Pages

Washing machine letting water in slowly

Appliance Repairs in Port Elizabeth 083 52 52 52 2

Solenoid inlet Valves

Solenoid valves control the water intake of a washing machine and if it takes a longer time to fill the Washing machine with water, the fault is at the solenoid valve.
Lg Washing Machine Hot and Cold Solenoid valves
The valve opens and closes by means of an electric current that gets turned on/off by the Timer (programmer) of the washing machine. 

Common Problems
  • -      Water runs slowly into the washing machine drum 
  • -      No water is entering the washing Machine
  • -      The washing machine programmer stops halfway through the wash program

Most Washing machines has two solenoid valves 

  • one for the cold water inlet and one for the hot water inlet 
  • some washing machines has three solenoid valves – the third valve is for fabric softener intake
  • when your machine only have one cold water solenoid valve, then it means that your washer unit have heater element build-in. The element could also be a reason why the washing machine takes a long time to complete a washing cycle but I will cover that in another post.
Hoover Triple Solenoid Valve - Leaking


Common preventable Mistakes

1.  Tap is closed
This is by far the most popular mistake. Somebody has turned the mains off or open the water-feed tap halfway. When the water tap is not fully opened and the water runs slowly into the washing machine it takes a long time for the washing machine to complete a washing cycle.
2.  Inlet hose is Kink
This happens when you push the machine back and the hose gets twisted or bend. Its mostly with the hot water inlet hose that it works fine then over a period of time, then heat from the hot water makes the pipe soft - kinks and stops the water flowing freely  
Make sure the bend-end hose connection is attached to the washing machine solenoid.

3.  Solenoid valve filter is dirty
Where? – Inside the solenoid-valve is a small mesh-filter that prevents small particles and debris from entering the solenoid valve. The filler get blogged over time, especially in a area where there is a lot of development happening or when your area’s water supply pipes are old. 

Unscrew the water hose at the washing machine solenoid, use a long nose pliers to pull the mash filler out of the solenoid housing. Wash and rinse the mash-filter under running tap water. 

When none of the above mentioned mistakes are present then you have to open the washing machine, use your multitester and do continuity test across the poles of the valve solenoid. A good test should give you a .38 ohms reading across. If there is no reading just replace it


If you need to do an emergency repair before you can get to me, just wedge out the solenoid coil and change it over with the fabric softener solenoid valve coil. This is not the right way but it will buy you time.

Hope your repair project is successful, if not just shoot over to facebook and ask me for more help or advice.