Will the repair tech be testing your water supply pressure? I wonder what the Bosch specs are for incoming pressure?

My brother had a water fill hose burst in his laundry room while they were out and it flooded the entire downstairs of his house. A lot of drywall had to be replaced along with carpeting and wood flooring.

I guess a lot of things can go wrong with indoor laundries. :(

Take care.

I wonder what the Bosch specs are for incoming pressure?

They recommend 14.5-145psi (1-10 bars), and suggest that a regulator valve (around $30 at the big-box hardware stores) be installed if the pressure is higher.

Fill valves do fail - we've had it happen on US toploaders as well - which is why things like flood pans exist, and why most manufacturers recommend turning the water off when the machine is not in use. (Few people do this!)

I'm pretty surprised that the Bosch seal held even when the water was well over the door. - DR

We're on our own well, and we tend to have more problems with LOW water pressure for such things as showers, than high pressure. We have a whole house sediment filter on the feed to the house, and when that needs changing, sometimes there isn't enough pressure to keep the kitchen faucet engaged in spray mode. So it's very unlikely that our pressure broke the fill valve.

I was shocked about the seal holding, too. Mostly because, having read about people having mold/mildew problems, the door was ajar! Nothing happened until hubby started to open it.

My original plan did include a set of silcocks with sensors to detect if the machine was running or now when the water was flowing. Somehow that part of the design got set aside. Time to go back to the drawing board, I guess and get that part ordered and installed.

And I'll be getting in the habit of turning off the water, whenever the machine is not in use.

Sediment is certainly something that could cause a problem like this. Washers generally have wire or plastic screens in the hose inlets to keep sediment out of the valve parts, specifically to avoid this kind of failure.

If the hose inlets don't have these screens then either your washer was manufactured incorrectly, or the installer left them out or removed them. Regardless, in cases like these you'd have a claim, either against the manufacturer, or the store that installed it for you.

In fact, regardless of the cause of this failure, a brand new washer should never do this kind of thing. I'd consider calling Bosch customer care and making a claim.

Good point. I should have ready her post more carefully. Usually when a washer floods there's major damage involved. It looks like she really dodged a bullet.

I am truly sorry for the OP's trouble, but that's why I always turn off my water supply when not using the machine. I know that always gets a flood of "life is too short for that kind of worrying posts" when I report that, but it's my insurance policy against a catastrophic leak caused by a fill valve failure. Properly located, the lever takes about the same amount of time as turning off the light switch. What's so hard about that?

Molly~

Me, again.

Yes, washer man, I dodged a bullet. After all that careful planning about the flood pan, I'm pretty annoyed that the water didn't actually go in it, but glad I had a full load of dirty towels there, handy for the mess.

I doubt it was caused by sediment. We have a whole house sediment filter on the incoming line to the house. The laundry area is fed by new flexible lines branched off from the main feeds in the basement. At the second floor, it branches again to feed the bathroom and the laundry area.

In spite of not having "damages," I'm still standing in front of the firing line. I left a message for the authorized service provider yesterday and passed along the info that Bosch Customer Service gave me. Bosch won't take the order for a warranty part directly from me, regardless of whether it's being shipped to me or the provider. The authorized provider can expedite a warranty part for 2nd day air shipment, they just had to know how to ask.

Didn't hear back from the provider, chased them down today, and got a call back. The fill valve is on backorder, looks like 2 to 3 weeks!!! I placed a call to Lowes, where the appliance department said that if the first attempted repair didn't resolve the problem, they would swap the machine. Left message, because no one in appliances picked up the call.

I'm really, really annoyed. It is fortunate for all the parties involved that I'm really a nice person, not prone to "shooting the messenger," and that I don't have a family of gym-clothes wearing teen agers in the house mowing down stacks of clean towels every day! It's just me and my husband, and if it goes on as long as they say, I can use the old washer that's still down in the basement, because I've dragged my feet about posting it for sale. But, dang it, this isn't what I paid all that money for, to buy high quality new machines. (And now, I'm spoiled about not carrying laundry two flights of stairs!)

Molly, I'm with you, on the turning off the water, now. Though SR's problem could be my next issue! Yikes, there's just no winning in that situation, huh?

