Is your washing machine no longer pumping water out? Has this happened after you’ve just plumbed it into a u-bend under the sink, or have moved house and connected it to the existing u-bend plumbing? If so this article is for you.
The most common causes are –
- The plumbing at the new house drains into a connection on the u-bend under the sink, and a blanking piece has been fitted which needs removing
- Some obstruction, that was already inside the washing machine somewhere has become dislodged and gone into the pump during transit
- A wire has come off the pump during transit or some other damage has occurred
Won’t drain after being plumbed in (especially at a new house)
The plumbing under the sink may have been made "safe": If the house is brand new and no washing machine has been installed before then the plastic connector that you connect the drain hose to should be blanked off. Otherwise any water running into the sink will flood into the cupboard below.
If the house has been lived in before it’s possible the people moving out made the connection safe by refitting the original blanking cap. There could be a rubber or plastic blanking cap inside.
To be fair that’s rare though as few people would think to save the part. The picture shows a typical drain hose connector on a u-bend. The drain hose pushes onto the tapered connector, which is screwed to the u-bend.
Unscrew this connector and check there is no blanking piece fitted either at the end of the tapered shaft, or at the point where the connector screws to the u-bend. Also check for obstructions inside this connector or at the aperture of the u-bend where it connects.
Sometimes a blanking piece needs removing and sometimes the tapered end of the connector needs cutting off.
Buy a new pump
If you need to buy a new pump try Ransom Spares which is a family run company with a price-match policy – Washing machine pumps
Pump has some obstruction, that was already inside …
Something like a bra wire, coin or even a nail or screw could have been laid in the bottom of the tub, or settled somewhere in the sump hose and become dislodged in the move finding its way into the pump and jamming it. Check the pump filter, or for obstructions jamming the impeller –
Other pump related links:
- Can’t find a blockage in filter or pump and pump still runs but still won’t pump out
- 5 things to watch out for after repairing or installing a washing machine
- Washing machine constantly fills with water and goes down the drain
- Transporting a washing machine tips
- Find an engineer to repair washing machine
Lucy says
Hi my question is largely based on this as last year we had a new kitchen fitted and a washing machine MOVED. It is now currently taped into the ubend and has fits where it either doesn’t rinse OR doesn’t spin well! Due to both things happening at the same time plus the fact the washing machine was a refurb newby to the house too I have no idea where to start to fix the issues cos the machine seems to have a mind of it’s own and can keep soap for 3 cycles on the run (if not double it) but has no rinse cycle (just spin) and only seems to behave on ‘cotton intensive (2 hours long) how do I go about troubleshooting this..please help we’re a family of 5, 3 children at school, 4 of us suffer with very dry skin and I can’t keep ‘washing’ every load 4 times to get rid of soap! It’s a Curry’s basics washing machine I think (no brand and for the first 2 weeks we had it it worked like a dream!!) Currently watching the end of a synthetics wash (3rd time lucky NOT) no soap since3 first wash and the drum is still full of soap (and yes it quite often doesn’t spin the water out either like I said broadly based question!) starting to wish I had a big pond w
ith lots of stones right now!
Lucy says
although I hope it will work a bit better after reading your blog and (ok I drowned the kitchen cos it was still in 3rd cycle) but a smiley face keyring was washed out too so I hope that’s fixed it! (for now…
Andy Trigg says
Hope so :)