Is it okay to turn off cold water to washing machine?

13 years ago

I just purchased LG Top Loading HE machine WT5101 which is *advertised* as heating to 158 degrees. Upon further contact with LG, this is false. It only supposedly heats to 147 degrees. I have run the sanitary cycle four times and have stopped it multiple times in each cycle and it is, in fact, not getting past 133 degrees at any point. So, I really need the sanitary cycle to be sanitary on occassion (cloth diapers namely) and I am wondering if turning off the cold water to the machine is okay? This would not do damage to the machine by having the cold water just not on, correct? Thanks in advance!

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Comments (11)

dadoes
13 years ago
Shutting off the cold water supply won't work. Cold water is used for rinsing on all cycles and for any cycle that washes at warm or cold ... nor would it have a significant effect, if even any effect at all, on your sanitary cycle's heating performance. Best you can do is purge the hot water line immediately before running Sanitary (or any hot or warm cycle for that matter) by running a faucet that's near the machine (laundry room sink?) or on the same household plumbing line that feeds the machine.
westvillager
13 years ago
A friend of mine discovered his hot water heater was set too low, but assume that's not the case here. Just on to dadoes advice, my washer and dishwasher fault if it expects water but doesn't get it during a cycle. :\
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thanks for the advice, after i found water under the washer while in the laundry room i removed the washer to outside and after looking inside ( after removing the front panel ) for a couple of days and not finding a water leak i put back together and moved back into laundry room and started using, it still leaked, it wasnt a visible leak outside while working on it because i never thought to look in the back of washer to actually see the water escaping from hot water side, so after finding it was leaking from valve hot water side i attatched hose to hot water port hoping that would keep the water escaping from the hot water side, i knew the valve went bad i just thought keeping water in an enclosed system by attatching hose to both ports would stop the leak, it didnt work, the water found its way from the valve itself since the hoses were keeping pressure inside , but again, the water found its way to leak, so, i ordered a new valve, it came in and it was the cheapest valve i could buy on amazon, 10 bucks, it leaked a dribble when put on and started, i began to think i got what i paid for and am returning valve for a more expensive brand, AND the cold and hot water ports are not joined or combined inside the valve in any way , two different ports with two different solenoids , i will update when i get that on, the photos of the washer drum above are horrible, it looks like well water or near a beach where water is not greatly filtered, our washer is old, 2000 model GE profile, and has always used on cold only, but ours is as clean as the day we bought it honestly. i dont know why, i dont do the laundry i just fix things that break , i can do laundry :) i rarely do, i think my mother said hot water can fade or make colors " bleed " making the whole load the same color ? i have no idea, i just dont want to have to replace the flooring in the laundry room so the washer has been moved outside on back porch again until new valve arrives, i was wondering if Jeff had any luck or ideas that i had not considered, i didnt think this 5 year old thread would still be active, i am very pleased it is, thank you.
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gates1
13 years ago
Tired moma, I too have the same washer as you do, I have used the sanitary cylce and the water gets HOT, well past 133 degree's. When I do a load tomorrow on santiary cycle, I will measure it with my digatal therometer and let you know the outcome. On santitary cylce the washer does not add cold water to fill it to begin with, I checked
whirlpool_trainee
13 years ago
This isn't the first time I read about LG washers not reaching the advertised temp on Sanitary. People on automaticwasher.org have said this as well. Interestingly, the GE version of the WaveForce heats to 140F on Sanitary - as stated in the owners manual. It's still NSF certified.

gates, have you bought the service manual for your LG? If so, what's the button combination one has the press to get a reading of the water temp in the tub?
Cyberspacer
13 years ago
No you can't. The machines a designed to be hooked up to cold and hot water. Two things you can to to maximize wash water temp.

1.) Set your household water heater to a higher temp.
2.) Run a pre-wash cycle and if you can use the longest possible cycle to give the water heater additional time to heat the water to the "Sanitize" temp.

I had the same concern for my W4840 Miele. I was expecting it to heat up the water like my 220Volt W1215 Miele and it just doesn't work the same way. The only way I can get to the highest temp. in the machine is to use the Sanitize cycle which kicks in the pre-wash with a 2 hour + cycle during. Does the job however.
badgergrrl
13 years ago
You could also try a hot water booster heater on your washer hot line.
gates1
13 years ago
Whirlpool trainee, yes I bought the service manual for my washer, it is a joke! More of a glorified owners manual to be exact. There is no mention of a button combination to get the internal water temperature to show. Waste of 15 dollars. If I push the wash/rinse button it tells me 158 on any cycle, empty or full so I do not know what that is all about. When I use the sani cycle again, I will monitor it with a therometer and use a Kill-A- Meter on it to see what it is doing and report back.
TiredMama
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks everyone! Gates1--what is a kill-a-meter? I will be very interested to find out how hot yours is getting.

badgergrrl--Does the booster just affect water to the washing machine or to the whole house? I am worried my 3 year old will scald himself if it is too hot everywhere.

cyberspacer--you *can* do it, because I went ahead and did it and it works in that it does keep the cold water from entering, but I am just wondering if it is safe to do or if it could ruin the machine?

As a side note...I have had this thing for less than 48 hours and there is condensation under the LED on/off button and the rest of the display. Any experience with this? Maybe I just have a lemon...? Thanks everyone!
weedmeister
13 years ago
turning off the cold won't hurt it, but it may not like it. That is, it may protest and throw a tantrum.

Killawatt meter = a power measurement device.

On my LG 22whatever, if you press Wash/Rinse and Soil-Level at the same time, it displays the temperature in C.
dadoes
13 years ago
TiredMama,

A Kill A Watt ("kilowatt") meter is a device for measuring electric usage of an appliance. It's plugged into the wall outlet, then the appliance/device to be measure is plugged into the meter. It can be used to determine when a washer's heating element is active according to the wattage the machine is drawing. Higher wattage draw (1,200 watts or so) indicates the heating element is on.

Kill A Watt Meter

Do a search, they can be found at Amazon and other sources.
gates1
13 years ago
thanks for clearing that up for me dadoes, my bust! IN my case the heater is 1000 watts so I can tell when it comes on

Is it okay to turn off cold water to washing machine?

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Is it okay to turn off cold water to washing machine?

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