An E15 code means your Bosch has detected water where it shouldn’t be, sitting in the base pan under the tub. A small float switch sits in that pan. When water rises enough to lift the float, the switch trips and the control board shows E15. It doesn’t tell you where the water came from, only that it’s there.

That distinction matters because E15 can mean two very different things. Either water is actively leaking into the pan right now, or some water got in once, the float tripped, and the pan has since dried out but the code stuck. The first case needs a part. The second needs nothing but a reset. You can’t tell which one you have by reading the display. You can tell by draining the pan and watching what happens next.

One thing E15 is not: a drain pump failure. I went through roughly 20 Bosch drain pump repair stories and the question-and-answer sections for both common replacement pumps, and E15 does not appear in any of them. Every code mentioned in that group is E22, E23, E24 or E25, which are drain and filter codes, not leak codes. If the pump caused E15, a group of people who’d actually replaced their pumps would have mentioned it. None did. Keep that in mind before anyone, in a forum or a parts listing, points you at a pump for this code.

Drain the pan first

This is the step that costs nothing and tells you the most. Unplug the dishwasher or switch off its breaker, and shut off the water supply if it has one, before you do anything else.

Tip the dishwasher back about 45 degrees. This drains the base pan, the shallow catch area under the tub where the float switch lives, so any water sitting in it runs out where you can see and mop it up. Dry the pan out completely. Power the dishwasher back on and run it, watching to see whether the pan refills with water as the cycle runs.

This one check splits the problem in two. If the pan stays dry through the cycle, you likely have a code that stuck around without an active leak behind it, and a plain reset may be enough to clear it. If the pan refills, water is getting in from somewhere while the machine runs, and that’s a live leak that needs tracking down and likely a part.

For a built-in Bosch, tipping the unit back 45 degrees usually means pulling it out from under the counter first. I couldn’t find anything in the research that says how far it needs to come out, what to brace it against, or how long to watch it run before deciding the pan is staying dry. If you’re not confident doing that safely on your own, that’s a reasonable point to call in help rather than improvise a support for a tipped dishwasher.

Try the reset before you try the tilt

The order that makes sense is: reset first, tilt and drain second. A competitor’s own E15 explainer lists the same order, resetting the control board before doing anything physical to the machine. What the research doesn’t say is how often a reset alone clears the code without you ever draining the pan. Some units may clear on a reset with no leak at all; others won’t clear until the pan is actually dry. Try the reset, and if the code comes back, move to draining the pan and watching for a refill.

If the pan stays dry: the float switch, unverified

If your pan runs dry through a full cycle and the code still shows, the float switch itself is the suspect, since that’s the part that triggers E15 in the first place. I could not verify a specific part number for it against a US model family. Two candidates turn up in parts listings, 00751391 and 00165256, but neither is confirmed against the model you’d be ordering for. There’s no Bosch parts lookup tool in the sources I checked, so don’t take either number as a match for your dishwasher. Look up your own model number on a retailer’s model-specific parts page and confirm the fit there before you order anything.

If the pan refills: where to look, and what E24/E25 mean instead

A refilling pan means water is getting in while the dishwasher runs, and that’s worth inspecting physically rather than guessing at. A retailer’s own E15 guide lists four places to check, in this order: the door seal, the water inlet valve, the hoses, and the safety switch. The door seal keeps water inside the tub during the wash. The water inlet valve controls water coming into the machine. The hoses carry water to and from the tub. The safety switch is a backup sensor near the same area as the float. I don’t have a mechanism, a failure rate, or a price for any of these specific to this problem, so treat them as a checklist of places to inspect, not a ranked list of likely culprits.

If what you’re actually seeing is a drain code, E22 through E25, that’s a different problem from E15: the dishwasher isn’t getting water out, not detecting water where it shouldn’t be. For E24 or E25 specifically, the drain pump itself is worth a look. Two pumps turn up in the research. Part 00631200 is confirmed for six models: Bosch SGE53U52UC, SGE53U55UC, SGE53U56UC, DF480701, and Thermador DWHD440MFP and DWHD640JFP, listed at $44.78 to $44.79 when I checked. Part 00611332 is confirmed only for the Kenmore 630-series, still sold directly by Bosch at $59.95 to $60.05 with no successor part named, so it isn’t being phased out in favor of the other one. Whether 00611332 also fits SGE models is unresolved in what I found, so don’t assume cross-fit there.

The repair stories behind these two pumps are useful for what breaks and why, not for how often it happens, since the people writing them had already completed a repair. A handful of specific cases stand out. One buyer in September 2021 got an E24 code, bought the replacement pump, and then found the pump itself, the drain lines, and the check valve were all working fine; the fix turned out to be running the service test program, and the new pump stayed in the box, never installed. Another buyer, working on an SHX65T55UC/07, found a mass of fibers blocking the air gap between the dishwasher and the garbage disposal, and now checks that spot before replacing a pump. A third found hair wrapped around the pump axle under the impeller. Only one case, a blocked drain line, actually wore out a pump: the pump kept fighting the restriction until it failed, with the blockage as the real cause and the worn pump as the symptom. On installation, two buyers separately mentioned using something to help the O-ring seat, one with liquid dish soap and one with silicone grease.

Making the call

A dry pan after a full cycle points you toward the reset-and-confirm path, with the float switch as the part to verify against your model if the code keeps coming back. A pan that refills points you toward the door seal, inlet valve, hoses and safety switch, in that order, as places to inspect. Start with the free step. It’s the one piece of information that tells you which of those two paths you’re actually on.

FAQ

Does “leak detected” on my Bosch mean it’s actually leaking right now?

Not necessarily. It means the float switch tripped at some point; draining and drying the pan, then watching for a refill during a cycle, tells you whether water is getting in right now or whether the code is left over from before.

Can I clear E15 just by resetting the dishwasher?

Try the reset first, then the tilt-and-drain check if the code returns; the research doesn’t say how often a reset alone clears it without an underlying leak.

Will a new drain pump fix E15?

No. E15 doesn’t appear once in roughly 20 Bosch drain pump repair stories.

My Bosch isn’t draining. Is that the same problem?

No, that’s usually E22 through E25, the drain and filter codes. Check for a blocked air gap or drain line before assuming the pump itself failed.

What’s the part number for the Bosch E15 float switch?

Unverified. Two candidates, 00751391 and 00165256, turn up in parts listings, but neither is confirmed against a US model, so check your own model number at a retailer’s parts page before ordering.

Could a bad door latch cause E15?

No. The mechanical Bosch door latch part has no microswitch and has no bearing on E15.

Sources and Citations

Research checked 31 August 2026.