Noob installing a Dishwasher : Where to start?

RangeR

Hi guys,

Long time boardsie, first time visit to DIY. I'm totally out of my dept with this one.

Having not done much DIY in my life, I have been given the task of installing a new dishwasher in my home.

Forget the actual brand of dishwasher but that shouldn't matter in this posting. It didn't come with a water inlet hose, so I went out and bought one. Fits nicely. Both ends of the hose have the same connector [see image hose_fitting.jpg]

Now, The great guy that I am, managed to fit the hose to the dishwasher. I was slightly proud of myself until I saw what I had to connect it to. See images water_inlet.jpg and water_inlet2.jpg.

This is puzzling me. It also puzzled another colleague of mine who is pretty handy around the house.

It's a white box. Might be a water filter but we don't have water problems in our area. One end of the box is going into the mains, the other end was going into the old dishwasher.

When I was removing the old dishwasher, it didn't appear that the hose could be disconnected easily so out came the knife. Yes I know now that this was foolish as water could have gone everywhere. Funnily enough, very little water came out. I didn't even have to turn off the mains...

Anywho, my main question is, how do I hook up my dishwasher, considering the three images attached.

I don't really mind getting a pro in to do it but I've been bitten so many times in the past by cowboys so I decided to try it myself.

Ask me a computer question and I can instantly answer it. DIY... and I'm lost.


Thanks in advance.

murphaph

I dunno what that thing is but it looks to be a sealed unit so unlikely a filter or you'd have to replace it periodically. It could be a one-way check valve to prevent backsiphoning of contaminated water into the mains.

You need to fit a washing machine valve to that beige pipe (it's called Qualplex). The valve looks like this:



....and your blue hose will screw directly onto it. It's quite straightforward to do.

RangeR

murphaph wrote: »

I dunno what that thing is but it looks to be a sealed unit so unlikely a filter or you'd have to replace it periodically. It could be a one-way check valve to prevent backsiphoning of contaminated water into the mains.

Probably explains why my house didn't get flooded when I snipped the hose

murphaph wrote: »

You need to fit a washing machine valve to that beige pipe (it's called Qualplex). The valve looks like this:



....and your blue hose will screw directly onto it. It's quite straightforward to do.

Excellent. Cheers for that. Fingers crossed that all goes well.

Hotwheels

From what I can see you already have a washing machine valve...Just put your hand under the connection and see if you can feel a lever. If you can twist it...then disconnect the old inlet feed, and connect the new machine and turn on the valve, and away you go...

Avns1s

Can you check if the qualpex (brownish) pipe is connected into your cold water supply?

If it is, you should undo the compression joint where the qualpex connects to the fitting on the side of the box in the pics, remove the fitting and the box and fit the washing machine valve to the compression joint / qualpex. They should be the same size. Then you can connect your blue water inlet pipe to the Washing Machine valve.

QED (hopefully!)

Just seen Hotwheels post and I agree totally. If there is no lever, you should be able to go with m suggestion but I do believe he's right!

RangeR

Hotwheels wrote: »

From what I can see you already have a washing machine valve...Just put your hand under the connection and see if you can feel a lever. If you can twist it...then disconnect the old inlet feed, and connect the new machine and turn on the valve, and away you go...

Yup, thought of that when I talked to my colleague today. Don't need any floods

The valves are easily visable from new image attached [water_inlet3.jpg]. It's just very tight to get into. There is only access from beside, not from in front [in the press, under the sink]. Bad kitchen install [one of the many cowboy firms that bit me]

RangeR

Avns1s wrote: »

Can you check if the qualpex (brownish) pipe is connected into your cold water supply?

I'm almost sure it's connected to the other qualplex that goes straight up to the kitchen tap. So yeah, it should be on the main water supply.

Avns1s wrote: »

If it is, you should undo the compression joint where the qualpex connects to the fitting on the side of the box in the pics, remove the fitting and the box and fit the washing machine valve to the compression joint / qualpex. They should be the same size. Then you can connect your blue water inlet pipe to the Washing Machine valve.

QED (hopefully!)

Just seen Hotwheels post and I agree totally. If there is no lever, you should be able to go with m suggestion but I do believe he's right!

Sweet. Cheers. Not quite understanding you 100% but I get the gist.

Avns1s

IrishTLR wrote: »

Yup, thought of that when I talked to my colleague today. Don't need any floods

The valves are easily visable from new image attached [water_inlet3.jpg]. It's just very tight to get into. There is only access from beside, not from in front [in the press, under the sink]. Bad kitchen install [one of the many cowboy firms that bit me]

Hi Irish TLR,

Can you undo the brass coloured part of the connection closest to the box.

As Hotwheels pointed out earlier, you have the Washing Machine connection already. If you can undo the brass coloured part in your last pic, the blue pipe will connect directly to the fitting and away you go.

Hope this is clearer than the last attempted description.

murphaph

Ah yeah that pic is much clearer and you already have ypur washing machine valve alright. Just undo the large brass thread-on fitting and you simply screw your blue hose onto that silver valve and turn on and you're done.

Pete67

The white box is most likely a solenoid valve. It's purpose is to prevent flooding the house if the water supply hose fails. It was (is?) commonly fitted to Bosch and Siemens dishwashers. The solenoid valve only opens when the dishwasher is switched on and looking for water. Hence there was no leak when you cut the old hose. However, if it is a solenoid valve, then there would be an electrical supply along with the water hose. Did you see any wires when you cut through the water pipe?

As someone else said, turn off the blue lever on the existing valve (lever at right angles to the valve body = off) and then unscrew the brass nut to release the solenoid valve. The new hose should then fit directly onto the valve body.

RangeR

It seems to be the general opinion that I bypass the white box and connect my hose onto the metal end of the qualplex. Will that [plastic on metal] have a water tight seal or do I need to but some sealant?

@Pete : Good catch, I *think* our old dishwasher was a Bosch.

Pete67

You don't need sealant, there should be a rubber washer in the hose fitting to seal against the metal valve body.

RangeR

Very good. Just wanted to be sure.

Again, thanks to all for your assistance.

RangeR

Just want to close this one off by thanking everyone who helped. Finally got around to installing yesterday. It took this noob about 4 hours but finally got it finished

fooked up the fridge in the meantime though but that's a problem for another thread.