Paula

Update: Joe in Lowes Appliance dept in Bedford NH might turn out to be my hero. When I called Service Advantage on Saturday, they should have taken care of the whole thing for me, scheduling the service and dealing with expediting, etc. I should not have to be calling the provider and chasing them down. So after telling Joe the whole story, he is going to take charge and do something about all this confusion, working with Service Advantage and the provider on my behalf.

This is why I bought the extended warranty. And I was pretty annoyed on Saturday when it seemed to still require me to navigate the entire process.

Joe is my hero. An hour later, I had a call from Bosch, directly. They have been in touch with my service provider, who informed them of a supplier (not Bosch) that had the Bosch parts in stock. Bosch is ordering, overnight to my provider. I expect to be done with this problem in time to do lots of laundry over the weekend.* We might have to do one load of something in the old machine between now and then (my husband's chef pants, maybe).

Yay!

* 6 months ago, sentencing me to a weekend of doing laundry in the dungeon would have been such a punishment. Now it will be an excuse to sit for several hours in my bedroom easy chair with a book, "babysitting" the washer and dryer cycles.

greenfumbers4fowbers:

If you find you have any property damages after close inspection, you should contact Bosch customer service and ask to speak to the claims administrator. When I was a service manager for Bosch it was common practice for customers to file claims for anything from questionable oven fires to leaking dishwashers. Again, you should file a claim only if you have actual property damage caused by this event.

I am anything but a litigious person -- I don't make claims unless I really think "I been done wrong". So, I thought I'd follow up svcmgr's post to say that years ago I had a dishwasher leak that didn't present itself for weeks or months and in the end ruined our hardwood floor, and that KitchenAid paid to fix the dishwasher AND for a new floor (it was a "sediment" issue of sorts -- the filter and grinder didn't work, something gunked up the water lines, and we had a major leak as a result). No fighting either - just wrote us a check.

For $20, you can buy a set of the new "flood safe" water supply lines that have a built in sensor that detects if too much water is flowing and shuts it off. No need to turn off the water at the spigot then. They come with a guarantee that covers damage should they fail. Since 90% of all water damage from a washer can be traced to supply lines bursting or a faulty fill valve, that $20 is a cheap addendum to your homeowner's insurance.

live wire --Thanks for the info on the Floodsaver. I checked a vendor and the washer line is about $28, or $56 for the needed pair. But I'm unsure if that device would prevent a stuck open fill valve on a washer since the flow rate would still be "normal". The Floodsaver is really designed for a burst line where you get max flow. And I think the braided supply lines have dramatically reduced the possibility for a burst.

re: "And I think the braided supply lines have dramatically reduced the possibility for a burst."

Or check out the FloodChek hoses.

FWIW - I've had a braided stainless dishwasher hose burst. I'm with Molly - install one of those simple one lever hot/cold shutoff valves. It takes about 1 second to turn on/off and just becomes part of your laundry routine. After about 12 years ours started to drip, but it was easy to take apart and replace the guts. Even so, nothing is absolutely fool proof. An interesting approach to whole house protection can be found with the www.flologic.com. It watches for even small flows of water, but you schedule when it should watch. To make it easier it can be integrated with an alarm panel and automatically go into it's detailed watch mode when the alarm is set to "away". It can also be directed to shut-off using water sensors that can be integrated with alarm/automation systems.

Here is a link that might be useful: Flood Chek Hoses

THERE WAS NO DAMAGE! We won't be filing a claim for damages. We were standing right in the room when it occurred and mopped it up within 5 minutes.

Later yesterday, I received a call from Bosch to inform me that they were ordering the part from a customer in Texas who had them in stock (since Bosch had a 2-3 week wait on stock) and overnighting it to my service provider in New England. Now I'm just waiting to hear that the part has arrived and get the visit scheduled.

I plan to use the manual shutoff for the water. I'm curious as to whether the item I linked below would work with the Bosch Nexxt 500 washer. It senses current draw in the washer and when the washer has turned off, it shuts off the water, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Automatic Washing Machine Water Shut Off

I tried one of the "flood safe" hoses on a toilet. After the third time it falsely activated (annoying to reset - you have to remove and reinstall the hose) I went back to a normal hose. I realize this is anecdotal - perhaps it was just something weird about the plumbing at that specific toilet - but it's certainly put me off using those hoses anywhere else.

