Washing machine hose contaminating water

Hi Guys, (Madrab,squeaky, Nozzzle) thanks for comments received after I abandoned last night to go to the pub.....it didn't help as I woke a couple of times in the night and started thinking about the damned hoses again........

Madrab, thanks, the plumber did explain to me why the check valve wouldn't work but to be honest I just nodded my head as he could of beeen talking Swahili with all the technicals he flung in...and as you saw, squeaky tried it and it din't cure the problem for him. With my limited (very) knowledge I thought that was what check valves were for. My other worry with check valves is that it will not cure the smell/taste going into the washing machine. I don't know whether it would be too diluted to matter or would eventually soil the clothes in the wash.

As an aside, something I didn't mention and for which I apologize for, was that when using the first hose I bought for the month of contaminated water, my wife told me that she had been cleaning the shower tray of pink leftover water (after the tray had drained). I never noticed cause I've poor colour vision...as well as an aversion to cleaning the bathroom :!: :oops:

As noted the smell and taste disappear almost immediately when the hose is disconnected, it never comes back. Also the water quality is very good with no background taste of chlorine.

The strange thing from my point of view is that the taste/smell starts almost immediately the hose is on and hot water is drawn through the to the kitchen tap. It gets worse and migrates through the house.

When the hose is taken off it is a pungent smell described by all as chemical or plastic.
I've now left 2 different hoses outside in fresh air for over 24hours after flushing them with fresh water and removing the washers, then tested them for smell and re-washed again.
The two hoses have a different chemical/plastic smell, similar but not the same. The smell will not leave the hoses now no matter what is done to clean them. The smell is worst at the hose connector ends which makes me suspect the washers, but that is conjecture on my part and I can't prove it. If it is the washers then they appear to have permanently fouled the plastic connectors.

I went looking for old washers in my garage as I'm sad enough in the past to have kept things like that before Screwfix etc came along and was lucky enough to find a packet from about the year 2000 unopened and unused. Thinking I had won a watch I tried to install them on a hose and found out that they were too thick to let the connector screw onto the tap correctly. Must have been Best of British washers :LOL: and not the low quality crap we get nowadays from abroad :eek: ....aah! ah remember t'day you could buy a sack of washers for a penny and still have change from a 9 bob note to buy the messages :rolleyes:
As you can see the hoses have got to me. I would buy the Y splitter from hotpoint that allows a feed from the cold mains to both inlets, but having read the washing machine pdf the wife would have to put the machine on on Monday and come back for the spin on Friday. I also don't know if that would solve the problem if the blue and red hoses are similar. I know the red hose has temperature and bar descriptions which the blue don't, but they probably come out the same factory with the same fittings and washers.
 
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Could it possibly be pushing through the cold hose and back through the hot, into a mixer tap and going round the house ? Take red hose off washing machine valve and do a wash, you shouldn't get any water out of the hot hose, put the end in a bucket just in case ;)
 
AFAIK washing machines have an 'inbuilt' air break to prevent backflow issues. Water supplies go to solenoids which open to allow flow into the machine as required. These feed seperately into the top of the detergent dispenser drawer, (cold splits in 2 to wash soap powder in when filling, and a second feed to dispense the conditioner during rinse cycle). Hot is seperate again.

As an aside, my Hotpoint takes in cold initially, then starts to wash, pausing again to take in hot water. Had Hotpoint out under guarantee as it wasn't taking in hot. Despite their protestations there was 'nothing wrong with it', it definately takes in hot now whereas didnt before they attended! (Hot fill is noticeably quiter, as lower pressure).
 
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Could it possibly be pushing through the cold hose and back through the hot, into a mixer tap and going round the house ? Take red hose off washing machine valve and do a wash, you shouldn't get any water out of the hot hose, put the end in a bucket just in case ;)

Thanks guys again:
gigz, thanks but on looking up the manual for the washing machine it said that both hoses need to be attached to work (either hot+ cold or cold x2 with Y spiltter.

I solved my immediate problem today, though I'm like squeaky before me, in that I still don't know which part of the hose/washer is the culprit.

Today I was given an old red hose by my neighbour who swears it is 6 years old off his old machine. It had no washers, but as I said before I found some old used washers from a hose I had from years ago. I put them together, attached to the valve and my wife did a washing in the machine. As of 6 hours ago there isn't the slightest smell/taste from the drinking water or hot water anywhere in the house.

Either the hoses and or washers from China are poor quality at the moment, or the Water Company has a high level of some contaminate that is reacting with the hoses.
My conclusion is that it is the hoses/washers. If it was the water then everyone in the street with modern hoses/washers would be complaining along with me.

Last question on this from me before I tackle a Water company in future, is there any means of checking the quality of the water beyond the guy coming out and doing a chlorine check with his light meter unit?

Thanks for all the input over the posts on the forum :D , and if nothing else people are now aware that washing machine hoses can contaminate a whole house for weeks. :( I hope you plumbers reading this never get a customer who has that happen to them when you do a simple 5 minute job to change a hose or install a washing machine. The punter will never believe you. Feel free to name it "the borzio Syndrome" and shake your head while slowly backing out the door. :rolleyes: cheers all
 
Out of interest, is it an old building you are in, could there be any possibility of lead pipe anywhere? The mention of pink water in the shower reminds me of the coating that could be found inside lead pipes
 
Out of interest, is it an old building you are in, could there be any possibility of lead pipe anywhere? The mention of pink water in the shower reminds me of the coating that could be found inside lead pipes

Hi Madrab, yes it's a 1930s house, but there is no lead left in it, all removed and water pipes are copper. Incidentally, there is no pink in the shower any more since the new (old neighbour's) hose was attached. Everything is 100% normal now. :D
 

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