Hotpoint Aquarius FDW60 Bubbling/Gurgling

[CaptainHaddock]

Last week our dishwasher started bubbling/gurgling on a wash cycle. Then lights 3&4 started flashing which I was led to believe were a draining issue. I’ve taken the impeller off and this is spinning fine and checked the drain pipe and the small flap seemed to be stuck so I removed this and cleaned this. Having put everything back together I thought it was resolved but the issue remains. On further investigation I’ve spotted that water is only being pumped half way up the pipe that runs up to the top washing arm. It is the water being partially pumped that is the gurgling sound that can be heard. I’m guessing that this is a pump issue and replacing this looks pretty straight forward but at £130 to replace I’m reluctant to do this without some clarity.

Does anyone recognise this issue and have resolved it with a replacement pump or is there a way of testing the pump?

I’m able to rotate the pump quite freely.

[electrofix]

what worries me here is you seem to be giving 2 different faults. when you say the water only goes half way up the pipe is the water level inside adequate ?

also you drain issue could be a blocked pressure switch. if the machine thinks there is water still in there when there is not it will still show the error code

Dave

[CaptainHaddock]

Thanks for your response. Not sure what you men by adequate but I’ll try and expand on the issue some more.

The water going up the pipe is moving up and down quite violently which is causing the gurgling noise. However it is not powerful enough to get to the top and move through the top spray arm. As a result all the water that has come in is then collecting in the bottom and because I’m then stopping the program my natural thought was it’s a draining issue and went down that route. I don’t know if it is relevant but when I moved the drain pipe below the dishwasher fully the water naturally drained away fully under normal pressure conditions so I don’t think there are any blockage issues. It may be that I do have numerous faults as you suggest.

[electrofix]

well if there is not enough water in there then as the pump pushes the water to the top bar it will draw air making the sort of noise you have

wait till it fills and open door and look how much water is in there. If it barely covers the filter add a large pan of water and see if its better when you restart it

Dave

[CaptainHaddock]

It filled the bottom of the washer fully well above the level of the filter

[electrofix]

well bit of a loss now

well the only thing that’s left to try is the capacitor on the motor ( if fitted). From the diagrams it shows a capacitor on the motor but does not show a part number. If this fails the motor will loose power and may not have enough to get the water up there. You would have to find and look at the cap to find its value

I assume it still does this if you remove the filter

Dave

[CaptainHaddock]

It’s labelled as 4 Microfarads

[electrofix]

yes and

https://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/washing-machine-dishwasher-4uf-capacitor

Dave

[iadom]

As Dave has said, drain issues and water gurgling up that pipe are totally different issues. 3+4 flashing is a drain time out and not connected to the circulation issues. This machine has a valve assembly ( black doofer bolted to circulation pump housing) that diverts the water to the top arm only for certain programmes. If this valve is stuck or blocked it could give rise to your problems. TBH as this is an Indesit made machine that must be at least 10 years old, possibly even older I for one would not be putting a new circulation pump in it.

[CaptainHaddock]

Even better. I’ll give that a go and see how we get on.

Thanks for your support and guidance, it’s really appreciated.

[CaptainHaddock]

Thanks for the guidance Dave. New capacitor now fitted and the DW is now in full working order once more.

😀

[Author]

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