Last updated on February 6th, 2017
Sometimes the washer finishes its cycle and leaves the fabric softener compartment full of water. This is caused by a blockage, or a missing siphon tube. The small fabric conditioner compartment in the soap dispenser drawer has a plastic cap or tube at the back for the water to siphon up through.
How the fabric softener compartment works
When the time comes for the fabric conditioner to be released, cold water enters the small compartment and just washes the conditioner over the top and down the dispenser to the drum. When the water stops flowing, all that is left is the clear water. This water should automatically siphon up the inside of the tube. Siphoning is triggered when water or the fabric softener spills over the top of the compartment.
What causes water to be left?
This tube often gets blocked by the fabric softener itself, and if you remove the dispenser drawer and take off the cap or device you can give the whole thing a good clean out. Make sure you clean through the hole in any tube leading through to the bottom of the drawer. If any part is missing, the siphoning will not occur.
To test the function, hold the soap drawer under a tap and allow water to fill the fabric compartment to overflowing. When you turn off the tap, hold the drawer steady and level, and the remaining water should slowly siphon out of the hole under the cap and run out from the bottom of the drawer.
If everything is clean, and the water drains out ok when doing the above test, but there is still water left in the fabric softener compartment at the end of the cycle then you have a more difficult problem to solve. One possibility is that the washing machine is not level and tilting towards you. Make sure the washer is level front to back as well as side to side.
The only other explanation I can think of is that stray water could be getting into the compartment after the fabric conditioner has been washed out – but not enough to fill to overflow which would start the siphoning process and remove it. If you suspect this check out this article for details about deflected water inside the soap dispenser – Fabric softener taken out too soon. You could also try adjusting the cold water pressure on the washing machine tap to see if it makes any difference.
Remember we are talking about water being left in there – not fabric conditioner. If it was fabric conditioner that would be a different fault (see link below). If there is only water left inside then the fabric softener must have been successfully flushed away and the only thing left to go wrong is the remaining water not siphoning up and out of the compartment, which can only really be caused by a problem with the siphoning process as described.
More fabric softener articles and problems
- Fabric Softener not being taken out
- Fabric softener taken out immediately (or too soon)
- Don’t use fabric softener on children’s sleepwear (flame resistance issue)
- Save on fabric softener when tumble drying
- How to remove the soap drawer
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Comments Disabled
Sorry, comments on this topic have been closed. The article already contains all the advice I can think of or I’m comfortable publishing. If the article and any previous comments (below) don’t help, please consider contacting an appliance engineer.
I have cleaned all the drawer compartment out with a pin drawer is constantly cleaned I have used washing machine cleaners soda crystals and white vinegar and boil washes empty and still the fabric drawer is filling up with water and the filter at the bottom of my machine is also full of water after every wash my machine is Russell hobbs rh1042 and is only two years old so please can you tell me what is wrong thank you
Hi Julie. There is always water in the pump filter. No amount of cleaning by boil washes and additives will affect the soap dispenser. If the fabric softener compartment has all the parts still, and everything has been removed and clean it should be impossible for water not to siphon away after the machine has flushed the conditioner away because it’s just physics.
Try removing the soap drawer and holding it under the tap. let water run into the fabric compartment until it all overflows then stop the water. The water in the compartment should all siphon out. If it doesn’t there must be a blockage or a small part missing.
Ive tested it under running tap and it drains away what now ?
Hello Helen. If it runs away under the running water from a tap and then the compartment drains away all the water that shows there is nothing wrong. Maybe you cleared partial blockage when you ran the water from the tap into it?
I have a Samsung eco bubble washer it takes fabric conditioner in on the wash or first rinse cycle what can I do
Hello Brian. The answer is in the article. There is a link to your problem at the bottom under the section “More fabric softener articles and problems”.
I have a Kenmore top load washer with a non-removable fabric softener cup. My cup fills with water and I’m told by technical support that a fix does not exist and will not be repaired. My washer is less than a year old. I cannot seem to find a siphon tube as described in previous post. Can you offer any advice?
