Washing machine won’t fill with water

This help article is for when a washing machine works OK on spin but will not take in water so it won’t wash or rinse. If you’ve come to this article because your washer isn’t filling with water – but it won’t do anything else either – you need this article – Won’t Start.

A common cause of a washing machine not taking any water in is either a kinked fill hose, or the tap becoming faulty whereby you switch it on but the valve inside doesn't turn. Another common cause is the tap getting accidentally switched off and people not realising. Other causes can be wiring faults, water valve faults, PCBs or pressure system faults.

Stuck on draining the water

If the washing machine starts its cycle by energising the pump (this is normal), but then the pump just continuously runs and no water is taken in then you might have a different fault. This article troubleshoots why a washing machine might not take in water when it is trying to. However, if it sticks on the short drain section something else is wrong. The machine should stop the pump before filling with water. Therefore if the pump doesn’t stop, the fault is not that it can’t take in water. It is sticking on that drain section.

No fill error codes

Most washing machines are now controlled by software programmes and produce error codes if they don’t detect the right amount of water has been taken in within a set amount of time. So you may be reading this because an error code indicated a filling fault. If so just try to work out why from the advice here.

Only fills on rinse cycle or specific point in wash cycle

This is unlikely on a cold fill only washing machine because it would be fitted with just one water valve, which should either work – or not. But if it was a hot and cold fill machine (rare these days) then if one of the valves or the water supply to one of the hoses failed you would get the situation where water would go into the machine only on specific parts of the wash cycle. If this is the case though, fault finding is the same as described below other than there would be two valves, hoses, taps etc to check.

Washing machine making a humming noise when trying to fill?

If the washing machine wont take in any water at all, plus you can hear a humming noise (not normally present), check that both your taps are turned on, or that the water supply hasn’t been cut off in some way. A gentle humming from the back of the washing machine could be the water valves being energised and trying to take water in. This humming noise will normally be obscured by the sound of water rushing in. Don’t confuse any noise with the water pump which may also be humming as they are usually energised when the cycle first starts. This noise may also normally be partially masked by the sound of water rushing in. Before deciding the valves are humming but not letting water in make sure it’s definitely the valves humming.

The first thing to check is that water is available to the washing machine –

1. Carefully pull the washing machine out (What's the best way to pull a washing machine out?)
2. Turn off the tap(s) supplying the washing machine
3. Unscrew the fill hose(s) from the water valve. Have a bucket or bowl and towel ready as there may be a spurt of water at first due to the pressure in the hose. If you get a spray of water coming out that lasts longer than a second or so the tap may not be actually turned off properly, or faulty.
4. Hold the hose over a bowl or bucket and switch the tap back on to see if there is a decent supply of water coming through the hose

No water coming through the hose?

If no water comes through the hose, or the flow is very slow, then the fault is in the plumbing or there could be a kink somewhere in the hose. If your machine was plumbed in using those self plumbing taps that clamp on to the copper water pipes then they do sometimes get clogged up and need the hole clearing. If this happens to the cold supply it can be achieved by turning the stop tap off first, but if the hot supply is blocked – which is the most likely of the two – then you have to turn off the cold supply and then drain the hot water tank by turning on the hot tap until the water is drained out (unless you know where the valve is to turn the hot water off in your water cylinder).

If your machine is plumbed in using the ubiquitous blue (and red) levers to turn the tap on and off they can commonly go faulty where you think you've switched it off or on but only the plastic lever has moved and it hasn't actually operated the valve inside the tap. This is typically caused when the red or blue plastic lever cracks. You can usually unscrew the lever and operate the tap using pliers.

If there is an adequate water supply available

If water comes through the fill hose at a decent flow rate then next check the filter in the water valve on the washing machine. You can pull it out with a pair of pliers and clean it. However, this will only explain the fault if it is severely blocked up, which is rare. The picture on the left shows a water valve, which could do with cleaning, but is in no way blocked enough to cause any issues. Be careful not to damage the filter with the pliers as they are often delicate and brittle. The pic shows an old Hoover water valve which has a metal filter but the majority of filters now are made of very thin and brittle plastic. If you create a hole in one – even a small hole – it can let grit and dirt through into the water valve and prevent it shutting off properly resulting in possible flooding in the future. Don’t use narrow-nosed pliers, use flat pliers and be gentle with it.

If there is a good water supply and the valve filter isn’t blocked..

The next suspect is a faulty water valve (or solenoid), or maybe a faulty connection. Water valves can have a live supply to them even when not operating so never work on a washing machine when it’s connected to the electricity! The picture on the left shows a typical set of water valves. Again, it’s from a hot and cold fill machine so there are 3, one for hot, cold and fabric conditioner. The solenoids can be tested with a continuity test meter though they have quite a high resistance. If completely open circuit clearly that’s the fault, all valves should have the same reading so you may be able to compare if more than one valve is fitted. If they test out ok, and you can’t see any faulty connections then we’ve tested as far as we can for this article and it’s best to get an engineer in. The only other line of enquiry could be a fault on the pressure system but this could be difficult to diagnose. Read this article for help on how washing machines control water levels

If water runs into the machine but never fills up in the drum

If you can see or hear water running into the machine but the water level never rises inside the drum it could be siphoning straight out down the drain. Check this article – fills and drains at same time

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