Sudden excessive salt consumption (Blomberg LDV42244)

[MJNewton]

Our Blomberg (‘posh’ Beko?) LDV42244 dishwasher (Stock No 7645453877, Serial No 22-800981-01) has been working flawlessly until today when, after a wash cycle, I noticed a white coating on everything. Tasting it suggests it is salt.

Opening the salt container revealed it to be empty, however I’d only refilled it a few days ago. I refilled it, ran another cycle, and again whilst initially the white coating was rinsed off it again ended up being recoated by the end of the cycle. Checking the salt container revealed it was again completely empty despite being completely full at the beginning of the programme.

I need to read up about the water softener plumbing and operating process but in the meantime are these symptoms indicative of a specific likely issue here? The cap seems to still fit well and, this might be a red herring, when I first opened the cap I think there was a slight gurgle from the salt container and whilst I don’t know what that was or whether it was relevant to the problem it did make me think the cap must be maintaining a water/air-tight seal for that to have happened. Perhaps to be certain I could fabricate a suitable disc of rubber to temporarily add to ensure it is sealing.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions you might be able to offer.

[electrofix]

the water softner has an electric valve attached to it

my guess is either
a the valve has stuck
b the timer is energising the valve at the wrong time or all the time

Dave

[MJNewton]

Thanks Dave for such a quick response, and such a confident one at that.

Yes, having now learnt how the water softener, and the regeneration cycle in particular, works what you say makes complete sense. I’ll see if I can access the electrical connections to the valve with the front access panel removed and monitor the supply lines during a cycle. If they are only periodic (and I think most likely during the drying phase?) rather than continuous then like you suggest perhaps it being stuck open is the likely issue. What generally causes this? A piece of salt on the valve seat, or would it be the solenoid shaft itself?

Edit: Just discovered that it is still under warranty (5yrs) but I’ll do some further investigation myself in case I can resolve it myself.

[MJNewton]

Ah, having checked a photo I took of the underside prior to installation I see that the regeneration valve (assuming it’s the yellowish one with the white+orange wiring?) sits to the rear of the softener unit and so won’t be accessible from the front after all.

I suppose I might still be able to see if there is water passing through the salt chamber (and thus into the resin chamber) continuously though?

[electrofix]

well dont do anything that will void your warranty

Dave

[MJNewton]

I’ll make sure I leave no trace… 😉

Joking aside, if it does look like the machine will have to come out (I didn’t mention it is integrated, and there’s a hardwood floor in front that I am keen not to cause any damage to) I will do so and put it in a spare room that has water/drainage available. That should remove a lot of faff for the engineer and he can tip it up and around to his heart’s content without me hovering over them being worried about the flooring and new cupboard doors etc!

[MJNewton]

Hmm…

Given that the dishwasher sits on blocks to line it up with the adjacent units I could just about get my arm under to remove the valve without removing the machine.

However, whilst I was expecting the piston to be stuck it was actually free to slide, and testing it on the bench shows it works fine too.I did wonder if the return spring felt a little weak, but then I’ve got nothing to compare it to and if the water is only gravity fed I suppose it doesn’t have to resist much force.

On the electrical side I was able to observe that the dishwasher wasn’t continuously energising the valve, and only sent 230v AC for a minute or so after the last drain cycle so that all feels right.

It’s all back together again now and appears to be working fine i.e. the refilled salt container is remaining filled and salty water isn’t being used to wash the dishes!). I wonder if there was something (salt crystal?) on the valve seat holding it open and the removal of the valve has effectively cured it? Given the limited access I couldn’t see if anything came out, not least given the sudden gush of water that I wasn’t quite ready for!

Will keep an eye on it further and if it happens again will get Blomberg out.

[Author]

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