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Hoover WDM130 overfills in mid-cycle. There appear to be three fill-level triggers, mediated by a thin tube coming from a clear plastic cylindrical vessel at the back of the drum. As water level rises, pressure in the tube rises and triggers a switch to turn off water and advance to next stage. Watching a cycle from the beginning, there is an initial fill level which is fine, I can see water at the bottom of the vessel and hear the switch going. Then there’s an intermediate level, again it fills a bit more and then stops, water is now half way up the vessel. Next comes the problem, it goes to a third fill stage and never stops. At this stage I intervene to stop a flood. Turning the dial round to the next notch or so initiates a pump-out, which works fine.
So I took the plastic vessel off the back and cleaned it up, it had a lot of gunk in it. I disconnected the tub from it and tried blowing up it – I can make the switches click. The tube appears to be in excellent condition and is not rubbing anywhere, I was expecting it to be damaged from other threads on this board.
I’m thinking maybe it’s a fault at the controller side. Any tips as to how I should proceed most gratefully received.
The machine’s 4y old, so I would probably chuck it out rather than get into expensive callouts, but it’s in good condition (apart from being broken) and it seems terribly wasteful.
Re: Hoover WDM130 overfilling
Standard fault with these was pinhole in the pipe. Pressurise it and seal it and wait – if after a shor t time you hear the level switch click back down you have a leak in either the hose (common) or the switch (uncommon but does happen). It usually chafes in the soap box area.
Power off, of course.
Regards,
Penguin45.Re: Hoover WDM130 overfilling
OK, I’ll investigate further. I’ll use the tongue method to seal the pressurized tube! Would a leak cause the “third stage” problem I’m having though?
Incidentally, power off, of course, but isn’t there a big charge left in the supressor? How does one get rid of that?
Re: Hoover WDM130 overfilling
patp wrote:but isn’t there a big charge left in the supressor? How does one get rid of that?
I usually (accidentally) put my thumb and finger on the live and neutral pin respectively, just after I’ve unplugged the machine.
Thus using the ‘discharge it through your hand’ technic. 😳
Re: Hoover WDM130 overfilling
I’m not sure if that’s rude or not GB; but you can have the benefit of the doubt.
What our poster needs to do is use something like a golf tee to plug the hose and wait. A pin hole can take a few minutes to actually depressurise the system. The machine will then “refill”. By the time the system lets go for the 3rd time, there will be no water left to displace in the pressure chamber, and it’ll keep on filling………
HTH,
Penguin45.Re: Hoover WDM130 overfilling
When testing for air leaks it’s much easier to test for a vacuum rather than a positive pressure. If you seal one end of the pipe with your finger and suck on the other end to try and create a vacuum, you can usually ‘feel’ a drop in pressure on your tongue.
Don’t suck on a pressure switch though as you may damage it and alter the calibration.
Bob
Re: Hoover WDM130 overfilling
Penguin45 wrote:
What our poster needs to do is use something like a golf tee to plug the hose and wait. A pin hole can take a few minutes to actually depressurise the system. The machine will then “refill”. By the time the system lets go for the 3rd time, there will be no water left to displace in the pressure chamber, and it’ll keep on filling………
Penguin45.COnsistent with what you’re saying, the level of water in the pressure chamber did rise to the top before the third filling stage arose. Not sure how you mean to plug the pressurised tube with a golf tee – could you explain which end of the tube I would disconnect and how I would pressurize it?
Re: Hoover WDM130 overfilling
Bit late now but………. Power off. Disconnect pressure switch hose from chamber. GENTLY, blow into the hose untill you hear the pressure switch “click”. Crush the hose and plug the end. If there is another click shortly, you have an air leak, as the pressure sitch has just dropped back out again.
Regards,
Penguin45.Re: Hoover WDM130 overfilling
Thanks! The way I did it was just visually – I decided that the water level should never rise up into the pressure chamber, but as I added water to the drum, it did start to go up. I pulled the hose out and lo and behold, a little hole where it’s chaffed behind the soap drawer! How does it feel to be right all the time?
I replaced it with some clear tubing that’s a bit of a tighter fit and feels tougher. I didn’t have time to fully test it, but it’s certainly not overfilling now. What it did do, which worried me a bit, was turn on the water flowat the same time as pumping out water after a speedwash, which confused me a bit, but I’ll confirm the problem before getting too worried.
Thanks again,
John
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