Advice re hot and cold fill washing machine

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stilernin
stilernin Posts: 1,217 Forumite
in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving
I am putting my old washing machine, Bosch WFF 1800, into the kitchen of a new (1896 terrace) house. It is a hot and cold fill machine.

The combi boiler is upstairs outside the bathroom and I have to run a bowlful of cold water in the kitchen before the hot comes through.

How does this effect the efficiency of the machine? I generally wash at 30 or 40 degrees but the cold water is flippin' cold.

Any suggestions please?

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  • stilernin
    stilernin Posts: 1,217 Forumite
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    Bump........
  • Mr_Meanie
    Mr_Meanie Posts: 297 Forumite
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    I understand nearly all new washing machines are now cold fill only because of this problem (as well as the fact they are cheaper to make).

    If you want to make it cold fill only use one of these Y connectors:
    http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=101168&ts=43900&id=15272
    I love my spell checker, it stops me making all sorts of stupid smelling mistakes. :doh:
  • stilernin
    stilernin Posts: 1,217 Forumite
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    Mr_Meanie wrote:
    I understand nearly all new washing machines are now cold fill only because of this problem (as well as the fact they are cheaper to make).

    If you want to make it cold fill only use one of these Y connectors:
    http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=101168&ts=43900&id=15272

    Thanks for that, I could probably fix one of those but do you think that the machine will cope with heating water from (very) cold? Mind you, considering the amount of cold water that precedes the hot, it would probably be heating all cold water anyway wouldn't it?

    Will this make a great difference to the length of time the washes take?

    Are newer machines more efficient at heating cold water in any way and if so would it be better to buy a new one? I'm thinking cost of using the old one versus a new one, factoring in the purchase cost, if you get my drift, 0r won't it make much difference?
  • Mr_Meanie
    Mr_Meanie Posts: 297 Forumite
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    I think you’ve really answered your own question here, the amount of hot water reaching your machine on a normal wash is minimal considering hot water is only used for the main fill, and all other fills are with cold water.
    Yes perhaps it would take a few more minutes to do the full wash but you won’t end up paying twice to heat your water, once to fill the copper pipes with hot water that you don’t use and once to heat the water in the machine that was mostly cold anyway.
    “Are newer machines more efficient at heating cold water”, I doubt it, I would guess they all have much the same size (wattage) heating element in.
    Why buy a new one if the old ones working? Use it until it stops then consider buying a new one.
    If it aint broke don’t fix it?
    I love my spell checker, it stops me making all sorts of stupid smelling mistakes. :doh:
  • Canucklehead
    Canucklehead Posts: 6,254 Forumite
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    Leave well alone .
    If you run the machine soon after you've used the kitchen sink then you'll have some hot or warm water going into the machine .It will heat the water internally to make up the difference . On cold fill only the heater will have to work longer the heat it up.
    C.G.
    Ask to see CIPHE (Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering)
  • stilernin
    stilernin Posts: 1,217 Forumite
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    Thanks everyone for your input. I have also chatted to a few washing machine sales people and they agreed that the Y piece was the way to go. One of them said that the machine doesn't take in hot water anyway unless you are doing a 60degree or over wash. Cooler washes are always begun cold.

    I managed to fit it myself and it isn't leaking (yet!!) so I have run the first 30degree wash. It didn't seem to take any longer than usual, so perhaps it did always fill with cold.

    Thanks again everyone, I've got a whole house to sort out but not today.........

    Merry Christmas to you and enjoy any time off work you have.
  • Avoriaz
    Avoriaz Posts: 39,110 Forumite
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    Read this thread.

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=316410

    Hot fill is a complete waste of time and money for most normal households.

    You have done the right thing by converting yours to cold fill only.

    The cold water has to be heated somewhere and the cost difference between gas and electricity is offset by the wasted heat in the pipes from the hot water boiler.
  • uncle_buck_3
    uncle_buck_3 Posts: 360 Forumite
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    What a lot of people don’t realise is that a Hot & Cold fill washing machine only takes in Hot water on wash cycles of 60 degrees or higher….so most of the time the machine is working as a Cold fill anyway!
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