Washer-dryer: "anti-flooding system"

[Adam Funk]

The washer-dryer stopped working this morning & displayed an error
code for which the manual says, "Anti-flooding system has
activated. Disconnect the appliance and contact the service centre."

There's no sign of water leakage anywhere; the towels had gone through
the filling & heating-up stages, but not been fully washed. The
machine is still under warranty, but I'm curious as to how an
"anti-flooding system" works, & whether the technician is just going
to press a secret "reset" button tomorrow.

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <82eoj9x...@news.ducksburg.com>,

I've seen two technologies referred to as flood prevention:

A large tray across the bottom of the system with a float in the
middle, which catches any leaks, and the float triggers an
emergency shutdown, which abandons the cycle and pumps out the
water. Reset in this case consists of draining the water out of
the tray using sponges or tipping the machine, so the float drops
back to normal position. (Don't tip the machine to empty the tray
unless you are sure you aren't tipping the water into something
electrical.) If the machine is left unused for some time after
leaking, the tray can dry up by itself, but crud left behind if
the water was dirty can prevent the float dropping down by itself.

Logic which detects water level dropping unexpectedly, or which
detects the machine taking too long to fill. No reset required
in this case - just restart the machine.

I expect there's a variety of different systems in different
manufacturers' machines.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

[Harry Bloomfield]

Andrew Gabriel was thinking very hard :

> Logic which detects water level dropping unexpectedly, or which
> detects the machine taking too long to fill. No reset required
> in this case - just restart the machine.

Which might be due to low water pressure.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <mn.0b657dca12...@nospam.tiscali.co.uk>,

Harry Bloomfield <harry...@NOSPAM.tiscali.co.uk> writes:
> Andrew Gabriel was thinking very hard :
>> Logic which detects water level dropping unexpectedly, or which
>> detects the machine taking too long to fill. No reset required
>> in this case - just restart the machine.
>
> Which might be due to low water pressure.

Which is one reason why machines specify a minimum pressure
(another being that the electric water valves used in
them require a minimum pressure to reliably shut off).

[John Rumm]

One of the Miele ones has a hose within a hose and an electrically
operated stop valve at the tap end of the hose. So if the hose springs a
leak it is contained, and also triggers the shut off valve.


--
Cheers,

John.

/=================================================================\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\=================================================================/

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <hqmdnXOLRIxJXvTN...@brightview.co.uk>,

John Rumm <see.my.s...@nowhere.null> writes:
> One of the Miele ones has a hose within a hose and an electrically
> operated stop valve at the tap end of the hose. So if the hose springs a
> leak it is contained, and also triggers the shut off valve.

That seems to be quite common. Seem some Whirlpools like this too,
and if something leaks into the outer hose, it runs back into the
bottom flood tray, triggering the float.

[Andy Champ]

On 01/10/2012 14:16, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

> A large tray across the bottom of the system with a float in the
> middle, which catches any leaks, and the float triggers an
> emergency shutdown

Our dishwasher did this for a pinprick leak. Annoyingly I couldn't fix
the damn leak on a polythene thingy (1), and had to buy a new bit. Of
course I can say that here, as the unreasonably expensive bit was less
than half a call out charge :)

Andy

(1) Anyone know a glue that will stick to polythene in the presence of
hot dishwasher detergent? If you do, please don't tell me...

[SteveW]

On 01/10/2012 14:16, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

One which I have seen on a dishwasher is a microswitch held closed by a
sponge. If the sponge gets wet it softens and allows the switch to open.
In this case, the sponge had gradually deformed under the pressure of
the microswitch over the years. Simply reversing the sponge solved the
problem for the rest of the life of the dishwasher.

SteveW

[fred]

In article <pc2dneQ1eoSyYPTN...@eclipse.net.uk>, Andy Champ
<no....@nospam.invalid> writes

>On 01/10/2012 14:16, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
>> A large tray across the bottom of the system with a float in the
>> middle, which catches any leaks, and the float triggers an
>> emergency shutdown
>
>Our dishwasher did this for a pinprick leak. Annoyingly I couldn't fix
>the damn leak on a polythene thingy (1), and had to buy a new bit. Of
>course I can say that here, as the unreasonably expensive bit was less
>than half a call out charge :)
>

Rigid plastic structure? Drill through the pinhole and seal with a
rubber washer under the head of a setscrew inside, washer & nut outside.
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

[Adam Funk]

On 2012-10-01, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

> In article <82eoj9x...@news.ducksburg.com>,
> Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> writes:
>> The washer-dryer stopped working this morning & displayed an error
>> code for which the manual says, "Anti-flooding system has
>> activated. Disconnect the appliance and contact the service centre."
>>
>> There's no sign of water leakage anywhere; the towels had gone through
>> the filling & heating-up stages, but not been fully washed. The
>> machine is still under warranty, but I'm curious as to how an
>> "anti-flooding system" works, & whether the technician is just going
>> to press a secret "reset" button tomorrow.
>
> I've seen two technologies referred to as flood prevention:
>
> A large tray across the bottom of the system with a float in the
> middle, which catches any leaks, and the float triggers an
> emergency shutdown, which abandons the cycle and pumps out the
> water. Reset in this case consists of draining the water out of
> the tray using sponges or tipping the machine, so the float drops
> back to normal position. (Don't tip the machine to empty the tray
> unless you are sure you aren't tipping the water into something
> electrical.) If the machine is left unused for some time after
> leaking, the tray can dry up by itself, but crud left behind if
> the water was dirty can prevent the float dropping down by itself.

That's the one. The technician found enough water in the bottom to
trip the float, but couldn't make it leak. (There are some secret
ctrl-alt-F1-type combinations that do diagnostic things like spin as
fast as possible with water running in.) He thinks I put too much
detergent in on the 95° cycle & filled the drum with foam so the rinse
water overflowed from the inlet.

[Andy Champ]

On 01/10/2012 23:41, fred wrote:
> Rigid plastic structure? Drill through the pinhole and seal with a
> rubber washer under the head of a setscrew inside, washer & nut outside.

Concertina pipe.

Andy

[fred]

In article <H5WdnS_y2YqBovbN...@eclipse.net.uk>, Andy Champ
<no....@nospam.invalid> writes

Not a chance then, nothing will stick to something that slippery and
flexible so replacement really was your only choice.