For your machine to work, it will not be enough that you just bought it and brought it home. After all, you still need to properly connect it to the plumbing.
This action is one of the main and basic steps in the installation of automatic washing machine.
To do this, you need to buy a special faucet for your washing machine. This element will help you to reduce the likelihood of breakage of the structure in the first days of its operation.
Details of the topic of taps for connecting the washing machine automatic to the water supply will be considered in this article.
Prepare for the process
The owner of the automatic machine needs to know the peculiarities of the procedure for installing the unit to the water supply.
After all, a special faucet can break down, which will later need to be replaced, or if the machine needs to be moved to another place in the house. Even a beginner in this matter can cope with the task quite well, if you remember the list of important points.
Choose a prominent place for the faucet
When installing an automatic washing machine, it is possible to use shut-off taps of a fairly simple design.
Install such faucets in a prominent place so that the owners can shut off the water flowing into the washing machine at any out of control moment.
The machine performs various actions in automatic mode, It heats the waterThe machine in automatic mode performs various actions, preliminarily taking it from the system, at this time various kinds of breakages can occur, which can be prevented only if the tap is in a visible place, and then there is an opportunity to turn the valve and stop the water supply.
In most cases of machine breakdowns, it is necessary to shut off the water, and if this is not done, there is a chance of flooding the apartment (house) and neighbors.
Types of shut-off taps
When connecting your washing machine, you can use stopcocks, the variety of which is divided into two categories:
Through taps.
They are cut into an existing water pipe that goes to other objects (mixer, boiler, etc.);- End taps.
They are placed on the branch of the water main, specially made for automatic machines.
Filter for the water supply system
It would be better for the washing machine if it were supplied with water from the water line that runs throughout the house, with exactly the same cross-section.
Filter - is a grid, which is very easy to install. Do not forget to clean it periodically.
We recommend turning off the water supply to the machine after washing, and turning it on only before it starts.
Or you can install a whole system of filters. But this is if you have the financial means.
Which hose is better?
It may be that the manufacturer provides a special hose to connect to the water supply, and if such is available, it is better to put it. The length of the provided hose may not be enough, so do not immediately connect it of two parts, because in this case it will soon be broken.
The best option - buy a new, longer, hose from a special store from the manufacturer of your machine. It is better to buy the hose in a brand store, because the cheap analogues in simple stores, as a rule, break down very quickly.
Connecting the washing machine to the system
Double connection
There are models of automatic washing machines, which have the possibility of double connection to the water supply: both to cold and hot water.
Such possibilities are present in American and Japanese manufacturers of washing machines.
It was created to save on electricity, because the machines without dual connection use heating of cold water. As practice has shown, in Russia such machines are not so often cope with their work.
In general, washing machines are quite demanding to the quality of hot water, which they receive. Usually in the centralized heating system water is not considered as clean as we would like, so contamination and clogging of filters, various kinds of breakdowns and so on occur. The quality of washing may not be good enough. In some cases, dark and rusty stains may form on the laundry that has just been taken out of the machine, various impurities, it is possible that the delicate fabric may tear.
As a rule, the water is much cleaner in the conditions of individual water supply.
But we still recommend that you analyze and assess the condition of the water before buying and installing a washing machine.
Installing an end faucet
It is possible to connect the end faucet only to the existing water supply.
Materials and tools
For this purpose, a so-called mortise clamp or simply a T-piece is used. The tee is quite simple and easy to use.
To install the clamp you need a drill, screwdriver and file, you also need to buy the clamp itself with a guide sleeve put on it and a rectangular rubber gasket. Do not forget to shut off the water before installing the tee.
Procedure
Clamp should be very carefully and accurately screwed to the pipe, sleeve guiding outward in which to find a hole.
Then the pipe is drilled (use a drill for this purpose) and connected to the clamp or to the very cut of the pipe, which subsequently mount the end faucet.
Further actions are as follows:
At the end of the pipe, form a thread of the same size and type as in the clamp;- Wrap sealant around the outside thread, you can also use FUM tape;
- Use force to screw the endcock onto the outer pipe;
- Attach the hose (supplied with the washing machine) to the other end of the endcock;
- Attach the opposite side (end) of the hose to the washing machine;
- Check everything for the presence of leaks.
It happens that screwing the faucet onto the male thread with FUM tape or sealant goes very easily. If this is the case, you need to remove the faucet and wrap more of the material you are using, because if you don't, the tightness of the connection will be low.
