The most common appliance faults
"Won't start", "won't cool", "leaking water" — these are the problems as customers describe them when they ring for a repair. This page ranks them by frequency, based on interventions recorded in the proprietary Archimede management system (over 900,000 interventions, July 2019 – March 2026).
For error codes (the appliance's own diagnostic language) and for the full repair statistics overview, the Lab has dedicated pages.
Washing machine
The washing machine presents a remarkably fragmented picture: the top four faults all sit between 10% and 12%. There is no single dominant problem — it breaks down in many different ways. More detail: dedicated washing machine page.
| Fault | Occurrences | % |
|---|---|---|
| Won't drain | 24,502 | 11.7% |
| Won't start | 24,412 | 11.6% |
| Water leak | 24,143 | 11.5% |
| Noise | 22,315 | 10.6% |
| Error code | 16,604 | 7.9% |
| Stalls / freezes | 14,417 | 6.9% |
| Won't spin | 12,871 | 6.1% |
| Drum won't turn | 11,568 | 5.5% |
| Door won't open | 9,191 | 4.4% |
| Door seal | 8,856 | 4.2% |
Dishwasher
"Won't start" is the most reported fault (15%), closely followed by "error code" (14.3%). The dishwasher is the appliance most likely to display a specific error code on screen — a feature of newer models. For the full ranking: appliance error codes.
| Fault | Occurrences | % |
|---|---|---|
| Won't start | 24,244 | 15.0% |
| Error code | 23,239 | 14.3% |
| Won't drain | 20,065 | 12.4% |
| Won't fill with water | 16,249 | 10.0% |
| Water leak | 13,927 | 8.6% |
| Stalls / freezes | 9,825 | 6.1% |
| Won't turn on | 8,737 | 5.4% |
Fridge
"Won't cool" dominates completely: nearly half of all fridge repairs involve the same symptom. The second most common fault ("won't start") trails far behind at 13.4%.
| Fault | Occurrences | % |
|---|---|---|
| Won't cool | 55,001 | 45.6% |
| Won't start | 16,205 | 13.4% |
| Water leak | 9,110 | 7.5% |
| Ice build-up | 5,889 | 4.9% |
| Noise | 5,470 | 4.5% |
| Won't freeze | 4,119 | 3.4% |
| Over-freezing | 3,566 | 3.0% |
Tumble dryer
The tumble dryer is the fastest-growing appliance category in terms of repair demand. The most common fault is predictable enough: "won't dry" (24.1%). Next comes "drum won't turn" (15.3%) and "won't start" (13.9%).
| Fault | Occurrences | % |
|---|---|---|
| Won't dry | 10,053 | 24.1% |
| Drum won't turn | 6,372 | 15.3% |
| Won't start | 5,790 | 13.9% |
| Noise | 4,651 | 11.1% |
| Stalls / freezes | 2,237 | 5.4% |
| Won't turn on | 2,151 | 5.2% |
Oven and hob
Oven — "electrical problem" is the most frequent fault (27.8%), followed by "won't heat" (16.1%) and "won't start" (14.9%). The oven is an appliance where electrical issues (heating elements, thermostats, control boards) are the primary driver of service calls.
Hob — "won't start" and "won't turn on" together account for 63% of faults. For gas hobs, the more specific problems are "burners won't light" (9.2%) and "won't hold flame" (7.9%).
Most common faults by brand
For the three most frequently reported faults overall, we cross-referenced the data with brands. As with the general ranking, a brand's presence here reflects its commercial market share — more units sold means more interventions recorded.
"Won't start" — 88,939 occurrences
Brands with the most reports:
| Brand | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Ariston | 7,850 |
| Whirlpool | 7,430 |
| Candy | 6,685 |
| Bosch | 6,515 |
| Electrolux | 6,463 |
"Won't cool" — 59,224 occurrences
Concentrated on fridges and air conditioners:
| Brand | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Samsung | 8,457 |
| Whirlpool | 5,886 |
| Ariston | 5,622 |
| LG | 4,752 |
| Beko | 3,098 |
"Water leak" — 50,430 occurrences
Cuts across washing machines, dishwashers and fridges:
| Brand | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Samsung | 5,796 |
| Candy | 4,403 |
| Whirlpool | 4,138 |
| LG | 3,944 |
| Bosch | 3,873 |
Explore the Lab
Full overview: appliance types, brands and most frequent faults
Ranked by frequency, grouped by appliance type
Faults, brands, error codes and fault profiles by brand
Source and methodology
The data covers faults recorded in appliance repair interventions tracked by the proprietary Archimede management system (July 2019 – March 2026, over 900,000 interventions). These figures do not represent the appliance repair market as a whole, but the activity of service centres that use the software.
Fault classification is based on what the engineer records at the time of the intervention. The same underlying problem may be described differently by different engineers — the data reflects this variability. For the full overview: appliance repair statistics.