All washing machines should use standard sizes and fittings. But there are variances in design across different manufacturers and a few potential problems as discussed in this article.
You will always get new fill hoses with a new washing machine. If it isn’t too much trouble, it makes sense to use the new hoses if possible unless you are happy that the existing hoses are still in excellent condition.
Fill Hoses
The main potential problem with fill hoses supplied with a new washing machine is that due to cost cutting they might be shorter and not reach your taps. If so, you may be forced to use the old ones, which are hopefully still in good condition. If not you could try buying extra long fill hoses washing machine fill hoses (standard hoses are 1.5 metres and extra long hoses are usually 2.5 metres).
Some washing machines may come with anti flood fill hoses, which have built in flood protection. They have the same end fittings but are otherwise completely different to normal hoses in that they are large, bulky and made of corrugated plastic similar to that of the drain hose with a large fitting at the tap end.
They can be difficult to fit in some circumstances. For full details about this type of hose and whether you need to use it or not read this article – Aqua Stop Hoses
Some hoses supplied with a new washing machine may have filters built into the ends, whereas your previous ones may not. If so you should use the new ones because the manufacturer has designed the washing machine to require these extra filters.
Drain hoses
The drain hose on a new washing machine should be extremely similar to your old machine’s but it may well be shorter causing problems for some. Cost cutting has resulted in shorter fill hoses, drain hoses and even mains cable. If the new drain hose is too short it is not so simple to use the old one like you can with the fill hoses because it needs connecting to the water pump. This is possible to do, but just too involved for most people.
You can extend a drain hose using a universal drain hose extension kit. You may need to cut down the old one a little to make sure it doesn’t end up much too long but great care must be taken to ensure you don’t have any leaks from the connection afterwards.
Keep a close eye on it until you can trust it’s not going to leak and make sure it’s a good tight fit, if it came disconnected you would get quite a massive flood.
The final potential issue is that you will most likely only get one. This is because they are virtually all cold fill only these days. If your old washer was hot and cold fill and you therefore have two taps and hoses this will raise some questions such as what do you do with the now unused hot water hose and tap? And can you still somehow use the hot water – maybe by connecting it to the washer instead of using cold? All these issues and more are answered here –
Brenda says
Following house move, the fitting on the end of the washing machine pipe will not to connect to the washing machine cold water supply fitting. Can you help please?
Andy Trigg (Whitegoodshelp) says
Hello Brenda. The fitting on the end of the fill hose is universal, it should fit any plumbing anywhere in the UK. In what way does it not fit?
Ben says
Is the cold always on the left and the hot always on the right on the wall behind the washer?
Andy Trigg (Whitegoodshelp) says
Hello Ben. They vary. The plumber should fit the correct colour (either blue or red) to the tap to indicate cold or hot but even they can’t be relied on. I’ve seen hot supplies with the blue cold indicator and visa versa. The only way to be sure is to try and trace back the pipework to see if it it is connected to a hot or cold pipe or to connect a hose and run the tap to see if it runs hot or cold.
Emmanuel says
I’m glad I came aross this. It’s sad that we are in the times of cost-cutting. I’ve noticed in the past few years that Hoover-Candy and Indesit-Hotpoint washing machines seem to have an extremely thin outlet pipe. Not thick and chunky like they used to be. I think Electrolux AEG Zanussi still have fairly thick outlet pipes but that was only from a quick observation. I recently bought a Hotpoint Smart WMFUG942 and was concerned that the thin outlet pipe might cause issues with connecting up but it’s been just fine. I’m not sure about the length and it seems to have quite a reasonably long outlet pipe but I noticed that the Hoover-Candy machines not only have a thin outlet pipe but they seem rather short too and I would not have been able to connect one of those up in my kitchen.
tracy says
My pipes to connect my washer are thinner than the outlet hose from the washer. Help!
Andy Trigg (Whitegoodshelp) says
Many fill hoses are very thin these days Tracy. They should still work ok.
Samantha says
Hi, I’m due a new washing machine tuesday and with my last 2 machines I had to have the waste hose connector cut off as the sink pipe connection was too small, and then the hose was taped in place. I don’t really want to do this with my new machine as am due to move at the end of the year. Should the sink pipe be ready to have a waste hose connected without fuss? Thanks in advance
Andy Trigg (Whitegoodshelp) says
Hello Samantha, the end of the drain hose often has a rubber part at the end that fits nice and tight over the sink u-bend connector although I recommend this is secured in place with a cable tie or jubilee clip. Most people connect the drain hose to the u-bend now so drain hoses should be designed to accommodate that. Maybe your u-bend connector is different to normal? They should have a connector that is about 2 or 3 inches long, and tapered so it gets thinner towards the end with ridges on it so that pipes can be pushed firmly onto it.
Samantha says
I have just remembered…This all was as you described except the end of the drain hose was too large in diameter to fit the ubend so it was cut off in order for the bendy part of the waste pipe to be taped snugly in place. This was the same for both waste pipes on both machines and both used taped. I regularly checked for leaks, I’ve been in this house for 4 years and no leaks ever (phew) just I really don’t want to cut anything and be checking all the time for something landlord needs to upgrade and then when I move not be able to connect my machine up. I hope this makes sense. I could also take pics of new machine hose and ubend should I come across the same problem tomorrow?