How to disconnect a washing machine and plumb in a new one

What you need

For a straight swap you need very little. Have these ready before you pull the machine out.

• A shallow tray or baking tin and a couple of old towels. There is always water left in the hoses and the drum sump.
• A torch, because the valve is usually low down and behind the machine.
• A blanking cap for the valve (a 3/4 inch BSP cap), if you are removing the machine without replacing it.
• The transit bolts that came with the machine, if you are moving it to another home.
• For the new machine, the hoses supplied in the box. Do not reuse old ones.

How to disconnect a washing machine, step by step

Run the machine empty on a drain or spin setting first if it will still run. That clears most of the water out of the drum and pump.

• Switch off at the socket and unplug the machine. If the socket is behind the machine, ease the machine forward just enough to reach it.
• Find the isolation valve on the pipe that feeds the fill hose. It usually has a blue lever for cold and, on older installations, a red one for hot. Turn the lever a quarter turn so it sits across the pipe. In line with the pipe is on, across is off.
• Put the tray and towels under the valve. Unscrew the fill hose from the valve by hand, anticlockwise. A little water will run out.
• Pull the drain hose out of the standpipe, or unscrew or pull it off the spigot on the sink trap. Hold the end up until it is over the tray, because it will be full of dirty water.
• Drain the machine through the filter. There is usually a flap at the bottom front with a small emergency drain tube or the filter itself behind it. Lower the tube into the tray, or unscrew the filter slowly, and expect more water than the tray holds.
• If the machine is being moved, fit the transit bolts into the back before it goes anywhere. They lock the drum in place so it is not damaged in the van.
• Screw a blanking cap on the valve if nothing is going back on it, and check the sink trap spigot is capped or blanked so the sink does not drain out through it.

If the valve will not turn, is stiff enough that you worry about snapping it, or starts dripping from the spindle when you move it, stop and turn off the water at the main stop tap before undoing the hose.

How to plumb in a washing machine

If there is already a supply valve and a drain point where the machine goes, fitting a new one is straightforward. Take the transit bolts out of the back first. Leaving them in is the most common reason a new machine shakes itself across the floor on its first spin, and it can damage the drum.

The short version is below. Our full guide on how to install a washing machine also covers checking the space before delivery, the waste options compared and self-cutting valves.

• Check the rubber washer is sitting flat inside each end of the new fill hose. A missing or twisted washer is the usual cause of a drip at the valve.
• Screw the hose on to the machine first, then on to the valve, hand-tight. Plastic hose nuts only need a firm hand; a wrench can crack them.
• If the machine is cold fill only and there is a hot valve, leave the hot valve closed and capped.
• Hook the drain hose into the standpipe using the plastic U-guide that comes with it, at the height the manual gives. Do not push the hose far down the standpipe or seal it into the pipe, as that can let the machine siphon water out while it fills.
• If the drain goes to a sink trap spigot, check whether the spigot is new. Many are sold with a thin plastic disc sealing the inside that has to be cut out, and if it is left in the water has nowhere to go and will come back out of the hose joint.
• Push the machine back without kinking either hose, level it using the feet, and turn the valve back on.
• Run a short empty wash and look behind and under the machine during the fill and the first pump-out.

Where to look if it leaks after you plumb it in

Leaks after a swap are nearly always at a joint you just made, not the machine itself. Work through them in the order the water flows.

When it is a plumbing job, not a swap

A like-for-like swap on existing connections is a normal household task. It becomes a plumbing job when the machine is going somewhere new, when there is no isolation valve, or when the waste has to be moved.

A new supply needs a proper valve, the right backflow protection and pipework run to the regulations. Water Regs UK notes that domestic washing machines are treated as a fluid category 3 risk, and that some appliances need separate backflow protection if what is built in does not meet UK requirements. A new waste has to discharge into the foul drain, not a rainwater gully or a surface water pipe. A washing machine connected to the wrong drain sends dirty water straight to rivers and streams, and Thames Water lists appliance misconnections among the problems it asks homeowners to put right.

If the old valve is seized, weeping, or the kind that needs a screwdriver and a lot of force to move, it is worth replacing it while the machine is out, rather than finding out it will not shut off when you next need it to.

Need a hand?

We can fit a new supply valve and waste, move a washing machine or dishwasher to a new position, raise a standpipe that overflows, or fix a connection that keeps leaking. We have 10 vans covering London and everywhere inside the M25. Tell us what the machine is being connected to now, where you want it, and whether there is a sink or a standpipe nearby, and we can say what the job involves before anyone arrives.