Error code
Bosch error code E:30/-20
Bosch error code E:30/-20: there is more detergent in the machine than it can handle. What the code covers, what to check first, and what it does not tell you — on washers.
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What we can confirm
Code E:30/-20, from the manufacturer's own documentation
A code is only meaningful together with the machine showing it — the same digits mean different things on different equipment.
The code
E:30/-20
There is more detergent in the machine than it can handle
or call (305) 783-3552
What it narrows down to
Too much detergent
What you are probably seeing
Diagnostic
From $95, credited to the repair
What it looks like from the kitchen
The symptom this code usually arrives with
A code names the subsystem; the symptom is what sent you to look at the display in the first place. That page says what it usually turns out to be, cheapest cause first.
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There is a filter you can open Washer not draining
A cycle that stops with water in the drum, or clothes left soaking because the machine never got to the spin. There is a pump filter behind a flap at the front of these machines, and almost nobody knows it is there.
- Cycle stops with water in the drum
- Will not spin because it has not drained
- A code beginning E:30 or E:36
On the same appliance
What else belongs to the washers
On this make a code belongs to the appliance rather than to a product line. These are the other conditions this machine can display, and the models that can show this one — a display often has more than one thing to say, and the model number decides what any of it costs to put right.
Other codes this appliance can display
Drain pump blocked
Drain path restricted
Drain blocked or kinked
Pump obstructed
Water in the base
Dosing pump blocked
Door not locked
Inlet filters or pressure
Water not arriving
Unbalanced load
Foam detected
Spin interrupted
The same digits mean different things on different equipment. Search the full code list
In more detail
About Bosch error code E:30/-20
What this one means
There is more detergent in the machine than it can handle.
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:
- A soap bubbles icon is shown — how a model with no digital display says it. On that machine, the lights are the code
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:
- Overdosing
- Extra water added by hand
- The solenoid valve, if neither of those applies
What to try yourself
- Reduce the detergent noticeably on the next wash — a compact drum needs a fraction of what the bottle suggests
- Do not add water to the machine while it is running
Then what
Foam confuses the machine's level sensing, so it cannot confirm what it has done. It is one of the few codes with a fix that costs nothing and changes a habit.
This code is published for washers. The full list of codes has the rest.
This article is based on:
- Official manufacturer documentation
- Internal repair procedures
- Technician repair history
- Company quality standards