electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

[admin]

Hi.

I have an electra autiwasher AWM900b eco and it was working fine in my old house. We moved it the other week and now we’ve got a few problems.

(I’d imagine the move has damaged it, but I can’t confirm)

The mechanics seem to work fine, it spins, it does the correct cycles.

BUT

the cold water pipe is polluting the pipe it is connected to. So our kitchen tap is becoming putrid when the connection is open (inlet to water pipe).

Also no Hot water is getting through/being pumped.

Are there two independant pumps?
It could also be a thermostat issue, which would stop the hot water coming through?

oh dear.. a multitude of errors, can someone give me somethings to check please? any help would be greatfully recieved.

Paul

[Martin]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

Paulkent wrote:the cold water pipe is polluting the pipe it is connected to. So our kitchen tap is becoming putrid when the connection is open (inlet to water pipe).

Hi Paul,

I don’t fully understand that statement 😕 I take it you have a seperate cold feed pipe with stop tap that goes to the washing machine, possible a hot supply as well?

Paulkent wrote:Also no Hot water is getting through/being pumped.

Or maybe you haven’t a hot water supply 🙁

Paulkent wrote:Are there two independant pumps?

Do you mean water inlet valves? ……..Yes indeed.

But do please clarify those points and I will see what the problem is likely to be 😀

Martin

[admin]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

I have two supplies. Red Pipe, blue pipe. Standard deal.

Connected to cold water/Hot water pipes (which then go on to be the supply for my kitchen sink).

When the cold water inlet is open (the bit that opens the connection between the water pipe and WM inlet pipe) somehow the washing machine is backwashing, causing the water pipe to provide putrid water to my kitchen tap.

The hot water pipe is (as far as I have tested) providing hot water as far as the inlet valve at the washing machine.

hope this clarifies

Paul

[Martin]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

Anonymous wrote:hope this clarifies

Thanks for that Paul,

Well I’m pretty certain that the washing machine and/or it’s cold inlet hose connection will not cause “backwashing” to your sink tap.

The problem more likely due to some weird plumbing configuration under the sink, possibly due to low water pressure? Is that sink tap direct from the mains and do you have a good water pressure? Or is it fed off your house ‘Header Tank’ in which case the pressure will be an issue here 😕

Martin

[admin]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

Just to let you know that the above post was me I just forgot to put my name in 😯

Paul

[admin]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

Martin wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
hope this clarifies

Is that sink tap direct from the mains and do you have a good water pressure? Or is it fed off your house ‘Header Tank’ in which case the pressure will be an issue here 😕

Martin

The kitchen taps have a lot of force to them.

and the cold tap is straight from mains.

also. When I smell the washing machine inlet valves, the hot valve smells fine. The Cold valve smells putrid. Like TCP with a metallic twang.

any ideas?

Paul

[Martin]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

Anonymous wrote:When I smell the washing machine inlet valves, the hot valve smells fine. The Cold valve smells putrid.

Crikey, no, in a word :con:

Never in over 40 years in the trade have I heard that one before 😯

A cold water inlet valve is not very costly at all to replace if you think that would cure the problem? I also know that the blue and red pvc inlet hoses can pong a bit when new, but not to any extreme, and clear after a few gallons have passed through.

So I’m stumped beyond that I’m afaid 🙁

Martin

[dpm]

For any kind of backflow to occur, pressure in the rising main would have to decrease radically. But even in this case, there is no volume of water (worth talking about)under pressure inside the machine.

The hoses aren’t really old rubber ones are they?

[kwatt]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

Paul,

It’s not an old building is it?

Thinking out loud in case there’s still lead piping around in the house.

Other then that there’s no technical reason or way that the washer could cause this and, as you say, it worked fine in the previous house so I’d say that the machine itself is a red herring, I’d strongly suspect the plumbing and not the appliance.

K.

[admin]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

My Landlord is away currently and I don’t know how to check, but the building seems relatively modern. (in construction/materials). As far as I can tell. It is not lead piping.

The hoses are fairly new. I replaced them, when the ones I had used in the previous house weren’t taking the thread of the new houses valves.

(But I’ve run the Machine a few times with just cold water, it doesn’t seem to change in the intensity of putridity (( is that a word?)) and the pipes themselves don’t seem to smell)

The Pollution first occured when I turned off the Mains (via the outside Mains water tap) to plug the WM in. I would have suggested that this was the problem. Stagnating water etc. Except I’ve let it run since turning the WM valves off and it returns to normal. Then when Valve is open, water instantly turns putrid again.

I think there may be a link between the fact that no hot water is getting through and the foul taste/smell. But I’m no expert. You guys will know better.

Paul

[clivejameson]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

Paul

There really is no way any amount of water could come back from the mchine fill hoses into the water supply…I would ask your water supplier to urgently test the water quality, it may be contamination from supply piping. I’m sure they would be most interested to establish this ;)…they are under very strict obligations to provide drinking quality water.

As to the lack of hot fill…if you have checked that hot water is delivered to the machine, that the inlet filter is not blocked, and that you are selecting a program which requires hot water (generally any prog of 60c and above), then assuming the move was gentle enough to avoid wires being knocked off inside then most likely the hot valve inside has failed…this can be easily (and cheaply) repaired!

Clive

[clivejameson]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

…and I should add that you should have at least one tap supplied directly from the mains for drinking water (bylaw requirement), the rest may be supplied by your header tank…if you know where this is check that it has a cover (another bylaw requirement) and have a peek inside with a torch. You may be a little shocked at what you see in the bottom…the mains does carry a certain amount of bits which will settle there but if you get the same smell as you do at the tap then firstly you are drinking water not intended for drinking, and secondly it will need draining and cleaning 😉

Clive

[clivejameson]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

💡
Do you have a combi boiler? Might be a leaky diaphragm inside 😉

Clive

[admin]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

ok.

Thanks everyone for replying.

Are there any sources of information that will give me a good idea of how to check for general faults like the valve failing etc. ?

I guess what I’m asking is, can I take it apart myself. Or should I pay a ‘Professional’ to do the problem shooting. Given that I’m a fairly confident layman. The machine is not under warranty and fees will be involved.

Also : If the washing machine itself has nothing to with the problem… why does it only occur when the inlet valve is open?

*scratch head*

Paul

[admin]

Re: electra awm900b eco no h/w, making tap water putrid

Yup. It’s a Britany combiboiler

leaky diapghram could manifest itself in this way?

Paul

[Author]

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