water and softener valves on Hotpoint latest washing machine

[andy_from_ireland]

I am trying to gt my head around how these water valves work on my Hotpoint WMUD washing machine –

The soap drawer has 3 compartments – 1 compartment on the left fills with water at the start of the wash every time, just for a few seconds it fills up the sump and initiates the heater (I can hear heater relay click) – but then (after a minute of rest) the water goes into the right compartment where you put the soap powder , then on the final rinse the water goes to the conditioner compartment.

So that is 3 compartments …. however the solenoids , there are only 2! – not 3 solenoids! – I am trying to get my head around this, how does this work, where is the magic? – with only 2 solenoids how does it serve 3 compartments ❓ – what happens to divert it to the right compartment?

And the wiring (very thin wiring) one is a pair of blue, one is a pair of white, I am presuming with the thin diameter of wiring and small micro-plugs (and not terminals) that these solenoids must be low voltage 12v or something, rather than 240v am I correct?

Thanks for info, i’m fascinated/curious.

[electrofix]

Re: water and softener valves on Hotpoint latest washing mac

solenoids will be 240v (higher voltage lower current so thinner wires)

3 compartments left.right and centre

valve 1 feeds left compartment but water comes from right rear of the draw and crosses from right to left across a gap
valve 2 feeds right compartment but as above comes from left hand side

to get the centre compartment turn on both valves. the water streams hit each other in the gap forcing it into the centre

Dave

[andy_from_ireland]

Re: water and softener valves on Hotpoint latest washing mac

electrofix wrote:solenoids will be 240v (higher voltage lower current so thinner wires)

3 compartments left.right and centre

valve 1 feeds left compartment but water comes from right rear of the draw and crosses from right to left across a gap
valve 2 feeds right compartment but as above comes from left hand side

to get the centre compartment turn on both valves. the water streams hit each other in the gap forcing it into the centre

Dave

Thats clever, thanks for explaining that. Years ago they used to have 3 solenoids didnt they. 1 for Hot, 1 for cold, and one for softener – I can see now by using 2 solenoids it most probably saves the manufacturer money making them to cut out one of the solenoids.

it scuppers one of my ideas though – i saw a washing machine the other day that has a fast fill and I was thinking if i modified and had 2 solenoids open at the same time when filling it would fill up the machine drum quicker – but now after your explanation I can see now that all it would do is force the water into the softener compartment, so thats no good then.

[Author]

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