---
title: "Bosch error code E21"
description: "Bosch error code E21: the heat pump is blocked. What the code covers, what to check first, and what it does not tell you — on dishwashers."
url: "https://boschmiami.support/error-codes/error-code-e21/"
date_modified: "2026-08-18"
Appliance type: "Dishwashers"
---


# Bosch error code E21

### What this one means

The heat pump is blocked. It is a code the manufacturer publishes for this appliance, not one we have worked out — and it is decoded here rather than left as three characters on a display.

### The other ways your machine may say it

The same condition is published under more than one label, because it has been carried across generations of this appliance:

- **E21, E6002** — the same condition, on machines of different ages

### What the code covers

A published cause names a circuit rather than a component, which is the single most useful thing to know before ordering a part. This one covers:

- Debris that has reached the pump
- Scale restricting it

### Worth doing before you call

- Clean the filter in the floor of the tub
- Cut power at the breaker for thirty seconds and try again

### Then what

Debris reaches the heat pump when the filter has been left long enough to stop catching it, which makes this a maintenance problem that became a mechanical one.

This code is published for dishwashers. The [full list of codes](https://boschmiami.support/error-codes/) has the rest of them, searchable, including the labels older and newer machines use for the same conditions.

What this code means

What this one means

The heat pump is blocked. It is a code the manufacturer publishes for this appliance, not one we have worked out — and it is decoded here rather than left as three characters on a display.

The other ways your machine may say it

The same condition is published under more than one label, because it has been carried across generations of this appliance:

E21, E6002 — the same condition, on machines of different ages

What the code covers

A published cause names a circuit rather than a component, which is the single most useful thing to know before ordering a part. This one covers:

Debris that has reached the pump

Scale restricting it

Worth doing before you call

Clean the filter in the floor of the tub

Cut power at the breaker for thirty seconds and try again

Then what

Debris reaches the heat pump when the filter has been left long enough to stop catching it, which makes this a maintenance problem that became a mechanical one.

This code is published for dishwashers. The full list of codes has the rest of them, searchable, including the labels older and newer machines use for the same conditions.

---

**[Read full article: Bosch error code E21](https://boschmiami.support/error-codes/error-code-e21/)**