When you say you took the hose off did you mean you removed it from the stand pipe or from the under sink coupling? If you took it off the machine you would have water all over the floor when it filled up. I think you probably have a blockage in your hose connection (the coupling were it fits onto under the sink or wherever) If the machine works while the hose is free then the fault is not in the machine. And the filter for these machines is under the drum at the rear,inside the black sump pipe. The back panel needs to come off to get easy access to it.
casper....www selfix-uk.co.uk, October 2008