Washing machine won't fill with water (or no water goes into washing machine)

The most common cause of a washing machine not taking any water in is either a kinked fill hose or the tap becoming faulty whereby you switch it on but the valve inside doesn't turn. Another common cause is the tap getting accidentally switched off and people not realising. Other causes can be wiring faults, water valve faults or programme control faults. This advice was originally written when most washing machines were hot and cold fill and didn't have error codes. It's now been updated to reflect the fact that these days the vast majority of washing machines are cold fill only and should give an error code if they can't take in water.

No fill error codes

Most washing machines are controlled by software programmes these days and produce error codes if they don't detect the correct amount of water has been taken in within a set amount of time. The error code for not filling should be mentioned in the instruction book [ Need an instruction book? - How to download or obtain a washing machine instruction book / booklet / manual for various white goods ] This is one of the few error codes that is described in the instruction book because it's one of the few things a user can often deal with themselves.

Washing machine making a humming noise when trying to fill?

If the washing machine wont take in any water at all, plus you can hear a humming noise (not normally present), check that both your taps are turned on, or that the water supply hasn't been cut off in someway. A gentle humming from the back of the washing machine could be the water valves being energised and trying to take water in.

1. Carefully pull the washing machine out [ What's the best way to pull a washing machine out? ]
2. Turn off the taps supplying the washing machine
3. Unscrew the fill hose(s) (Have a bucket or bowl and towel ready, there may be a spurt of water at first due to the pressure in the hose). If you get a spray of water coming out that lasts longer than a second or so the tap may not be actually turned off properly or faulty.
4. Hold the hose over a bowl or bucket and switch the tap back on to see if there is a decent supply of water coming through the hose

Adequate water supply available?

If water comes through at a decent flow rate then check the filter in the water valve on the washing machine. You can pull it out with a pair of pliers and clean it. However, this will only explain your fault if it is severely blocked up, which is rare. Be careful not to damage the filter with the pliers as they are often delecate and brittle. If you create a hole in one - even a small hole - it can let grit and even small stones through into the water valve and damage it resulting in possible flooding in the future if an obstruction stops the valve shutting off properly.

No adequate water supply coming through the hose?

If no water comes through the hose, or the flow is very slow, then the fault is in the plumbing or there could be a kink somewhere in the hose. If your machine was plumbed in using those self plumbing taps that clamp on to the copper water pipes then they do sometimes get clogged up and need the hole clearing. If this happens to the cold supply it can be achieved by turning the stop tap off first, but if the hot supply is blocked - which is the most likely of the two - then you have to turn off the cold supply and then drain the hot water tank by turning on the hot tap until the water is drained out (unless you know where the valve is to turn the hot water off in your water cylinder).

If your machine is plumbed in using the ubiquitous blue (and red) levers to turn the tap on and off they can commonly go faulty where you think you've switched it off or on but only the plastic lever has moved and it hasn't actually operated the valve inside the tap. This is typically caused when the red or blue plastic lever cracks. You can usually operate the tap using pliers.

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