The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Equipment => Topic started by: Fleecewife on January 10, 2014, 08:31:28 pm
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I'm sure I'm not the only one here not on the mains. We have an Indesit washing machine and that works fine on our low pressure well supply, but I can't find any dishwashers which would. It's something to do with the way the machines tell when there's enough water in - was by level I think but is now by time. Also if there's not enough pressure to close the valve then water will continue to trickle in and there will be a flood.
We don't have that much washing up but a small dishwasher (other than my OH haha) would be nice. Has anyone found a machine which will work reliably with a low pressure supply?
Our house is a single story cottage with the water tank in the attic, so it would not be easy to raise it to give more pressure - easier to carry on doing the dishes by hand.
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I never even thought of this when we renovated our cottage ??? - we had a normal cold fill dishwasher and washing machine with never any problem. And the well did occasionally run low in summer.
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Older machines seem to work fine, because they register when they have filled with water by the level it's reached, no matter how long it takes. whereas new machines allow a certain time to fill, and they will also cut out if that time has passed and there is insufficient water. I've not had a dishwasher before so would have to get one of the new type.
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A second hand one?
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A second hand one?
A last-ish resort.....just ahead of not having one :) I prefer new as I've had so many problems with second hand white goods in the past.
Does anyone with their own water supply have a dishwasher and if so do you have problems with it and what make is it?
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Does anyone with their own water supply have a dishwasher and if so do you have problems with it and what make is it?
I think ours was a Hotpoint, cold fill, never had any problems at all
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Hi,
We have our own water supply, and we have a dishwasher, ours is a hotpoint and the one before was a kenwood, both worked fine. This year we have had a problem with debris in the water, mainly just little bits of dead grass, but it clogs the filter up and almost stops water getting through, the dishwasher still worked, although it took forever to finish it's cycle.
Regards
Sue
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fW, I've asked OH as he installs kitchens and laundries. He suggests if the water pressure is low fit a small booster pump to the pipe filling the dishwasher. It sucks the water supply and then feeds it into the machine at higher pressure.
The other thing to consider in low water pressure areas is a large booster pump connected to the main water pipe where it enters the house then all appliances will fill quicker.
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Thanks all. I'll explore Hotpoints a bit more and Kenwood - didn't know they made them. Will contemplate the booster pump on the dish washer inlet pipe. Don't fancy pressurising the whole system.
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Fleecewife - I think this is the sort of thing you need (http://www.screwfix.com/p/salamander-ct55-regenerative-shower-pump-with-single-impeller-1-6bar/53818).
(http://cdn.toolstation.com/images/130125-UK/images/library/stock/webbig/23978.jpg)
It's really sold as a shower booster pump. It is switched off most of the time, but when the flow of water starts (e.g. when your dishwasher starts to fill), the pump motor will turn on automatically, thus improving the flow to any number of outlets downstream of it.
This means that you could use it just for your dishwasher, or also for the sink / toilet / whatever, to help get a better flow. These ones are quite expensive, but they do come up second hand on Ebay quite regularly.
HTH!
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Thank you womble :thumbsup: There's a great pump shop in Edinburgh where we got our main pump from for the well, so I'm sure they will have it there. So it could help with the washing machine too, which isn't getting enough rinsing water in so some of our clothes still have powder in them ::) It's quite cute, isn't it 8)