Running A Washing Machine Without Water
By mistake I turned on the washing machine without turning on the water valves. It ran for about 10 minutes. Maybe longer. I do not recall what cycle it reached.
Is there likely damage? Should I call a technician before running it again?
Solution Summary
AI-generated from this discussion
This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.
Washing machine started with water valves turned off
- The problem
- The washing machine was accidentally switched on with the water supply valves turned off and left for about 10 minutes. The concern was whether this would cause damage or whether it should be checked before being used again.
- Likely cause
- Most strongly supported diagnosis is that no damage is likely from a short run without water. The accepted reply states the machine cannot do much without filling, though inlet valves could overheat if left humming for too long; 10 minutes was considered likely to be tolerated.
- What fixed it
- Turn the water taps back on and try the machine as normal. If it does not then work properly, arrange further diagnosis by a suitably qualified appliance engineer. No specific repair was confirmed as necessary.
- Checks to try
- Water supply valves/taps were off
- Machine had been left running for about 10 minutes without water
- Accepted advice was to run the washer normally again once the taps were turned back on
- Parts or tools mentioned
- Water supply valves/taps
- Inlet valves
- Pressure switch
2 Answers
As edd says, if there is no water the washer can't do anything unless it's a hot and cold fill machine and only the cold water was off in which case it would run until the rinses then fail. Valves could burn out if left humming too long but should survive 10 mins. Just turn the taps back on and wash as normal, call an engineer if it doesn't work properly.
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
No damage will occur. I'd be surprised if the first cycle started because a pressure switch tells the machine it has sufficient water to continue.
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