Ariston A1600WD – water comes out of tray – diagnosis

Have had this Ariston A1600WD washer drier for about 2.5 years now, bought at a heavy discount in Curry’s (not a good sign!).

Problem we have been having is that water comes gushing out of the powder tray at the later stages of the rinse cycle before the spin. Normally happens twice in the cycle.

The amount of water coming out is increasing, this morning I had to mop approx 3 litres off the floor in two leaks (one cycle).

A very helpful engineer came out on a free estimate basis and suggested that the water pressure may be too high and the machine was losing water during the conditioner cycle. However knocking back the tap doesn’t seem to have had any effect.

I now suspect that there may be a problem with the draining system, and that the water in the bottom of the machine is coming back out the top instead of going out the back.

To try and test this I put the drain hose out of the back door, at a lower level than the machine, and it seemed to leak water continuously, always filling from the tap – unfortunately I have no idea whether the machines are designed to behave like this or not! Normally the hose feeds into the sink drain at more than half the height of the machine.

Soap tray is essentially clean, never used for soap, always use tablets. Not a hard water area.

Any advice about what may be the fault is much appreciated – and whether it is likely to be an expensive fix as to be honest I’m seriously considering buying seperate Bosch washer and tumble and hoping for some reliability instead of more hassle (already have a dodgy boiler in the house causing grief!)