Hello Tina. It seems strange that technical support don’t know how to fix this. Either it’s designed to retain water, or it’s designed to flush the softner out and for the water to drain away. If it’s the latter, which every washing machine I’ve ever seen is, and the water is not draining away then there is a fault.
I would ask the manufacturer if water should be left inside the softner compartment after each wash or not. If they say no try asking them what are all the possible causes (although I have tried to list them all in my article). If the siphon tube is inaccessible, it is blocked, and you cannot access to clean it then it’s going to look like a design fault. In the UK such an issue would need to be taken up with the retailer under the sale of goods act.
Thanks so much for this tip – it worked!
My washer flushes out the softener but then leaves the water at the end. Does that mean the tube that sucks it down is prob plugged? I cleaned my machine took the top off and all and this happened after that! Please help!?
The only explanation is either the hole under the tube is blocked, or the tube isn’t fitted properly or missing Reba.
Hello. This is very basic question but…. How I take out the dispenser drawer to clean it in a indesit washing machine?
Thanks
Hello Marina, I’ve added a link to my article How to remove the soap drawer to the related articles on this article now.
my wife was cleaning the dispenser draw out on our hotpoint but when she took it out the plastic separator fell down the hole were the detergent goes into the machine, would it damage the washer if we used it ? Or how can I get it out ? Bearing in mind I’m rubbish when it comes to appliances :/
Hello Matt. It’s a case of it might cause a breakdown, or it might not. It depends on its size and of course luck. If the washing machine hasn’t been used since there’s always the possibility that the plastic has just got jammed inside the hose that runs from the soap dispenser into the tub. That shouldn’t be difficult to locate and remove.
If it has fallen inside the main drum it will be a lot more difficult to remove. Check out my article here which is designed to help people retrieve obstructions from a washing machine. It isn’t a step-by-step guide to stripping one down, but it does offer some basic advice. If this doesn’t help then an engineer will be required of course.
I have a beko washing machine and have the same problems as above, water left in dispenser drawer. It has never happened before, my drawer is spotless but have run tap over it letting it overflow and it leaves a small amount of water in bottom, I don’t want to call someone out and pay through the nose if it is an easy solution, filters are clean also. .
Hello Nicci. Have you removed the plastic device inside or on top of the fabric softener compartment and made sure that any tube that goes through to the bottom of the drawer is clear? My wife had this exact same problem recently and had told me she had thoroughly cleaned it out but she hadn’t cleaned that hole and there was gunge blocking it.
Other than that make sure the washing machine is level. I have just added to paragraphs to the bottom of my article above which may help.
Problem solved! Machine wasn’t level ! Problem kept happening on and off for ages! Very pleased and thanks to your comment saying it wasn’t possible for liquid not to drain the penny finally dropped!
Hi i have an logik washing machine – not even a year since i bought it yet. I am having the problem described in previous comments with the water remaining in the softener compartment after a wash
I have taken my draw out my there is no tube underneath just a hole at the side. I clean my draw after every wash but the problem still remains. What can i do?
Hello Vicky, for the water to siphon out there must be some sort of tube or device that the water siphons up and out. Have you tried holding the drawer level under a tap, running water into the softener compartment so that it overflows and then turning off the tap? See whether the water left in the drawer drains out or not.
I have an Indesit WIXE127 and I have a problem with the fabric conditioner not going into the clothes. When the wash cycle has finished the fabric conditioner compartment is full of water but is mixed with fabric conditioner so no conditioner is going into the clothes. I can tell this by the smell of the washing and also the colour of the water. I have cleaned it all out and have even bought a replacement drawer as I thought it was that but the new drawer still does the same. Any ideas please?
If the softener compartment is left with a mixture of water and fabric softener it would suggest to me that the fabric softener is not being flushed into the machine by the softener valve as described here – fabric softener not getting taken into the washing machine. The mixture of water and softener could be caused by stray water from the rinses leaking into the compartment.