Water interruption = dishwasher malfunction

rgande · 11 August 2014 at 12:58PM

Following an water interruption advised by Anglian Water to last until 12:00am I set my dishwasher etc to come on after this time. At 7:50 I emptied the washing machine, all fine, the dishes not clean. The water was back on slightly, pressure still low. I waited until the pressure had resumed later that day and tried putting the dishwasher on again, no luck and it sounded 'laboured.'
I have spent money calling out a dishwasher engineer who has said the water interruption has caused the dishwasher pump to malfunction. The cost £150+labour+VAT.
Basically my question is can I claim for repairs to be paid for by Anglian Water? The dishwasher was functioning before the water interruption and I only put on the machines following the message that said the interruption would last until 12:00am, which it didn't, resulting in damage to my machine.
I would like to ask them for them to pay for the repair, or put to a new machine. Where do I stand legally?
Hopefully someone can advise me. Thank you.

OlliesDad · 11 August 2014 at 1:18PM

I would say that you were not entitled to a remedy from Anglian water. It would have been sensible to ensure the water was on prior to the machine being put on.

I would ask questions over whether the machine should have such issues due to being turned on without the water running. Surely there should be some sort of sensor for this? How old was the unit?

neilmcl · 11 August 2014 at 1:44PM

Common sense would dictate that these kind of deadlines for resumption of service aren't guaranteed and one should check first that the water was indeed on before using the machine. I very much doubt you will have a case against the water provider.

peachyprice · 11 August 2014 at 2:46PM

rgande wrote: »

the message that the interruption would last until 12:00am

Did it really say that? Or did is also say, 'expected to'?

Nilrem · 11 August 2014 at 3:54PM

An interruption to the water supply should not affect the pump, otherwise every time someone forgets to turn the water on before pressing start after moving/fitting the appliance it would kill the pump (yes water pumps usually shouldn't be run dry, but normally appliances don't use pumps to deal with incoming water).

The pump is normally only used to move water around in the appliance, and then out via the waste pipe, they normally use the incoming water pressure to fill to a certain level (usually controlled by some form of float valve as water pressure varies massively by time of day/location and appliances need it to reach a certain level to work so timers etc are out, and a float valve is cheap and reliable), and then once that level is reached the incoming water supply gets turned off, and the internal pump starts running to direct the water where it is needed.
If you ever listen to/watch dishwashers and washing machines you notice that they normally fill with water before anything else happens (for example a dishwasher sounds completely different when filling, compared to when the pump is running and moving water to the rotors).

Personally in this situation I would suggest checking out the float valve first before calling an engineer, as in some models of dishwasher and washing machine it can occasionally get stuck, IIRC with my one at home the suggested quick fix in such instances is to lift the back of the machine up an inch or two and let it drop (the shock frees the valve, but isn't enough to damage anything as it's within the level of shock expected during shipping/delivery).

Spank · 11 August 2014 at 6:22PM

I'd expect the filter to be blocked with all the silt that sits in the mains pipes which would of been kicked up when the water was put back on.

Horseunderwater · 11 August 2014 at 6:51PM

Our new Hoover DW has a reset button which we have to press & hold for 20 seconds to restore full function back to it. Ours is also start button. Might be that. Also turn off water inlet tap to off then back on. One or both may be answer here. Instruction book will have troubleshooting pages & if have lost them google make model trouble shooting. IMO engineers are often an expensive waste of tine. My OH has fitted thermal cut outs to our tumble drier Parts cost £15 & 3/4 hour of time to fit most of which was getting it out of gap in ut room. I fitted a new element in main fan oven. £27 that tine inc postage. So that's at least £300 we saved in call outs.