What can I do - the council broke my washing machine, they say no....

[zephyrcat]

We moved into a council place about 3 weeks ago. I've never lived in a council property before so not sure how they work... so far I'm not impressed.

We put the washing machine in the day we moved in. The whole sink unit is brand new. Seemed fine. A few days later, the washing machine starts tripping the fuse switch for all the sockets. Seems that water is going from the sink into the washing machine drum

I rang the council 'repair line' loads of times and they kept telling me that the washing machine is not their problem, especially as we connected it ourselves. They eventually sent a so called plumber who plunged the sink for about 2 minutes and said it was fine.

Now the wahing machine has completely blown and whilst it's been standingunused the drum has filled with water from the sink again.

I've now had to pay £300 fora new one and they are still telling me it's not their problem. The new washing machine comes tomorrow, we are up to our eyeballs in washing and I don't want the same thing happening... what do I do? Take it higher? Threaten them? demand the cost of the new washing machine??

well, you need a plumber to come out and say that the problem is from the sink- and get him to put it in writing
THEN you can take it higher and threaten them and get the money for the new one.
call the CAB, they'll know more about where you stand.

get your washer insured costs a bit but really helpfull in that sort of situ! is someone fitting it for you? could the move been the thing that upset your washer! we had my sisters washer/dryer an it didnt work after the move luckily she had insurance so it was replaced!

good plan hairymclary. The plumber is coming tomorrow - although if I happen to be on the school run I will be charged for missing him

We did think it might just have been the washing machine but tonight we took the hose off from the side of the pipe under the sink, ran the tap for a bit and the water came shooting out.

What do I do if the plumber refuses to write down what is wrong - can I leave my phone on the side and record the conversation? Probably not, but I'm soooo annoyed that they have broken my washing machine and blatantly refuse to admit it!

Get an independant plumber most have no call out fee.

Are you sure that it's the sink's fault?

I only ask because I had a valve go in my washing machine and it filled with water even when it wasn't on. Bit of a nightmare when I opened the door and flooded the kitchen.

It was actually a valve in the machine itself though.

so u connected your washing machine to the sink outlet?

Do you mean that the water from the sink is going back down the w/m waste water hose back into the machine? How did you fit the waste water hose onto the pipe from the sink?

We have the same problem with our washer. My dad reckons it's just bloody stupid and lazy the way they set the pipes up so that the only way you can plumb it in is to have it all stuck together.

I recently had the same problem too, the water from the sink was going into the washer. We had to pull the washer out and tie string around the hose and pull it up so that it is so high that the water from the sink cannot get into the drum, we then sellotaped the pipe to the top of the washer and pushed it back. So far it has worked.

Nutty, I think the pipe's meant to be held up high anyway. According to my w/m fitting instructions it should up somewhere between 65 and 100 cm off the floor. There should also be a rubber valve that stops back flow going down the pipe, I discovered this when I plumbed the new washing machine in, but put the valve back the wrong way which meant the w/m couldn't drain properly.

you do get like an upside down U shaped piece to screw intio the underneath of a sideboard, to keep the hose at the right angles.