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The riddle of the water-logged apartment!

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  • 12-10-2009 12:11am
    #1
    spida
    Registered Users Posts: 74 ✭✭


    On arriving home from holidays last Sunday evening, my girlfriend and I smelt an odd smell in the corridor. On pushing in the apartment door, we realised we'd had a leak and the wooden floor had bowed terribly in the hall. Squeching our way into the living-room we found that there was water under the floors in a large circle affecting all rooms, roughly centred on the kitchen.

    After the initial shock and despair we did a little looking around to find the washing machine, which had been left switched off and with the door open, still switched off but with the drum full of water just up to the level of the bottom of the open door. We immediately drained the machine and called a plumber.

    The plumber checked all the connections in the house and deemed them all safe. He then checked the filter on the machine and found it quite full but obviously not blocked as we had just drained the machine with no difficulty.

    There was no water running and no on-going leak anywhere. Also the water had made a 'wet patch' in a circle that touched all rooms but its progress had obviously stopped.

    The plumber, at a loss to explain what had gone wrong laid his best guess on a fault with the machine's intake valve. We had Mastercare check this the following day and it was fine. The machine has worked away on bails of our holiday washing ever since. The plumber also said he felt the smell pointed at dirty (while not foul) water.

    Though all now seems fine, the lack of any answer combined with the big financial outlay of the repair job means we cannot rest easy. Please help us end the riddle.

    With thanks in advance.
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    #2
    Joey the lips
    Registered Users Posts: 10,262 ✭✭✭✭Joey the lips


    Never heard of such a thing. Is there a chance someone had your key to keep an eye on the apt. I not saying they must have but looking at options is there a chance the initial cause was rectified eg. There was something caught in the washing machine door when it filled or the power went with the washing machine on then the door was opened to let all the water out.

    Another possibility is do you have a dryer? Sometimes the fluff filter accumlates water if not cleaned out. But i cant see it accumlating this much water.


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    #3
    slavetothegrind
    Registered Users Posts: 2,789 ✭✭✭slavetothegrind


    Those w/machine valves can and do fail open, and did in your case.
    You were away for an extended period allowing the drum to fill and spill.
    Now you are back the machine gets used a lot and you don't notice that the valve is passing a little?

    Also a bit of dirt could have temporarily caused the malfunction in the valve and washed through it subsequently.

    You can get water sensors which could be fitted on your floor at these appliances and upon detection of water closes a valve on your water supply and emits an audible alarm.

    Close yer door next time and even if it does fill it will go out the drain once the level reaches that of the drain hose at the back.

    You were very unfortunate :(


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    #4
    spida
    Registered Users Posts: 74 ✭✭spida


    Joey the lips wrote: »
    Is there a chance someone had your key to keep an eye on the apt.
    I only wish we had a close relative or life-long friend we could fall out with bitterly over this, at least the questions would be answered. Unfortunately both keys were on the holiday!
    slavetothegrind wrote: »
    Those w/machine valves can and do fail open, and did in your case.
    You were away for an extended period allowing the drum to fill and spill.
    Now you are back the machine gets used a lot and you don't notice that the valve is passing a little?
    The guy we had out to check the machine took out the valve and said that there was not a drop (showing it to us). He said it would explain a lot if the end was even wet but that this valve was definitely fine.
    slavetothegrind wrote: »
    Also a bit of dirt could have temporarily caused the malfunction in the valve and washed through it subsequently.
    This is plausible, the only thing is though, that the plumber was sure from the odour that it was dirty water and when we came home, the water in the drum did look like it had a layer of scum on it as though it had contained washing powder or other impurities.

    I hope it is not this as it will never be provable which would mean no peace of mind! Thanks for your thoughts though.


