Washing Machine Help

[greg]

I'm not sure if my washing machine (Hotpoint Aquarius) is working properly or not and I was wondering if someone here could help me.

When I wash at 60', there's lots of foamy suds in the drum during, but when I wash at 40' there are hardly any. Is this supposed to happen? Are my clothes getting clean? (I'm using Fairy tablets at the moment - they are supposed to be suitable for both 40' & 60')

Also, when I start a wash, quite a bit of water seems to be pumped out of the machine - where does this come from and why does it do it? I notice this because the washing machine outlet connects under the kitchen sink & it bubbles up through the plughole.

Thanks

Greg

[rozzikate]

Not sure Greg - new washing machines are a bit of a mystery - they like to wash and rinse with hardly any water! Personally I wash everything on 30 now using a european liquid detergent called Formil that I get from Lidl's. It's clear and rinses out well (I've got sensitive skin) and does a pretty good job. Would suggest you do a test like in the washing powder adverts. Grubby up a couple of old tee shirts and put one in at 60 and one at 40 at see if there's any difference in the result (you could also try 30 just to see if it makes any difference!) As far as pumping out goes - my machine does it if I put the machine on the rinse cycle. Some water will always drain down after the machine has stopped and some will stay in the waste pipe the sink side of the pump. You could phone the manufacturer but I think it might just be a precautionary thing to stop foul water seeping back into your machine at the start of the wash.

[Lurch]

On 15 Mar 2007 05:26:16 -0700, "greg" mused:

Don't know, I can strip one down and put it back together, but involve the use of clothes and I'm stuffed.

2 things here, water from the washing machine waste shouldn't be bubbling up from the plughole. Check\clean waste pipes from the sink.

Usually at the start of the cycle the machine will pump out any residual water from the last wash. There is always an amount of water sat in the sump, some of it is there as a water trap, some of it will be what drains from the drum after the cycle has finished.

[John]

Mine is the same - it is to rinse out the pump / sump before taking in the main fill of water and detergent. without this stage it could be possible for the initial inrush of water to flush the detergent load straight into the sump where it wouldn't mix properly.

[greg]

So does that mean it's normal then? I put a bottle of Mr Muscle down the sink, but it didn't make any difference. It doesn't seem particularly slow at draining normally either.

I was wondering - does anyone here use a detergent that is quite foamy at 40? Formil sounds good - especially if it works at 30 and is kind to your skin.