Low pressure washing machine

[Starla268]

We're in an old house with very poor water pressure and as a consequence our washing machine will not complete a full cycle without pausing umpteen times which means you have to keep a constant eye on it to keep resetting it.

We are in the process of getting the water pressure issue sorted but it's unlikely the work will be completed this year and I'm due to give birth in November so wanted to try and find a machine that would run well on low pressure. My internet research has highlighted that Miele and Electrolux can be good for low pressure but I can't find any specifics on their product pages so I just wondered if any of you lovely mumsnetters had experience of makes and models that have worked well at low pressure?

Any advice/recommendations would be very gratefully received!

have you read this? Apparently your water company is legally obliged to provide water at sufficient pressure?

www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk/low-water-pressure-and-washing-machines/

Have already found that article (done quite extensive research already!) and unfortunately the water company aren't liable as the issue is technically within our boundary. It's a huge, long stressful story that I won't bore you with - it's being resolved but I just want to try and get a machine that will work in the meantime as I'm pretty sure that when baby arrives I'm not going to have the time/memory to be checking the washing machine every 5 mins to make sure it completes the cycle!

oh dear! If the problem will be fixed soonish, would it be worth looking into a laundry service for the meantime? Don't know where you are, but there are people who will pick up, wash, iron & return washing for you - 1 less thing to worry about with a new baby to care for?

Best solution in that case if you have space above it is to fit a header tank. You could literally put it directly above the washer high up on the wall with a wide bore pipe to the inlet of the washer, and it would only have to be quite small, only however much water goes through each time.
Then you're basically decoupling the washing machine from the lack of pressure, a bit like your toilet flush delivers a lot more water than your tap can in the time! Hopefully that solution would give you 0.2 bar dynamic pressure which is hopefully OK.
If it was me I'd do some experimentation first to prove it, but it depends how happy you are to do plumbing yourself.

I haven't been able to find any pick up services local to us (another avenue I have explored!) that aren't out of our price range :(

John, thanks for the suggestion - we have very low ceilings (old house) so I'm not sure if your suggestion would work in that case? It would also mean taking down cupboards/shelves which I'd rather not do for a short term solution...

Do you mean pressure, or do you mean flow?

Have you got a loft tank?

Pressure, it's fine at the point where it enters our property but due to a very old, clogged up pipe under the front of our property to the house, by the time it reaches the house the pressure is only 0.9.

As I say it is being fixed but due to an awful lot of back and forth with the water company, difficulties with splitting a shared supply and now awaiting highways authorisation before the work can be carried out its not going to be completed until at least early in the new year (I started this process back when we bought the house last Nov!)

Pressure, it's fine at the point where it enters our property but due to a very old, clogged up pipe under the front of our property to the house, by the time it reaches the house the pressure is only 0.9.

As I say it is being fixed but due to an awful lot of back and forth with the water company, difficulties with splitting a shared supply and now awaiting highways authorisation before the work can be carried out its not going to be completed until at least early in the new year (I started this process back when we bought the house last Nov!)

0.9 bar is not very low. It is more than you would get from a loft tank in an ordinary house that was less than 10 metres tall.

Does the supply to the washer drop off when someone turns on a tap or flushes a WC?

Havd you got a loft tank?

Yes the pressure is affected when taps are running but it won't do a full cycle even when nothing else is being run. As I understand it a lot of washing machines won't operate under 1 bar? That's what I've been told by a couple of manufacturers so far.

I'm not sure what the set up is wrt to loft tank - would that be relevant? My husband and plumber would know more about that side of things.

Essentially we know what needs to happen to improve the pressure in the house but I'm trying to see if anyone has experience of using a washing machine at 0.9 or less that runs ok so that I can try and get something that will work in the meantime...

If you have a loft tank, it can be made to work. You will probably be able to tell if there is a hot-water cylinder, depending on its colour, and if the hot (possibly also the cold) bath tap continue to run even when the mains water pressure is low.