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    #5
    bertie1
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 509 ✭✭✭bertie1


    Sometimes the water in take solenoid valve does not close properly , this happened to me when I got up one the morning the place was flooded


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    #6
    delly
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 7,652 Mod ✭✭✭✭delly


    I got a brand new washing machine a while back and I let the first empty wash run while heading to bed. At about 12:30 I heard it spinning so knew it was near finished and didn't think anything of it. I went into to check the baby at 1am just before I went to sleep and was surprised to hear the washing machine in the kitchen below still draining. I went downstairs to find the machine filling and draining at the same time while the drum was near full of water. I nearly fainted with the possibility that the machine could have had 7 hours of overfilling.

    I got the machine checked out and the engineer couldn't find a problem although he replaced the inlet mechanism just to be sure. It has run fine since but i'm always aware not to run it while out of the house, just in case. One thing the engineer did say however is that there is a very sensitive sensor which detects when there is water pressure. If your pressure is too high then it could damage it and it might not function properly. My pressure is quite high so he turned down the inlet pipe to half which left plenty of water pressure for the machine to use, but just took the edge off it.


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    #7
    ART6
    Registered Users Posts: 2,632 ✭✭✭ART6


    If the spilled water smelled then it might be worth checking the rubber outlet pipe where it hooks into the plastic drain pipe. Its bend should be at a level near to the top of the washing machine, and it should not be a tight fit in the drain pipe otherwise you could possibly get a syphoning effect drawing water back from the dain and into the machine, particularly if the drain pipe is common for other properties.


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    #8
    jhegarty
    Registered Users Posts: 6,434 ✭✭✭jhegarty


    ART6 wrote: »
    If the spilled water smelled then it might be worth checking the rubber outlet pipe where it hooks into the plastic drain pipe. Its bend should be at a level near to the top of the washing machine, and it should not be a tight fit in the drain pipe otherwise you could possibly get a syphoning effect drawing water back from the dain and into the machine, particularly if the drain pipe is common for other properties.

    Sounds like that to me too.

    Without that piece of rubber in the on the connection any backwash up the drain (from a downpour) would was into the machine , and onto your floor.

    Moral of the story , always keep your washing machine closed when not in use.


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    #9
    knighted_1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 870 ✭✭✭knighted_1


    Joey the lips wrote: »
    Never heard of such a thing. Is there a chance someone had your key to keep an eye on the apt. I not saying they must have but looking at options is there a chance the initial cause was rectified eg. There was something caught in the washing machine door when it filled or the power went with the washing machine on then the door was opened to let all the water out.

    Another possibility is do you have a dryer? Sometimes the fluff filter accumlates water if not cleaned out. But i cant see it accumlating this much water.

    amazes me the bad advice given out here -i have come across this problem many times in apartments ,its quite common ,especially round dublin city ,i will pm the op what happened and the inexpensive fix to ensure it doesnt happen again


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    #10
    GalwayKiefer
    Registered Users Posts: 1,005 ✭✭✭GalwayKiefer


    knighted_1 wrote: »
    i will pm the op what happened and the inexpensive fix to ensure it doesnt happen again

    Could you post it here instead so that everyone can learn something new?


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    #11
    Joey the lips
    Registered Users Posts: 10,262 ✭✭✭✭Joey the lips


    knighted_1 wrote: »
    amazes me the bad advice given out here -i have come across this problem many times in apartments ,its quite common ,especially round dublin city ,i will pm the op what happened and the inexpensive fix to ensure it doesnt happen again

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054942646

    I wish to refer you to the 3rd paragraph and say that even your advice might even be incorrect. Most times I attach a cavet to advice i give and all i do is in good faith. You would have served us all far better by doing as advised below.

    again thank you for pointing out my faults but I am human.
    GalKiefer wrote: »
    Could you post it here instead so that everyone can learn something new?


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    #12
    spida
    Registered Users Posts: 74 ✭✭spida


    knighted_1 wrote: »
    amazes me the bad advice given out here -i have come across this problem many times in apartments ,its quite common ,especially round dublin city ,i will pm the op what happened and the inexpensive fix to ensure it doesnt happen again

    I await your PM with bated breath.


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