I tried the floodsaver type hoses on our old washer. It reduced the water flow rate to an unacceptable level (It took 10 minutes or longer to fill the washer), so I took them off and returned them to Home Depot.

Me again.
Finally, we're back in working order.

The local service guy and I both learned a few lessons. He learned not to assume that the valve that failed is the cold one, when the customer can't shut off hot or cold supply independently. I learned not to assume he would assume either or both and so order both parts. We both thought about that whole situation a few times since Saturday and both of us realized we should have thought further about where else we could turn off cold or hot supply separately - just the fitting at the wall by the washer, or could we have tracked back further? I'd forgotten that I'd insisted the plumber put in additional shut-offs earlier in the line, in case we ever needed to shut these lines down, without impacting the rest of the household!

I also learned that the people at Bosch (where you end up when you schedule warranty service through the 888-77LOWES number) vary wildly in their knowledge of how to proceed. The first one I spoke to misunderstood me back on the weekend I initially posted.

He thought I said I was OUT OF WARRANTY so he sent me direct to the local authorized service guys (Scott's Appliance Installation and Repair). Scott and I muddled through trying to get the part ordered over a couple days, and then trying to get it expedited. Once we got through that, Scott came on Saturday (a week after this all began) only to discover in the meantime, that the bad one was the hot, not the cold. He scoured the New England area this morning, found a source, worked out whatever deal he needed to get it in hand today and replaced hot and cold fill valves this evening.

Although I'd have been happier if he'd done a more thorough job of troubleshooting me in the first place, I truly like this independent authorized service provider. He works alone - so I'll never see some clueless idiot with an attitude. I like that he completely owned up to making a mistake in troubleshooting and that he made it right, and did a late appointment today, rather than making me stay home from work tomorrow. (On his first visit, when we realized we couldn't make the Bosch functional that day, he fixed a couple dopey* things wrong with my old machine for free, to make sure I could do a couple loads on Sunday, too.)

He also helped me put the Kellett ShakeAway Pads I ordered a while back under the machine, even though his experience with various pads said I'd be unhappy because it might cut the sound but the machine would be jumping around more visibly. When we tested them, he said, "I have to admit, I'm impressed!"

I'm happy... and the Bosch is humming away upstairs, and my whole house AIN'T shakin!

(*hubby put new hoses on the old machine on Friday and ran a load or two. I found them dripping on the basement floor and he'd hooked them up backwards, hot for cold. Good thing I didn't run a load of undies in "cold" or my unmentionables would have also been my invisibles!)

Hi, I also have a problem with a Nexxt 500 that I would really appreciate some feedback on.

I just received my machine - previously used without problem for 8 months - after 1.5 years in storage and an international move (involving bumps - there is a hairline crack across the top of the cabinet). No Bosch technicians here, aaargh!

There is now a problem with the cold water running constantly, either leading to intermittent draining when the machine is turned on and the water reaches a certain level (at which point pump switches on), or to door bursting open and flooding floor when the machine is turned off. This problem seems to occur on most cycles, though I am a bit confused as yesterday I ran the Permanent Press and Regular/Cotton cycles both on cold and they worked fine. Right now I put the Regular/Cotton on hot (right after a canceling a wonky XXtra Sanitary cycle) and the problem reoccurred.

From my Googling, it seems like this is a defective valve - perhaps one that closes very slowly. Maybe on those two cycles I mentioned there was no problem because the valve had finally closed, and/or because of the water temperature. Except that on the latter, each cycle seems to start with a very very short burst of hot water and then the rest cold - is that normal with this machine?. How do I know if the water is heating properly?

I would appreciate it so much if the tecchy forum members could confirm and advise. If it is a defective valve, how do I get at it to look? Will it definitely need replacing, or could it just need cleaning or something? Should any service technician be able to confirm the problem, or would only a Bosch technician be able to?

REALLY appreciate any help! Of course, like everyone else I would love to have a copy of the service manual given that there is no Bosch service where I live.

Thanks so much!