What DRAINING FAULT Means
WHICH MACHINES THIS APPLIES TO: Asko's professional washers - the WMC-series machines installed in communal laundry rooms, care homes, salons, gyms and small commercial laundries - do not report problems as numbers. They print the problem on the display in words. Two document families stand behind the messages on this site and they are deliberately kept apart, because they are not the same book and they do not use quite the same wording.
THE OLDER PLATFORM: the Asko service documentation for the new generation of washing machines whose circuit diagrams are labeled WMC55. Its problem section states that if a problem occurs during a program cycle it is shown on the display after the program has finished or been interrupted - which is worth knowing, because on this platform the message often appears at the end rather than at the moment something went wrong.
THE LATER PLATFORM: the operating instructions for the WMC64P and the WMC743VS, which both state that a message is shown on the display if an error occurs during the program. The message set in those two books is identical to each other, which is good corroboration of both.
A LIMIT WORTH STATING: no public document could be found under the model numbers WMC6743 or WMC6744. The messages here are attributed to the books they were read in and are not claimed to cover those models.
ONE PRACTICAL NOTE BEFORE ANY CHECK: a professional washer is usually hard-wired rather than plugged in, so isolating it means the breaker or the wall isolator that feeds it, not a plug. And in a communal or commercial room the machine belongs to somebody else. If that is your situation, the checks below are for the person who looks after the machines, and reporting the exact wording on the display is the most useful thing a user can do.
WHY TWO MESSAGES SHARE THIS PAGE: the same condition is printed two ways across Asko's professional books, and a reader should not have to guess that. The older WMC55 error list gives "Draining problem". The WMC64P and WMC743VS books give "Water outlet problem". Both mean the water is not getting out.
WHAT THE OLDER WMC55 PLATFORM SAYS AND PRINTS AS A PROCEDURE: "Draining has taken too long", followed by a four-step check - whether an object has stuck in the drain hose outlet, and clean the hose out if so; whether the drain pump is blocked by foreign objects, and clean the pump out if so; whether the drain hose is kinked; and then, after the problem is solved, run program 10, which is the emptying program.
WHAT THE LATER WMC64P AND WMC743VS BOOKS SAY: check that the drainage hose outlet is not blocked, that the drain pump is not blocked, and that the hose is not kinked. They add an instruction that matters in the order it is given: press the Stop button to empty the machine of water before opening the washer door, and if that does not resolve it, call the service division.
WHAT THE MACHINE WAS DOING: trying to pump out at the end of a wash or a rinse. It allows a certain time for the level to fall, and when the level has not fallen it stops rather than carrying on into a spin with a drum full of water - a spin with water in it is how a commercial machine shakes itself and its surroundings apart.
WHY COMMERCIAL MACHINES SEE THIS MORE THAN DOMESTIC ONES: the things that block a drain are the things that come out of pockets and off worktables in the places these machines are installed. Coins, hair grips, buttons, cable ties, gauze, cleaning cloths and sand all arrive in a commercial laundry in quantities a household never sees.
CLASSIFICATION: problem, with a full documented owner procedure in both books.
Common Causes of DRAINING FAULT
- Object stuck in the drain hose outlet
- Drain pump blocked by coins, grips, buttons or fiber
- Drain hose kinked or crushed behind the machine
- Shared standpipe, gully or building drain restricted
- Drain pump worn or failing, or its wiring damaged
🔧 One Safe Check You Can Try
Work through it in the order the manual gives, and start by getting the water out the way the machine intends. On the later machines that means pressing Stop to empty the machine before the door is opened; on the older platform it means the emptying program once the blockage has been dealt with. Before anything is unscrewed or opened, isolate the machine at its breaker or wall isolator and let the water cool, because a professional wash can finish hot and a drain hose holds what the drum has just been holding. Then check the three things both books name: the drain hose outlet for an object stuck in it, the hose along its whole run for a kink or a crush where the machine has been pushed back, and the drain pump for what has collected in it, working over a shallow tray with cloths down and the floor kept clear. In a commercial room, check the room's own drain or gully as well as the machine, because a standpipe shared by several machines blocks in one place and stops all of them. Once the machine drains, put a lint catcher or a pocket-check routine into the room's practice - that is what stops this message coming back every month.
⚠ Why You Shouldn't Go Further Than That
- The machine is isolated at its breaker or wall isolator and the water is left to cool before a hose or a pump is opened, because commercial cycles finish hot and the hose holds that water.
- A drum that still holds water is emptied the way the manual says - the Stop button on the later machines, the emptying program on the older one - rather than by opening the door or siphoning it out.
- Where a run of machines shares a standpipe, work on the drain belongs to whoever maintains the room, since clearing it affects every machine on the line.
Opening a panel to inspect or repair something yourself doesn't automatically cancel your manufacturer's warranty — but it can risk accidental damage, and some manufacturers do have specific service conditions. Check your product's warranty terms, or ask us, before deciding.