How A Hot & Cold Feed Washing Machine Works

[securespark]

I have one of these and have just replaced some leaking hoses. Whoever installed it switched off the hot.

I have turned it on, expecting the water coming in to the drawer to be warm, but it is cold. When I shut the cold supply and leave the HW open, the water filling the drawer stops.

Is the machine using any HW at all?

As HW is cheaper heated by gas (as it is coming into the machine), rather than electricity (as the cold water coming into the machine would be by the WM element), how do I get my machine to use the HW supply?

Can I (in theory at least) use the HW to fill the machine?

 

[big-all]

it will depend on the cycle as in a 95degree will hot fill only
around 60 degree will be mixed fill
colder washes will be cold fill only
so try starting on the hottest setting then reset/restart on the wash you need

 

[EFLImpudence]

Hot water heating is cheaper by gas but the hot pipes will be full of cold water until the hot gets there, by which time the machine may have switched it off.
Depends on your house and pipe routes of course.

 

[securespark]

big all

Thank you!

I am using a 40 degree cycle.

EFLI, cheers, I did think that may be the case.

As I do a huge amount of washing every week (three muddy boys) I wondered if I could reduce the bill by fitting the HW to the cold inlet...

Or would it be too hot then?

 

[JohnD]

I have a H&C fill washer. On mine it takes in HW on the hotter washes, but not on the cool washes, in case the incoming HW might be too hot for the delicate fabrics. Rinses are all in cold.

You might find that the electric water valves have several wires on spade connectors. It is possible that the installer moved the "hot fill" wire onto the "cold fill" valve.

It's also possible you HW valve has jammed or otherwise failed. I believe they are a sort of Equilibrium valve so the solenoid can be quite small. Replacement valves are fairly easy, the Bosch/Siemens one might be slightly different an incompatible.

It is said that modern machines use so little water that by the time the combi (ugh!) has fired up and hot water run through the pipes, there is not much advantage.

edit:
Mine uses hot fill for 60C cotton wash, and possibly for 40C cotton, not sure. The hot fill keeps the soap drawer clean.

 

[securespark]

What if you swapped H & C round on the WM inlets?

In the same way that it would take a mixed fill on a 60° wash (assuming hoses connected correctly), would it work the same way on a 40° wash if you reversed the hoses?

Please tell me if I'm crazy!!

It is possible that the installer moved the "hot fill" wire onto the "cold fill" valve.

Mine has not been altered in that way.

 

[EFLImpudence]

I wouldn't swap the water feeds around.

It is like using a kettle - you may just as well fill it with cold as, like above (and ignoring the taste), by the time the hot water has got there, you have wasted a lot of gas and leave hot water in the pipes to just go cold again until next time.

 

[EFLImpudence]

In view of this, it is probably just as well to leave the hot turned off like modern machines which don't have a hot connection.

 

[Bosswhite]

What if you swapped H & C round on the WM inlets?

In the same way that it would take a mixed fill on a 60° wash (assuming hoses connected correctly), would it work the same way on a 40° wash if you reversed the hoses?

Please tell me if I'm crazy!!

Many years ago I got called to find out why when the person used their washing machine on woolen cycle the items shrunk to the size that they would fit dolls.

It turned out who ever plumbed the Machine in reversed the Hot and Cold feeds so by the time the cold had brought the temperature down to its right level all woolens had shrunk.

 

[empip]

We had hot /cold feed - previous Wash Machine.
Hot feed was off the Kitchen sink supply, therefore one could run the sink hot tap until hot, then sw on WM, safe in knowledge that hot was almost instantly available. Was never that convinced on savings.

Current MC 7 y/o, cold feed only, for 60 or 90°C wash, initial fill with 4 washing up bowls hot water from tap (2.95 Litres / bowl, liquid detergent mixed in ) this fills drum to near lower edge of porthole, feed clothing in - start wash cycle.
30°C wash using 2 bowls of hot 57° + 2 bowls cold 8° from taps, total cycle time 47 mins. Bowl 2.95 Litres = 6 L hot. Total power usage 0.11kWh
90°C wash using 4 bowls of hot 57° from tap, 83 mins. Bowl @2.95 Litres x 4 = 11.8 L hot. Total Power usage 1.13kWh
Some cold fill at 8°C occurred during both wash cycles.

Largest gain was in total wash time.
This type of test is where a Plug In Power Meter Energy Monitor becomes useful. Surprisingly the wash machine is pretty low on energy usage given its usefullness.

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