Smeg Aquastop

shinobi · 21 Oct 2006

Hi, i wonder if somebody can help me please.

I have a Smeg dishwasher which \\\'intermittently\\\' stops and displays a fault code indicating that the Aquastop has tripped. This indicates that water is leaking, however i can\\\'t seem to \\\'ever\\\' find any water that has leaked, and therefore can\\\'t solve the problem. If i leave it a couple of days, it will normally work again, any suggestions anybody?

I originally thought it was a faulty sensor, but surely this would cause it to do it all of the time?

Any suggestions would be wellcomed.

Sleepyhead · 21 Oct 2006

Water must be leaking into the base of the machine to trigger the aquastop. If you tip the machine backward slightly you'll probably find water running out of the bottom.

shinobi · 21 Oct 2006

Sleepyhead said:
Water must be leaking into the base of the machine to trigger the aquastop. If you tip the machine backward slightly you'll probably find water running out of the bottom.

Thanks for your reply Sleepyhead

How do i prevent water from leaking into the base of the dishwasher, thus stopping the Aquastop being triggered?

Sleepyhead · 21 Oct 2006

You'll have to find the source of the leak and cure the problem.
Without seeing the appliance and checking it it's nigh on impossible to give further diagnosis. Sorry.

shinobi · 21 Oct 2006

Sleepyhead said:
You'll have to find the source of the leak and cure the problem.
Without seeing the appliance and checking it it's nigh on impossible to give further diagnosis. Sorry.

There is also a strange type of plastic box type of thing on the water feed under the sink, it has an electrical warning sign on it, if this got wet could this cause the AquaStop to trip?

Sleepyhead · 21 Oct 2006

That is the aquastop. It gets it's power from the machine, when water gets into the base it triggers a switch which cust power to the aquastop and the valve in there shuts.
Unless you have a leaking sink water shouldn't get near the electrics in it.

shinobi · 21 Oct 2006

Sleepyhead said:
That is the aquastop. It gets it's power from the machine, when water gets into the base it triggers a switch which cust power to the aquastop and the valve in there shuts.
Unless you have a leaking sink water shouldn't get near the electrics in it.

The Mrs spilt a bottle of white spirit the other week which dissolved the sealant around the edge of the kitchen worktop behind the sink. I've noticed that water is running down the back of the worktop where the sealant has dissolved - do you reckon this could be my problem?

Maybe all it needs is a tube of sealant?

Sleepyhead · 21 Oct 2006

Only way to tell is to cure the leak, check the base of the dishwasher to see if there's water there and take it from there.

shinobi · 21 Oct 2006

Sleepyhead said:
Only way to tell is to cure the leak, check the base of the dishwasher to see if there's water there and take it from there.

Great, didn't even get that far.

Ran the machine twice this morning with nothing in it and it worked fine and completed each cycle, however i then told the Mrs to put some washing up in the machine whilst i go to B & Q to get some silicone sealant to seal the worktop again.

By the time i got back she said its stopped. Its now come up with the flashing lights indicating that the machine has taken in too much water!

I think the thing must just be knackered?

Sleepyhead · 21 Oct 2006

You're not going to find this fault unless you carry out some basic fault finding.
You need to check the base to see if water has activated the anti flood switch.
You need to watch, with a torch, the inside of the base while it's washing.
Only then can you determine if it's leaking from the machine.
If it's not leaking from the machine you then move onto looking at the drain hose on it, is it onto a spigot under the sink? Is it raised higher or at least as high as the overflow on the sink?

After all of that, if there's no leak and no problem with the drains you need to see if "gunk" has accumulated and blocked the pressure system leading to it taking in too much water, dumping it into the base and activating the aquastop.

Are you using 3,4,5 in 1 tablets and rinse aid? If you are then it's overfoaming due to rinse aid in the tablets and rinse aid from the dispenser.

If you at least carry out the above tasks you stand a chance of repairing it. If you feel you are unable to do the above your only option left is the telephone. Get an engineer in to do it.

shinobi · 21 Oct 2006

Thanks for your advise Sleepyhead

I'm getting onto it first thing in the morning.

