find fault on washing machine?

If the Hoover Softwave Auto-washer 800 isn't draining then fixing it can be really easy- I just have, after spending hours trying to find info on the web.

There is no pump filter as such, but the pump is really accessible. Turn the machine off at the mains and unplug it. Get the end of the waste hose from the outflow under the sink and drain off into a bucket as much water as you can by lowering the end of the waste hose it to the ground (inside the bucket). After closing the blue and red valves off at the wall, disconnect the hot and cold inflow pipes.

Then tip the machine forwards onto a large cushion, so you can get at the underside.

The pump is near the right hand side at the back, and the black thick pipe going into it and the thinner grey waste pipe coming out of it are right there in front of you, with screw-tightened clips holding the hoses onto the pump.

All you need is an ordinary (non-philips) screwdriver to loosen the clips of both, take the hoses off and check for any objects stuck in the pipes- mine was a 5p piece that fell right out.

Then reconnect the hoses, tightly, tip the machine back the right way up, reconnect the hot/cold inflow pipes, reopen the red/blue inflow valves, replace the waste pipe in the outflow pipe, plug the machine back in and switch on.

If you found a foreign body, the machine will start right up- and bob's your uncle. Anybody could do this, even non-handy diy phobes.

If you don't find anything or it doesn't fix the problem, it may be that the pump has gone. But double check you have switched the machine back on at the mains, and reopened the hot/cold valves at the wall before despairing. It is easy to forget these in the excitement. Good Luck!!

Beefybov
April 2009