Two cold feeds for my washing machine?

Question

Hi i am having to shuffle around my white goods to make room for a new dishwasher, only problem is my wahing machince needs two feeds, a hot and a cold.

where i want to move it too only has easy access to a cold water pipe can i connect both the feeds to this and run it with two cold feeds?

i think it runs like this 99% of the time as when we use it the hot water isn't on and it would save me buying a new one or rerouting a hot water feed.

thanks

Answer 1

Get a "Y" piece connector for a washing machine, and connect the cold water to the "bottom of the "Y"", connect the hot and cold hoses to the "top" sections of the "Y" piece. It is not a problem doing this as the washing machine has a heating element to heat the water to the desired temperature. I don't think it is "cheaper" than using your domestic hot water, as heating water electrically is more expensive than heating water via a gas boiler.

Answer 2

if you don't have a hot water feed how will it clean the clothes tidy. you may want to buy another washing machine with just a cold fill.

Answer 3

Just connect the one cold supply, that's all your machine will need. It's cheaper to let your machine heat its own hot water.

Answer 4

Theres a connection you can get that attaches to the two hoses then you can just feed a single pipe to your cold water supply.  Not expensive and any parts store should have it.

Answer 5

I don't think clothes washers heat their own water, unless its gas.jk

Answer 6

If you only connect one hose, the machine wont fill to wash. It uses the hot inlet to fill the drum, and the cold inlet to rinse before the spin cycle. Use a 'Y' junction to connect the cold hose to the machine, then it will work. You can obtain one of these from a plumbers merchant.

Answer 7

You can put cold into both ports. The disadvantage is that the machine will spend more time just heating up the water so washing will take more time.

Answer 8

Go to your local plumbers merchants and ask for a  'Y' branch

Answer 9

Darren C is right! Get a 'Y' piece. V. cheap from any plumbers merchant or DIY store.

In most cases washing machines only take cold water and heat it up regardless of weather you have a hot supply or not.

They only take from the hot supply if you're doing a really Hot wash.

Answer 10

Just connect one cold feed, but you will use more electric by heating the water, and your wash will take much longer.

Answer 11

Just purchase a "Y" adaptor from B&Q,Homebase etc cost about £3 that will solve your problem

Answer 12

You must connect both supply hoses to a water supply. As previous comments use a Y connector. DONT just connect the cold supply. Most hot and cold fill machine takes (for the wash part of the cycle) cold water only in on 40' and below cycles; a mixture of the hot and cold supply for 50' and 60' cycles; just hot fill for the 95' cycle. The water mix also dictates which part of the detergent drawer the water passes through. For example Hoover washing machines pass the hot water fill through the main wash soap compartment and cold through the pre wash soap compartment. As pre wash is always cold fill then only the pre wash detergent is used when using a pre wash cycle even if there is detergent in the main wash section however if you but detergent into both but put machine onto a wash both will be passed into the tub.

Failure to connect both hoses will cause detergent problems and possible machine malfunction as it will have no supply on certain cycles.

Filling the machine from only cold water is not a problem as it will have a heater (unless it is an American toploader), it will just take a bit longer to wash but you will get a better level of wash due to improved bio action (if you use biological detergent) and is infact more efficent as you are only heating what is needed.

Answer 13

Just hook up one line to the cold and use the cold wash cycles.  Washers don't heat water.

Answer 14

Yes, you can use cold water into both inlets, if you don't mind always using cold water.