To both ends of the hose (which comes with washing machine) there are rubber gaskets, they are extremely important when connecting your design to the water supply, so we do not advise you to lose or throw them away. In most cases, one end of the hose goes as an angle, and the other end as a straight line.
As practice has shown, it is most convenient to to connect the angled end of the hose to the washing machine, and the straight end to the plumbing, because in general the device is closer to the wall.
Installing a pass-through faucet
There is this type of "pipe-hose" connection. It is better to use a pass-through faucet to such a connection.
Here are three options for placing this faucet:
First option: You already have a tap with a branch to some facility.
In this option, you can use a tee tap both before and after the delivered tap.- The second option: Perhaps the hose (which is supposed to connect to your washing machine) is pulled to the water heater ..
In this case, you need to install a faucet for the unit before the main faucet, which stops the water supply for the heater. If you don't do this, you'll have to shut off hot water throughout the house for upcoming washes. - Third option: If you're installing your unit in the kitchen near the sink, you can install a pass-through faucet in front of the faucet.
To install the faucet, you have to remove the faucet, put a pass-through faucet instead of the flexible hose on the cold water pipe, then put the faucet back.
When you choose a through faucet, look at its body - it has an arrow for water direction, which is important, as well as consider the size of the control lever and its location.
The installation of a straight through valve is no different from the installation of an end valve: on the outer thread winding FUM tape and install over the faucet, the same on the reverse side, wind the FUM tape and put the second end.
Perhaps your master turned to face the thread. This means that you must wind the FUM tape (or sealant) in a clockwise direction.
Don't forget to shut off the water before installing the faucet, and after work, check all connections for leaks.
You might be putting your washing machine in the toilet close to the outlet of the drain barrel, and that makes sense.
There are quite a few interesting solutions to this.
For example, installing a small automatic washing machine not on the floor, but on a stand.
This has its own advantages: The owner of the machine will be more convenient to load the laundry and take it back, because you will not need to bend over.
You can not buy a special stand, and make it your own hands, but you should know that your design should be able to withstand the load of almost 150 kilograms, otherwise it will simply break under the weight of your washing device and the laundry in it.
Faucet Faucet Installation
Plumbing professionals, or rather, their attitude to the installation of faucets on the faucet can be called ambiguous. It does not look pretty enough, because it is difficult to position the washing machine filler tap in this position.
Although this idea is simple and inexpensive, but there are problems such as:
- There is a certain amount of stress on the faucet;
- The faucet will become very inconvenient to use;
- The service life of the faucet will be shortened many times over.
If the faucet is old
But this solution is quite possible to implement, for example, when you need a temporary connection of the machine. Owners of washing machines often use temporary solutions, but they should also be aware of the risks to their plumbing equipment and problems in general.
If you want to install a faucet on an old faucet (from Soviet times), which is installed directly on the pipes, we recommend putting a new faucet along with the faucet.
This will increase the percentage of reliability of your construction and in general the installation will be quite easy, which cannot be said about the installation with an old faucet. If you decide to put a faucet on the old faucet, you will have to buy and put over a mortise clamp (T-piece), and it is quite difficult to install and much more expensive than a through faucet.
If corrosion ruined pipes
There are cases when the ends of the pipes are damaged by metal corrosion that makes it impossible to further install the valve. There are two ways to solve this problem.
In this case, the hose gasket will be very tight against the pipe. The second way is to install an extension piece. The corroded ends will be hidden on one end of the extension, and the second end can be used to install and secure the hose and gasket.
Unusual placement of the faucet at the spout
There are some people who install a pass-through faucet after the taps in front of the spout (from which the warm and hot water comes), rather than as usual to the cold water pipe before the faucet. In this case, you can save on electricity, which is required for heating cold water, because now in the structure is already warm water.
When you turn on the faucet in this arrangement, there is an underflow (cold water flows into the hot water pipe). In this case, you can worsen the quality of water that comes into the apartment neighbors (if any). Of course, you can solve this problem by installing the so-called reverse taps in front of your faucet, but there is a minus in this. During washing, you need to watch and not open the faucet taps.
If the machine has a "stop water" system
There are such models of washing machines, which have a system "Aqua-stop" (different manufacturers have this system called in their own way).
If you have a machine with such a system, then you can refuse to install a faucet.
On machines with this system, or rather on the end of the filling hose, there are magnetic valves which are wired to the machine and controlled by the machine.
In this case, the valve control system itself will shut off the water if necessary, and set the necessary "intake", through which the water will not pass.
But, unfortunately, there is no such appliance in the world yet, which would not break down.
