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Re: To use or not to use water softeners for hard water?
Thanks for the response guys.
kwatt,
I think Scotland has the softest water in Britain, and the best scenery! 🙂
Yes, down here, water comes straight off the chalk beds and therefore calcium level is as high as it could be. It’s possible to buy a salt based item in B&Q that I think we can hang in the cold water tank, only I don’t fully understand what it means by ‘salt’, and I get the idea it has chemicals in it. It could be stuff we put on winter roads for all I know. If I’m putting chemicals in the water supply, I want to know exactly what they are. I’ll check this further. I’m also just a bit taken aback at the idea that correct dosing and a regular maintenance wash is regarded as sufficient for everyone, everywhere! 😯Martin,
I knew someone would think my literacy, or understanding were lacking here. 🙂
Maintenance Wash
“Once a month, please, please run the machine through a boil wash with a full dose of powder or tablet detergent to clean it out. Use detergent because it kills germs if you use a biological (which I’d recommend for normal use anyway for whites) and the “builders” in the detergent will remove limescale. This is a lot cheaper than using some ad-on products such as Calgon. “As I’ve attempted to state already, this is a ‘one size fits all’ theory, i.e for the whole of the U.K (and Europe) ? In other words, are we saying here that regardless of the level of calcium and magnesium in the water supply, (dependant on where you live), the ‘builders’ in washing powder will look after all washing machines equally, providing you use the correct dose?
O.K. say I do a full cycle maintenance wash weekly rather than monthly. I use Ariel. Normal soil dose for hard water is 195ml. I measured the little container I use, it’s exactly 195ml! That nearly fills up the soap drawer anyway! If I do these two things, I don’t need Calgon? Are we saying here, that it’s really that simple? I don’t mean to sound so stupid, :rolls: but you know, sometimes simple concepts are harder to grasp than rocket science! For some people, this is quite a revolutionary concept, and if more people understood this, they’ld have less problems with their machines.It would still be good to hear actual experiences from someone living in a hard water area. 😆
Cheers,
HomefixRe: Zanussi W/D WJD1667W not drying
OK, thanks for that info on liquids. Manufacturers would be concerned about potential liabilities, and in times when companies put ‘CAUTION, CONTAINS HOT LIQUID’, or similar on a takeaway coffee cup, well…. 🙂
I’ll discuss carbon brushes with my slightly stronger, other half and see if we can look at those.The articles written here create a kind of ‘one size fits all’ scenario. I’d now like some in depth info. I think I’d be interested in more feedback from other people regarding the water issue and the use of softening agents. It would be useful to find out if they do work, and to what degree, in hard water areas. After all, this is about potentially saving money, so I’ll start a new thread.
A local repairman once told me Calgon was a waste of time, but then, he was running a business. Tha won’t find a Northerner that d’nt know: ‘Where the’s muck, the’s brass!’ 🙂
Homefix 😆
Re: Zanussi W/D WJD1667W not drying
Thanks, Penguin 45.
Front filter is done weekly, door seal gets an occasional wipe, but how do we go about checking the carbon brushes in the motor? Are we checking for signs of wear and dust build up? That’s clearly another dis-assembly job. What needs to be taken apart to access the brushes?I read the article about detergents and additives. Yes, it’s true, companies market products like these to us on the basis of what we don’t know. Knowledge is power etc.. 🙂 The information about products like Vanish was interesting. I had a small tub of this and a spray, mostly used for white washes! The tub does say it contains bleaching agents, but the spray doesn’t. Does that mean the spray only works by utilizing biological enzymes, rather than chemical bleach ?
Secondly, I live in Kent, a calcareous area. Our water has an incredible amount of lime in it, due to the water coming straight from underground aquifers (I think). No soft rainwater in reservoirs for us! The kettle needs de-scaling fortnightly, therefore I’m concerned as to what happens when the cold fill washing machine heats up water. If there are lime-scale inhibitors/removers in powders like Ariel, which I use anyway, I shouldn’t need Calgon too ? If I lived in a soft/medium water area, that would make sense, but what about a very hard water area? I’d like to save money on stuff I’ve been buying for years, but I’m just wondering if that’s false economy, especially after un-blocking a scaled vent hole in a pipe in my previous post? 😕
Cheers,
HomefixRe: Zanussi W/D WJD1667W not drying
Having found this thread so useful, I felt I should post an update: We have now fixed the problem! Thank you! 🙂 It took a couple of hours to remove the rear casing, remove condenser box and pipe, clean 99+{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the wet lint out, and re-assemble. Dryer works like new!. One of us slightly lifted/supported the blower assembly, while the other levered the bottom of the condenser box to enable removal, but maybe one person could do it alone. The rear casing is simple to remove, most of the time was taken up cleaning out the condenser box! 🙁
Tools: socket set, long screwdriver (lever), unwound wire coat-hanger, shower hose with head removed to flush out condenser box in the bath! (Could consider hosepipe or pressure washer perhaps). After much searching, I also found this; Zanussi Washer Dryer not drying, on groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.d-i-y. Same kind of problem, so I found it useful. We think that we should put this issue on our household ‘annual check list’. Is there anything else we should annually check? Giving it an annual service, has to be better than waiting for it to stop working, plus all the extra electricity that was being used. I now have some photos of inside the WJD1667W, in case someone else would find them useful, (I certainly would have done!) but not sure how/where to upload them. ❓
(Can’t get the other emoticons to go where I put them either, unless I do it via the keyboard 🙂Re: Zanussi W/D WJD1667W not drying
Maybe this is similar to an issue with our machine?
We have a four year old WJD1667W. It washes, spins & drains fine, so we’re assuming no pump problems. ( Has had 2 pumps in four years).
However, on a drying cycle it will run & heat for a time, maybe 10-15 minutes. Then it will pause & display the E20 code. If I press the pause button, it will run for a short time and repeat the E20. As the machine warms up, the pauses become increasingly frequent. We’re considering checking the condenser for fluff build up and cleaning, as a starting point.
As this involves removing the rear casing, have read kgaf’s instructions carefully, but need to clarify something. “4 screws on top in middle of machine securing cross member type structure (only remove two either side, leaving the front 4 in place on this member)”Being cautious, we’re a bit concerned about the drum support springs on either side of the machine just in front of the cross member’s two (middle) rear screws. If those screws are removed, and then the casing pulled back, it shouldn’t cause any part of the assembly to drop, should it? That is, does removing the rear casing, remove part of the drum spring’s support? If it doesn’t, there should be no problem sliding the case out and back in again?
❓
This thread’s been quite helpful so far, thanks. Any more info to help us get to the bottom of this issue will be much appreciated. 🙂
