Washiniig machine valves, open or closed?

[terry smith]

How do I know whether the valve is open or closed, I assumed they are open when the 'knob' is inline with the pipe. I just had a problem with my machine not starting and I looked at the valves, one was 'in-line' (blue) but the other (red) was at a right angle to the flow.

Anyway I tried it with both inline and it did start so I assume that is correct, but I did fiddle with it 'half open (45%).

Anyway the machine has finished now so I guess I can find out for myself by disconnection the pipe but I willleave the answer here so someone in a simiilar situation can be helped. Actually I just tried and water came out either way!!

Help!

To slightly complicate things the valve on the red pipe is incorperates a 90% bend, but if it was'straightened out' it would be the same as the blue pipe.

Many thanks for any help!

[chris French]

In message , terry smith writes

Yes.

[Mr Kyle wot is called Phil]

TROLL

[terry smith]

Short but sweet!!

I realised some water was going in and I was pretty sure the straight cold pipe was correct, however as the hot valve had a 90 degree bend in it I was slightly unsure about that one. Anyway when I first looked the hot valve was in the 'off' position although I do not recall ever turning it off myself so I was pretty puzzled. I assume the reason the machine would not start was because the hot water was turned off, would that be correct reasoning?

The only time I had been anywere near the plumbing down there was when I unblocked the sink sometime ago, maybe I knocked the lever then, but I am sure I have done several washes since then. So it remains a bit of a mystery!

Anyway everything came out whiter than white, including my underpants although they have been somewhat destroyed by the biological washing powder!!

[terry smith]

IDIOT

[Lobster]

AFAIK most machines will dual fill will take what's available; ie if the hot valve is on it will attempt to draw water from that, but if not, the machine will fill will cold water which will be heated up by the machine to working temperature.

Hot filling is usually pretty pointless though anyway - if you consider how much cold water emerges from most cold taps until hot water comes through; by the time the machine has drawn its fill of water, the 'hot' supply is probably still running cold. I tend to run the hot tap on the utility room sink while I'm loading the machine, so ensure hot is instantly available when I switch on, but having said that, the benefit is still probably minimal given that washers operate at quite low temperatures these days anyway.

David

[Mr Kyle wot is called Phil]

You would make a terrific troll with stupid questions like that one. You seriously couldn't work it out?

[Tim Mitchell]

In article , Lobster writes

They only use hot on the high temp washes anyway (the ones at the start of the dial, you know, white nylon, dirty nappies, that sort of thing)

[terry smith]

Some good points there, I did try to see if the hot pipe was open by feeling to see if it got warm (it did a bit), the machines are quite intelligent so who knows what is happening. I don't know how much hot water they use but I don't want the machine heating it on day time rate electricity.

[terry smith]

Work out what? How would you have 'worked it out?

[Mr Kyle wot is called Phil]

You said -

Problem solved, surely?

Couldn't be a dicky tap then?

Around our way we can hear a water noise when the machine starts to fill. If we can't, we tend to turn the taps. Admittedly it IS rocket science.

[Mr Kyle wot is called Phil]

I forgot to mention, a couple of pointers which may be useful is that 'blue' often = cold water and 'red' sometimes = hot. Also, if you are deaf, if you open that lil ole draw where the wife puts the powder (that stuff which is supplied in cardboard boxes) you can often see water on its way to filling the drum (that's where the wife throws the unwashed clothes). Water, incidentally, is often supplied in pipes, usually running under the road adjacent (near) to your property.

[terry smith]

Well then I did work it out my self so why the criticism? It may have been a coincidence anyway. Also the cold tap was open, which is all it needs to work in some peoples opinions.

Obviously I knew when the machine was filling. The rocket science is determining if it is filling with hot or cold water, they both sound the same to me. Agreed?

Mind you round your way you can probably tell the temperature of water just from the sound, being so smart and all.

[terry smith]

I now realise you were not calling me a troll earlier, merely signing you post. Nice one.

[Lobster]

Oh No They Don't... well, mine doesn't anyway - I just put a 40-degree wash on and felt the hot feed pipe warm up instantly as the hot water flowed thru.

David

[Andrew Gabriel]

Probably depends on the machine and capability of its controls. Ideally, the initial fill should be around 30C. Mine starts filling with cold, then adds hot too. If the hot actually isn't very hot, it closes off the cold, otherwise it continues filling with both. If the hot gets hot after a while (as mine often does), then it turns the cold back on.

If the initial fill is much above 30C, it destroys some of the enzymes in the washing detergent which are targeting specific types of dirt -- they each have an optimum operating temperature but are destroyed when the water gets much above it. The machine should then do a profiled temperature increase by heating slowly to the final wash temperature, to allow each of the enzymes time to operate before it is destroyed. I think that by around 45C, they are all destroyed and you are just back to using just the raw detergent, which is not so good at handling some of the types of dirt as the enzymes are (particularly protein based dirt, which can "cook" into long chain molecules before the detergent gets to it, and then it becomes much harder to deal with).

A machine with microprocessor control is likely to do a much better job of the profiled temperature wash, but even an older mechanical timer machine can do well enough simply by virtue of the time it takes to heat the water, providing the initial fill isn't too hot.

[terry smith]

Wow, you certaintly know your stuff!!

[Mr Kyle wot is called Phil]

Well actually, ;)

[Tim Mitchell]

In article , Lobster writes

Fairy nuff... mine is 8 years old, things must have moved on since then.

[stuart noble]

They certainly have. My new Worcester boiler does a lot of buzzing and checking things before deciding to fire up for the tap water, by which time I've usually decided to wash my hands in cold.