New AEG L76685 1600rpm Washer

[launderess]

IIRC London's water has always been quite hard.

So much so many commercial laundries located themselves close to but outside of that city where they could find softer water. Oh that and until the air was cleaned up and or things went to machine drying hanging out the wash was asking for trouble.

Many of the problems of hard water were solved then as now by installing water softening equipment. Can only imagine how dreadful wash day must have been using only soaps and all that hard water.

 

[superelectronic]

Steaming

Assuming the steam function uses the heating element, could using those cycles have contributed to its premature failure? If all it does is fill with some water and heat it, that plain water has nothing in it to counter the hardness so scale will form on the element just as it would in a kettle or immersion heater.

 

Maybe a regular maintenance wash using a descaler would be more effective than using Calgon or maintenance washes with just a cleaner?

 

I'm currently descaling my machine with a box of washing machine limescale remover - it's basically citric acid, a detergent and perfume and is sold in Waitrose and Tesco under their own brand name. The water is brown!

 

 

[this post was last edited: 9/3/2016-15:55]

 

[pedro]

Joe_In_philly: Water softeners aren't unheard of but they're not as common as you'd think considering how hard the water is around these parts. I think if these problems continue then it'll be something to consider.

ozzie908: I thought the same thing about whether it was actually a new element that was put in from the beginning, i did regular maintenance washes and there was a good mixture of cool and hot washes but i was really surprised how bad the element looked. The pic i took was after i'd scraped a fair amount off already. It'd be interesting to know whether manufacturers do sometimes use second-hand parts in new-builds.

SuperElectronic: In the 3 months i've had the machine i've probably only run about 6 steam cycles. I'd be annoyed if that was enough to contribute towards that level of build up to the point the element fails. I've got the exact same limescale remover from Tesco and i'll be using it regularly from now on!

 

[foraloysius]

That's a bad looking heater indeed! It's very unlikely that they would have put a used heater in it. It wouldn't have saved them much money and no manufacturer in their right mind would do that.

Calgon isn't very effective at softening water, a while ago the Dutch consumer organisation came to that conclusion. Just use enough detergent so that you can see the water in one stream coming down the door without any drops forming. Drops means hard water. If you can open the door during the wash process the water should feel silky smooth.

Citric acid is a good descaler and much milder for your machine than vinegar. Pure citric acid is the best.

A steam cycle is very hard on the heating element. When the water evaporates the scale is left behind on the element, just like it happens with steam irons. Are you using a steam iron? If so, do you use regular water in it?

 

[launderess]

Original Calgon was excellent as a water softener

It would, wouldn't it? I mean the stuff was a blend of two phosphates with a bit of sodium sesquicarbonate IIRC.

Today's powdered non-phosphate Calgon is mostly sodium sequiscarbonate and or washing soda with Zeolites. Thus is true what is often advised, just increase the dosage of any good powdered detergent, that should deal with hard water issues.

If you must use a water softener then find someplace that sells sodium tripolyphospate.

 

[launderess]

All over Europe Calgon is flogged

As the perfect wash day solution to various issues with laundry and or washing machines.

 

[ozzie908]

Hard water heaters

In all the years I have lived in hard water areas I have never had a heater element with that build up on it.
I have always done a lot of white washing at high temperatures with usually Persil washing powder and I must confess I do tend to be a little generous with the amount I use.
Yet to have a heater fail in my own machines but have seen the results of the damage the scale can do in machines I have repaired.

 

[grwasher_expert]

Calgon is a scam.Its "secret" ingredients are already contained in almost every detergent formula.If you live in a hard water area,the best you can do is slightly increase the dosage of the detergent(according to the packaging instructions) and every 3-4 months run a maintenance wash with baking soda,or a specially designated scale remover,at the hottest temp setting possible(90-95º)