I repaired it around 2 years ago, it stopped pumping out, and i dismantled it (as its built into the kitchen unforunately

), removed the pump, and found a large piece of broken glass stuck in the propeller!

However, this time i'm a little confused, as a couple of months ago when it very first started, and i read the book for the fault code, and it said that the Aquastop had tripped due to water leaking, and i looked underneath and couldn't see anything leaking at all.

However, i will do that again tommorrow morning just to make doubly sure i didn't miss it last time, and if its not leaking then i'll carryout the other checks you suggested.

I wouldn't mind, but only yesterday i managed to fix my fathers washing machine in about half hour! He had water leaking out of the bottom of it, and when i tipped it at an angle, i noticed that the water was in fact running down the side of the drum from the top. I took the top off and found that the house from the soap dispenser to the top of the drum had slipped off!!! They are only held on by cable ties!! Not jubilee clips!

Can't believe i fixed his and can't seem to get to the bottom of this dishwasher.

Tommorrow i'll post up my findings.

Thanks again Sleepyhead for your advise, you must either be a service man or you've had problems a lot in the past yourself!!

shinobi · 22 Oct 2006

UPDATE: Right, i've taken the dishwasher out, what a task that was, as its integrated and at the end of the run, i had to turn the water off - but the stop cock on the cold feed under the sink doesn't shut off so had to shut it off from the mains, had to remove the washing machine, pull all the pipes along the kitchen behind the cooker etc., eventually got the dishwasher out, took the two metal side panels off, took the base out, and THERE WAS LOADS OF WATER SITTING IN THE BASE PANEL!! I didn't realise, but the base panel acts as like a waste water reservoir!

Anyway, i'm just about to check all the pipes, as there MUST be a pipe with a leak in it i would have thought for the water to be laying there??

What would you say Sleepyhead?

Also - the salt reservoir in the dishwasher is full up to the rim with water also?

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Excellent - i can also see what i 'think' is the 'FLOAT SWITCH'!!!

It just looks like a piece of polystarine that must obviosly float up when the water in the base reservoir rises to a certain level and trips the 'AquaStop'??

Sleepyhead · 22 Oct 2006

Exactly what I said in my first post. Water in the base.
Now that you've found it, it should be relatively straight forward to repair.
Determine if there's actually a leak, whether it's been backfilling, if it's coming from the overflow tubes (blockage or faulty pressure switch) or whether it's overfoamed and filled the base.

The salt reservoir is meant to be full of water.
The polystyrene is the float, when you get a leak it floats and activates a switch which turns off the water supply so that the kitchen doesn't get flooded.

shinobi · 22 Oct 2006

I've squeezed all the pipes, and they all feel really hard, not soft/perished, no water coming out of the pipes when i squeeze them, there doesn't seem to be any water at all around any of the pipes.

Although it has been switched off since yesterday so may have dried since then.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Where are the overflow tubes - that sounds like a possibility as there doesn't appear to be any leaking pipes

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I need somebodies advice on this:-

I've taken out the salt reservoir from the bottom of the dishwasher, and there are two sections to it.

The first is the one that you can see from inside the dishwasher, the one which you put the fresh salt into, however its also got another reservoir on the side that looks like red salt???

But i can't seem to get it open or see how the red stuff has got in there?

Is this meant to be like this? Or is this what is causing my problems and needs emptying? The side that i can't seem to access has a small spout at the bottom that a pipe goes onto, so maybe it is this that is causing the blockages??

I can't seem to find any other blockages anywhere! I've pretty much taken that whole machine apart, its only this salt reservoir that i can seem to find that may be whats causing my problems?

Sleepyhead · 22 Oct 2006

That's the water softener, it's meant to be like that and it's not causing your leak.

I've already asked this question and received no reply.
Are you using 3,4 or 5 in 1 tablets as well as rinse aid?
If you are that's whats causing it to flood the base. It will be overfoaming.

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Smeg Aquastop

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