draining - iFixit Troubleshooting, iFixit (retrieved 2026-09-20)
  5. LG Washer - How to Clean the Drain Pump Filter, LG Electronics USA (retrieved 2026-09-20)
  6. Samsung washing machine will not drain, Samsung Electronics America (retrieved 2026-09-20)
  7. Ammonia Recalled by OnLine Packaging Due to Chemical Hazard, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (retrieved 2026-09-22)
  8. GE Recalls Front-Load Washers Due to Fire and Shock Hazards, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (retrieved 2026-09-20)
  9. Leaking from Underneath or Bottom - Front Load Washer, Whirlpool Corporation (retrieved 2026-09-23)
  10. Removing Odors or Smells - Front Load Washer, Whirlpool Corporation (retrieved 2026-09-22)
  11. Cleaning the Pump Filter - Front Load Washer, Whirlpool Corporation (retrieved 2026-09-20)
  12. Moving a Front Load Washer, Whirlpool Corporation (retrieved 2026-09-20)
  13. Front Load Washer Dripping Water from the Door, Whirlpool Corporation (retrieved 2026-09-23)
  14. Properly Moving the Washer - Washer, Whirlpool Corporation (retrieved 2026-09-20)
  15. Leaking from Behind - Washer, Whirlpool Corporation (retrieved 2026-09-23)
  16. Leaking Water Underneath - Washer, Whirlpool Corporation (retrieved 2026-09-23)

Last updated October 2, 2026 · facts last verified September 23, 2026 · How we source and verify

Guidance only; follow your appliance manual and local codes. If anything looks unsafe, stop and call a qualified technician. Safety disclaimer