In Line Filters . Washing Machine

I'm on tank water . The line from the tank unfortunately has been installed taking water from the very bottom of the concrete tank . Coming in from the side . It picks up sand and other small grains. The filters on the gas instant hot water service and back of the clothes washing machine need to be cleaned every 6 months . If the pipe had only been placed a few inches off the bottom of the tank Life would be easier.
I think a larger cartridge filter just after the pump would be a good idea one day.

What I'm wondering though .
The Washing machine filters . They are two small thimble shaped plastic things in the Hot and cold inlet fittings .
How necessary are they on a washing machine ? If they are not there does it mean a few specs of dirt get through to the clothes ?
Or does it mean the dirt goes through to something more important and buggers that up ?

Id be happy taking them out and I'd probably never see any of those specs on any of my washed stuff if it just goes right through .

I have a double cartridge filter between the pump and the house and currently have to replace it every month. Tried the washable filters but they collapse as soon as they get dirty and if you wash them they only last a week.

If you remove the filters in the washing machine grit may get stuck in the valve controlling the water flow and you will flood your laundry.

The problem with this time of the year is that the light showers wet the roof and the strong wind blows fresh dust onto the roof. The next shower washes the dust into your tank and you use the water before the dust has a chance to settle out.

This can be remedied by fitting a diverter to the downpipe to dump the first dirty flow but in my case I have six downpipes feeding my tanks and the water loss would be too great.

There are probably solenoid valves in your washing machine that wouldn't like bits of sand etc. to get on their seats.

Alan...

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Originally Posted by Uncle Al

There are probably solenoid valves in your washing machine that wouldn't like bits of sand etc. to get on their seats.

Alan...

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Correct - I took the filters out on our washing machine and that is exactly what happened.
Each replacement solenoid was $70 plus callout fee plus labour!!!
I had a crack at doing it myself and fortunately (before I bough the solenoids) found there was only grit appearing on the cold water solenoid seat (suspect the HWS filter protected the hot water side of things) so I as able to swap the cold solenoid for the hot and run on cold water wash only - which was mostly what we were doing anyway.

Real glad I asked ! Thanks all . Those little filters will stay put then and I will see whats local to filter the water at the pump .

Another problem the particles cause is they destroy tap washers quickly . Kitchen sink needs new washers every couple of months . The sand embeds between the washer and seat and stays put . I thought it may be sand washing out of the concrete tank walls . Never thought it may be coming off the iron roof deposited there by the wind but that sounds right .

It has me wondering that the sand must be coming off a driveway that passes the house 25 meters away to the West. Its the only source of uncovered dirt and sand close by . Everything else is covered in grass apart from the road out front 300 meters away to the North.

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Originally Posted by auscab

Real glad I asked ! Thanks all . Those little filters will stay put then and I will see whats local to filter the water at the pump .

Another problem the particles cause is they destroy tap washers quickly . Kitchen sink needs new washers every couple of months . The sand embeds between the washer and seat and stays put . I thought it may be sand washing out of the concrete tank walls . Never thought it may be coming off the iron roof deposited there by the wind but that sounds right .

It has me wondering that the sand must be coming off a driveway that passes the house 25 meters away to the West. Its the only source of uncovered dirt and sand close by . Everything else is covered in grass apart from the road out front 300 meters away to the North.

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About 10 years ago we had similar probs and I kept blaming retic suckback for causing the sand clogging filters and tap problems. After fixing the relic we still had teh are probs which was eventually tracked it down to a cracks in the mains water line in the street. Before that was uncovered I had replaced most of the heavy use taps (bath/laundry) with cheap chinese ceramic seat tap spindles from Bunnings. The ceramic seats are so hard they crush the sand and we never had a single problem after that. Recently we did up our bathroom and I kept the spindles and put them in the lesser used taps like second bath and toilet.