The principle of operation of the Aquastop function in the dishwasher

Users of household appliances, based on the use of water, hear these phrases all the time: in specialty stores, many sellers often insert these words into their speech when they explain the advantages of selling appliances for the home. What is called the Aquastop system, how it is used for active protection of the dishwasher, what it consists of and how to replace it yourself - we will try to answer all these questions in the article.

Design and functional features

In world practice, any protection against leakage is called Aqua-Stop or Aqua-Control. In principle, this is an ordinary water supply hose to household appliances,only enclosed in a special protective casing with a device that blocks water in the event of unforeseen circumstances: a hose rush, its leakage due to a crack, etc. Thus, the built-in protection system protects you from unwanted flooding. Its task is to immediately turn off the water supply to household appliances, dishwasher or laundry assistants to prevent water from flowing to the floor.

Many homeowners do not even realize that the pressure in the plumbing system is quite large, and the water hammer — a sudden increase in internal pressure — often occurs. Without a reliable system of protection of hoses, you just can not do.

The standard Aquastop system consists of the following main parts:

• mechanical or electromagnetic valve assembly;
• water inlet hose to the device;
• pallet;
• float;
• safety wire;
• reset button of excess water.

Aquastop device: A - Solenoid valve, C - inlet hose B - control cable D - Leaks (hoses for water)

Principle of operation

All modern appliances for a house that uses water are protected from unwanted leaks even during the manufacturing process.Each manufacturer wants users to buy only his model, therefore, in addition to the filling hose, they supply their products special pallets with electromechanical devices.

The whole system works smoothly and quite effectively:

1. Electromagnetic or mechanical valves (1) are mounted in the water supply hose (2).
2. When the equipment is included in the grid, then safety valve voltage is applied, it opens, and the operating valve is still closed.
3. If the user presses the start button and the machine starts the cycle, then operating valve is opening up.
4. When a leakage occurs, all the water enters the pan (3), where its level is monitored control float (four). If the water level rises, the contacts open. Safety wire (5) is designed to turn off the power going to a similar valve, the flow of current is interrupted - the valve closes the water supply.
5. After eliminating all the faults, you need to press the reset button, and the system is again ready to work.

Every well-known home appliance brand today uses just such a leakage protection system, because it is of a dual type: Aquastop filler hose - external protection, and the equipment itself is protected by the internal Aqua-control system.

Inlet hose protection

The industry produces special hoses with built-in mechanisms for shutting off the water supply in various ways. There are the following systems that are responsible for protecting against unwanted leakage of the filling hose:

• mechanical;
• with the use of absorbent;
• electromagnetic type.

The first option is now used very rarely, but you can meet it on budget Bosch dishwashers. The system consists of a valve and springs, calculated on a certain pressure of water - when a leakage occurs, it falls, the spring is activated and the valve blocks the flow of water. Such a system is not able to recognize small leaks from the fistula, leakage of gaskets, which can do a lot of damage.

The system with the Aquastop mechanical type recognizes only 147 leaks out of 1 thousand, and this is only no more than 85% of the protection, which today is considered to be much below the norm.

In essence, such a system works like one hose inside another, made of corrugated plastic: if the inner layer is damaged, then the plastic one will be a fairly reliable protection.

Mechanical type

When a leak occurs, the protection system instantly works - the red indicator on the case lights up, the water turns off.

Mechanical valveinstalled on the drain device, after actuation due to failure of the hose is not suitable for further operation. Therefore, install a new drain hose, which is the main disadvantage of such protection against leakage.

Application based protection system absorbent it is used much more often, its action does not differ in complexity: moisture from a leakage flows into a special tank with an absorbent, which instantly swells, expanding at the same time, than it blocks the access of water to the dishwasher using a valve.

With the use of absorbent

The main disadvantage is the fact that he too disposable: the absorbent inside the housing swells and hardens, tightly locking the valve, eliminating the possibility of its reuse, including the hose. Systems with the use of absorbent come with a plunger or only with the presence of a spring, others are not found in world practice.

Electromechanical The protection system with Aquastop works according to a similar scheme as the system with an absorbent, but its basis is an electromagnetic valve. In the case of such a device may be one or two valves.The water flows through the hose into the pallet of the Bosch car, the device with the absorbent starts to absorb it, swells - the valve blocks the access of water to the car.

Experts say that Aqua-control, working with a solenoid valve, does not provide protection only in 8 cases out of 1000 variants of leaks.

Electromechanical protection system

Possible problems

The main problem of hoses with Aquastop is the impossibility of their extension or installation in hard-to-reach places. Due to the size of a rather massive body, the connection to the faucet can be very problematic. In addition, many users of Bosch machines assure that the case should be installed with the arrow pointing down, so when installing, compare your actions with the attached instructions.

If any leakage occurs, the machine gives an error E15 - if the Aqua-control system worked, check the instructions and everything will become clear to you. But sometimes such a warning is not displayed on the display, but no water in the car. In this case, your actions should have the following sequence:

• close the water supply valve to the device;
• unscrew the hose equipped with the Aquastop system;
• look inside the hose - the valve should be visible immediately behind the nut;
• if there is no gap between it and the body of the nut - the system has worked and the water through such a hose to the machine will not pass.

For complete confidence, it is necessary to unscrew the lower front plate, shine a flashlight in the pan: if there is water, then the protection system has worked, it remains to find a leak.

Self install

Replace the old hose work is not difficult - overlap the water and dismantle the hose, and in its place install a new one. If a system with a solenoid valve was used, then you need to carefully connect the wiring with the plug to the sensor, which is located next to the filler inlet on the machine.

Any system is quite effective and protects your household appliances from various leaks and troubles resulting in a flood. It is not for nothing that the specialists advise to install Aquastop protection systems, they work simply - any user who does not have any technical knowledge will make the replacement.