What F8 Means
F8 is an earth leakage problem: current is finding a path to earth that it should not have. F&P's documented procedure is to test for leakage with an insulation tester and to look hard for water damage to the harnesses, the printed circuit boards, the controllers and the heater plate, checking at the same time that no earthing connector is loose or missing.
Common Causes of F8
- Water damage to a harness, a controller, or the mains filter board
- A heater plate that has broken down to earth
- A loose or missing earth connector inside the drawer
🔧 One Safe Check You Can Try
Switch the DishDrawer off at the breaker and leave it off. This is a code about current escaping its circuit inside a wet appliance, and it is one of the very few problems where the correct owner action is to stop using the machine rather than to investigate or reset it.
⚠ Why You Shouldn't Go Further Than That
- Leave the breaker off and the drawer unused until a technician has tested it, because earth leakage is a shock hazard in an appliance you stand in front of with wet hands and a wet floor.
- This is not a reset-and-see problem. Clearing the code and starting another cycle restores power to a circuit the machine has already judged unsafe, and the condition that triggered it is still there.
- Finding the leakage path takes an insulation tester; an ordinary multimeter does not apply the voltage needed to reveal it, so a home check can read clear on a machine that is not.
- Damp that has reached one board has usually reached more than one, and a repair that stops at the first wet part leaves the problem live.
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.