Ariston AL14 – Fill problems

[Lemole]

Machine starts to fill with a very small amount of cold water, hot seemingly not being taken in at all as powder remains in the drawer. Machine then sits and does nothing. If I manually fill with cold water, carefully via the powder drawer then it works and washes fine when the water drains away then I manually refill it through the rinse cycle too.

I replaced the Hot solenoid intake valve, there appears to be connections from the cold solenoid valve to the hot. If I stop and reset the machine there seems to be 3 short blips on the front LED. I’ve checked the pressure tube and it seems to be fine, the pressure bottle is clean and clear. I did have it on its side about three or four weeks ago as it was the only way to access the pump to get the filter out as it was jammed in solid.

Any Ideas on where to look at next. There is no change to the amount of water intake if I alter the programmes or alter the temperature settings.

[Penguin45]

Re: Ariston AL14 – Fill problems

Using your multimeter and with the power off, split the circuit to each of the valve solenoid coils and take the reading – you should get 3-4kOhms across each. The coils are linked by a common neutral, each has an individual live supply.

Regards,
Penguin45.

[Lemole]

Re: Ariston AL14 – Fill problems

Thanks Penguin45, I shall test the solenoids tonight. With the power off I assume I just take the spade connectors off each of the solenoids (2 on the cold and 1 on the hot) and put the Multimeter over the contacts and note the resistance which should be between 3 and 4 ohms?

Assuming there is no problem with the Hot as it is new, could a failure of one of the cold inlet solenoids cause this filling problem? I have spent time watching the machine go through its cycles. The cold water starts to run in for around 30 to 40 seconds, pressure on both hot and cold is good, no kinks in inlet pipes etc….powder remains in the tray. I have to manually fill to get the machine to start turning but once I have done that it seems to work fine until it needs filling for the rinsing cycles. Interestingly on the very last rinse cycle, cold water runs in to the correct level. I’ll post my findings as soon as I have them this evening but wanted to check my testing method and ask the above.

Many thanks for your assistance
Lemole

[Lemole]

Re: Ariston AL14 – Fill problems

Tried the multimeter test this evening, removed the spade connectors just to make sure and tested each seperate solenoid with the results as follows:

Hot Inlet Solenoid Valve reading 3.48 kOhms

Cold Inlet Solenoid Valve No1 (nearest back of machine) – No Reading

Cold Inlet Solenoid Valve No2 Reading 1.92 kOhms

So, putting 2 and 2 together do you think this means that I will have to replace the Cold water solenoid valve? Don’t wish to throw good money after bad to replace this cold valve if it is not the definitive source of the problem. Machine is starting to get a bit noisy but it has given good service for 6 years and i’m reluctant to part with it if it is still servicable.

Many thanks for all assistance.
Lemole

[hotpnt]

Re: Ariston AL14 – Fill problems

yes, that valve will be the problem, it will fill on the last rinse because it uses the other cold valve to wash in the conditioner. easy fix.

[Penguin45]

Re: Ariston AL14 – Fill problems

If you contact spares@ukwhitegoods.co.uk and ask for a C00066518 inlet valve, they’ll be able to supply a replacement for you promptly.

Regards,
Penguin45.

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