Said It Here

How to drain standing water from a top load washer

When a top-loading washing machine stops draining, water remains trapped under the drum and inside internal lines even after scooping and wiping the basin. This leaves clothes soaking wet and prevents finishing laundry, creating a major time crunch when clothes need to be washed and dried immediately.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Scooping out as much water manually as possible
  2. 2
    Using towels to sop up remaining water
  3. 3
    Running a dehumidifier and leaving the lid open to dry out the interior
  4. 4
    Cleaning the bottom filter and drain

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/appliancerepair2 people · September 2026

When I finish a load of laundry the clothes are soaking wet. Water still left inside as pictured. Cleaned the bottom filter and drain out.source ↗

Evdad · r/appliancerepair · 2 upvotes

The top loading washing machine has decided to stop drainingsource ↗

I fly out tomorrow morning and between getting clothes washed and dried I don't have a whole lot of time to sort this out.source ↗

I scooped out as much water as I could and used a towel to sop up the remainder but there is a bit water under the drum and assume in the line going to the pump.source ↗

Aggravating-Sir8185 · r/appliancerepair · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised