Washing Machine problem

[manda]

Not sure if anyone is up on washers, but My friends washer is recently taking forever to fill, I have taken the filter screens out and cleaned them, along with the pipes from the solenoid valves to the fill spout, there is no blockage and after replacing them no change. I was wondering if anyone knows how likely it is for it to be the actual solenoid valves themselves causing the problem, or may it be something else? I was going to replace the valves, but don't want to spend her money, to find it's not actually the problem. Any ideas?

 

[bugsy]

Has to be either sticking diaphram in the solenoid or low water pressure

 

[manda]

Thanks bugsy, water pressure is fine. Can diaphram be replaced without replacing the valves do you know?

 

[High Tower]

Limescale simple as. hit it with a descaler

 

[manda]

Will give that a go too. Thanks.

 

[bugsy]

The rubber diaphram normally sits underneath the plunger which is encased by the solinoid coil , depends how its been assembled

 

[High Tower]

Go and have a wander over to the plumbing forum, they will probably be able to tell you the best de scaler to use!

 

[rolf]

Is it just a cold fill machine. If yes and water pressure is fine change the valve there not that expensive . Wasteing your time piddling about with descaler how would you get the descaler into it.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Check the ball valve at the hose connection to the incomming supply.

 

[manda]

separate hot and cold fill, will check pressure coming through each at weekend then prob see from there, hopefully just have to replace the one! Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[rolf]

Manda wrote separate hot and cold fill,
Do you know the make and model . Not to worry if not . First try it on a rinse = cold fill only then select a 90deg = hot fill only. That will point you to which valve is playing up.

 

[manda]

Great, thanks rolf

 

[Paul.M]

Manda, don't get a plumber in. He will tell you its an electrical fault but he can fix it with some 1.5mm left over from his last shower install fed from a 4mm spur without a fcu from a ring main and doesn't care if It's balanced or not.

Jokes aside is there no end to your young ability. Your not doing a plumbing course as well are you?

 

[manda]

Lol. The plumber couldn't figure it haha, I had a look at weekend and figured it may be the solenoid valves but didn't want to go spending someone's money on new parts until I'd checked if there was other likely causes I've not looked at. ie maybe program faults etc. That would be way over my head! Anyhow, got pointed in right direction for parts, and for between £20/30 for a valve my mate has decided to accept a washer being offered to her from her daughter who is moving house. The part may well have been worth more than the washer was worth

 

[Paul.M]

I'm not that old but I will say something that my parents would have said. "they don't make them like they use to". These days that is true. How many tv repair shops do you see although we have got 3 or 4 in our house? If your fridge brakes down (and I don't mean emotionally) you get a new one. Same with phones, dvds, cd player. It's only the more expensive items we can justify the cost of repairing. Lap top, washing machine, cooker, its the thought process of "eeemmm it will cost £80 to repair or buy a new one for £120 with a 3 year guaranty". State of the world where we want everything cheap and then moans when it brakes down. Well done for fixing a washing machine that a plumber couldn't fix hehe.

Ps why do we still call it a washing "machine"? Other things in the house fall into mechanical..... cooker machine, microwave machine, blender machine. Rabble over, its late I'm off to bed.

 

[manda]

Ah, but I didn't fix it, May have fixed it had she wanted to go ahead and buy the part... but now we will never know ...how rude

 

[Geordie Spark]

I'm just wondering how you are checking the water pressure.

If you use a pressure gauge, it will show the pressure ok, but it won't show the volume of the water. I mean, it's not much use having a pressure of say 3bar on the gauge if the water is just a trickle out of the hose into the machine.

Have you tried disconnecting the hose from the machine & tried filling a bucket from it?

That way, you will see that the pressure and the volume are both adequate (or not).

If you're not getting the volume of water, I would suggest that the isolating valve is either not turned on properly, or it's full of limescale.

Hope this helps!!

 

[manda]

Hi guys.
The original washing machine has been replaced with one that was given by her daughter, so connected it all up, turned it on. all seems to be going fine until it reaches the rinse cycle. trips the electric So opened the back up to find it seems to be leaking from the heating element and onto the wiring underneath. Thing is, the heater is heating the water fine, so is it advisable to try and tighten the nut holding it in place and hope this gets a better seal, or do i risk damaging the seal more? Just in case: it is a hoover performa 110 washing machine. It tripped on cycle 5 (rinse) Was on a 90 c wash.
Any advice?

 

[malcolmsanford]

To be honest you could go down the road of trying to seal it with all sorts and majority of time they will not work or only work for a short while.

By all means check to see if the element is loose and if it is tighten it, as it's leaking now it won't do it much harm. as it's a hoover parts are quite easy to get, I would take the element out after getting a replacement gasket, clean the element off as there is sure to be a little gasket that will stick and fit the new one. That is when you don't want to over tighten.

 

[manda]

Thank you Malcom.
I'm starting to wish she'd just stuck to the old one and replaced a solenoid valve on it! hahaha. Oh well, I'll price up a new bracket for this one now. Lol.

 

[manda]

After it tripping last night, I drained all the water out. So now on turning it on there is no water to leak out at first, but it is tripping immediately. Thinking maybe there is still water from it leaking last night in the motor as it leaked directly over the coils. Will leave it until tomorrow to try again. Can anyone see anything I may be missing though? As an aside, when it was on last night before getting to the rinse cycle, I noticed steam coming form the dispenser drawer, although I've never noticed a washer do this before, I assumed it is not a problem, as the washer was after all on a 90 c wash. Just thought I would throw that in just in case?

 

[malcolmsanford]

Sorry Manda edited "bracket" to gasket

 

[bugsy]

Hi guys.
The original washing machine has been replaced with one that was given by her daughter, so connected it all up, turned it on. all seems to be going fine until it reaches the rinse cycle. trips the electric So opened the back up to find it seems to be leaking from the heating element and onto the wiring underneath. Thing is, the heater is heating the water fine, so is it advisable to try and tighten the nut holding it in place and hope this gets a better seal, or do i risk damaging the seal more? Just in case: it is a hoover performa 110 washing machine. It tripped on cycle 5 (rinse) Was on a 90 c wash.
Any advice?

You wont be able to get a new gasket asit's part of the element, take out the element dry the gasket and apply a sealer replace the element but dont over tighten
​

 

[rolf]

As bugsy said element and seal come complete. You may find if you take the heater out you will not be able to get it back in as the seal swells up over time and it is quite a old machine. I would try giving the nut half a turn to see if that cures it.
Then get a hair dryer on the motor to dry it out .
A word of warning though the motors on these machines are prone to going down to earth.
Steam out of the dispenser is normal on 90deg wash

 

[Paul.M]

Manda you,ve jinks me. My washing machine has broken down and I have'nt got the time to look at it. I'll start a new thread with the problem/s i find. If not we will have to get a new one and thats my new metrel tester out of the window for a few more weeks.