Washing machine draining only during shorter programs.. What could cause this?
Hi all,
I am not really trying to fix this issue, but just to understand better what possible causes there could be for it!
A few weeks ago, our Zanussi washing machine stopped draining the water. It always went through the cycle normally, but some of the water stayed in. However, this could be solved by choosing the separate drain program after the cycle was over- this drained the remaining water.
Since then, after every wash less and less water stayed in, till the point that now during the shorter/smaller cycles no water remains. However, after some longer washes, some of the water still needs to be drained separately afterwards.
So basically, when this issue first occurred, I was the one doing the laundry. My landlord suspects that I had accidentally put something (coins, whatever) in with my laundry and that's what has blocked the drain pump (or something..). He is asking me to pay for half of a new washing machine, and I suppose fair enough, if it really is certain that I was the one who caused it.
However, I am just confused how, first of all, the separate drain program has all through this issue been able to drain the water. And now, the water gets drained even during some of the cycles. If there really is something blocking it, would this be possible?
My landlord thinks that this is because the longer programs use more water, and not all of it is able to get past the blockage. Which sounds kind of logical to me I guess, but I just have no idea how these things actually work. He was also able to see (or feel, by using some sort of a stick) that the pump doesn't spin properly.
Apologies, my technical details regarding the issue are pretty vague, but as I mentioned I'm not looking to fix this- but hopefully someone would be able to shed even a bit of light on this, so that I'd know whether there is any point in trying to argue with my landlord about this or if I should just accept that most likely it was me who caused this.
Thank you!
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.
Zanussi washing machine intermittently not fully draining on longer programmes
- The problem
- A Zanussi washing machine was leaving some water after normal wash cycles. A separate drain programme would clear the remaining water, and over time the issue became less frequent, with shorter cycles draining fully but some longer cycles still leaving water behind.
- Likely cause
- The accepted explanation was a partial blockage in the drain hose or pump filter, causing intermittent restriction to water flow. A small item such as a coin or button in the drain hose was suggested as a possible cause. The comment that the pump did not spin properly was not treated as reliable evidence, as pump impellers can feel springy and do not spin freely in the way some people expect.
- What fixed it
- Check the pump filter first, as this should be easy to inspect. If nothing is found there, the most strongly supported diagnosis is a partial obstruction in the drain hose. The exact repair carried out was not confirmed in the discussion.
- Checks to try
- Separate drain programme was able to drain the remaining water
- Problem reduced over time and was mainly present on longer programmes
- Pump filter should be checked
- Pump impeller feel was discussed, with note that some resistance can be normal
- Parts or tools mentioned
- Drain hose
- Pump filter
- Pump impeller
Safety: Further diagnosis should be carried out by a suitably qualified appliance engineer.
1 Answer
A partial blockage in the drain hose, or the pump filter could cause symptoms like that. It should be very easy to check the pump filter though so I presume it's already been done? If nothing is found in the filter then something like a small coin or button can get stuck inside the drain hose and swing around so that how much it blocks water flow can vary and be intermittent.
Other than that this section explains how you can get problems draining the water even though no blockage can be found
The pump impellors are usually springy and don;t spin how you would expect them to. They have a little resistance then move round and you get a little resistance again.
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