Sawdust on the Floor

Unless you are that one in a million person who remembers to turn off every water supply valve in your home when you leave for work, school or vacation, then you may come home to a flooded house. That is unless you replace your existing hoses to devices like the washing machine or dishwasher with hoses that are equipped with an anti flood device.

Conventional washing machine hoses are nothing more than rubber hoses with the proper fitting on the ends that attach to the water supply valves and the washing machine. These hoses are subjected to a continuing cycle of pressure on and off, which over time will start to break down the hoses. These hoses are not much different then a high quality garden hose, which you usually replace every few years. When was the last time you replaced the hoses on your washer?

An improvement to the rubber hoses, are the metal flex hoses. These have a longer longevity then the rubber hoses, but they will eventually wear out and leak, just as the rubber hoses will. You can lengthen the life of metal flex hoses by proper installation. The hoses should be long enough that there are no sharp bends or kinks in the hose. Also, be sure that the hoses are supported as you don’t want to ever have them hanging from the machine or valves in  a manner that will create a stress point.

A much better recommendation is to install the correct hose. Several manufacturer have hoses that contain a device known as an anti flood device. What this ingenuous device does is sense that water has flowed for too long of a period and shuts off the water. Think about it, you’re away from home and the hose to the washer develops a small pin hole leak, no big deal right? After all how much damage could that cause.

According to Insurance companies, water damage is one of the leading causes of home damage, second only to fire. So that little pin hole leak can cause major damage to your home, if left undetected for a long enough time.  How long was your vacation for? One week? Two weeks? That’s a lot of potential water in your home if your hoses develop a leak while you are away. If you have the anti flood hoses installed, the worse you will have is a very small puddle of water to clean up, not a flood.

Anti flood hoses are not expensive, only a couple of dollars more than the metal flex hoses. Installation of the anti flood hoses is a very simple task. Simply turn off both the hot and cold water valves to your washing machine, remove the old hoses from the washing machine by unscrewing the connector, and replace them with the new anti flood hoses. One word of caution, the hoses have an inlet and outlet side. The inlet side MUST be connected to the valve. The hoses are labeled for your convenience.

Another manufacture produces hoses that are known as Flood Check Washer Hoses. These hoses are warranted for a 20 year period. They are available only through plumbing supply stores. The anti flood hoses are available in your local hardware and DIY stores.

Anti flood hoses are also available for installation as the supply hoses for your dishwasher. These hoses are the same as the washing machine hoses, but with the appropriate fittings for the dishwasher. A leak under the dishwasher or sink can cause just as much damage as a leak in the laundry room.

As with all good things, there is a small down side to these hoses. Our washing machine recently developed a problem. It would not go into the rinse cycle. We found out that we could get it to work fine if we turned off the water valve then turned it back on. It was then that I remembered that I had installed an anti flood hose in the line. Well, the hose had developed a problem and it wasn’t allowing the water to flow into the washer. I suspect that turning the water off then back on reset the anti flood device. The fix was simple, I replaced the hose and every thing was good. Oh by the way, I also replaced the other hose at the same time, it wasn’t showing any problems, but they had both been in the system for a couple of years. The cost of the hose is really cheap insurance.