Washer Leak AND Drain Pan Leak >:( - Fixed with Pictures

I have the factory installed stacked washer and dryer (Ariston Splendide ARXL129 Washer). Early this spring on our first trip out, I noticed our bedroom floor and closet was wet. Discovered the washer was leaking and the drain pan was leaking too - out the rear left corner of the drain pan - and not draining out the front right drain hose.

Long story short - wrestled the dryer out, wrestled the washer out, disassembled the top of the washer, and found the inlet hot water solenoid valve cracked and leaking water. Also found the drain pan leaking where the adjustable screw down back lip was not installed correctly. I replaced the butyl tape under the screw down back lip and improved the installation by adding some more screws to tighten up the butyl seal. By the way, it was installed on carpet. I have also included a picture of how the washer/dryer unit was fastened for stability to the closet by a "L" bracket. There are no screw holding down the washer to the floor.

I used the Heartland Owners Manual links to find the Ariston part number for the inlet hot water valve (part #100452), called Westland Sales in Oregon (1-800-356-0766, ext 5) and ordered up the part. The gentleman on the phone recommended ReliableParts(dot)com here in Canada to order the part from to avoid the border crossing (great customer service!) - and it was cheaper here in Canada as well ($35 Cdn vs $60 US).

Hope this helps someone else looking at the same concerns.

Brian

Brian,

Thanks for taking the time to get pics and thanks for sharing.

I should add a little more info on why I think the hot inlet solenoid valve cracked.

While pulling home from Southern California this spring (early March) I ran into some real cold weather (10F) for about 5 hours (mountain passes in MT) and I was not winterized. I "think" the front of the trailer, in the bedroom closet, where there is not much air circulation, got very cold and the back of the washer got below freezing. It is the only thing I can think why the valve cracked. The rest of the unit was fine. When we stopped I fired up the furnace but I believe the damage was already done. My fault.

PS - interesting to note - while I had the washer out I found two COAX cable splices in the wall cavity behind the washer that were not tight; I think this is where they join the satellite and cable COAX sections between the roof and body while on the assembly line. Maybe I'll see better reception on the bedroom TV now . I have replaced all the other COAX crimps with COAX compression fittings - these were the last two (I think....)

Brian

Nice work, Brian. I'm waiting on the drain pan to arrive and I'll be pulling my combo unit out of the front closet to install it. Not sure were the leak is, but it's recent (like last week), so I don't think I had a freeze problem. I'm hoping it's just a loose fitting inside the cabinet, but I won't be able to work on it until the beginning of September.

brianharrison said:

and the drain pan was leaking too - out the rear left corner of the drain pan - and not draining out the front right drain hose.

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You would think that the drain pans would be molded to fit the machines. My pan is made/cut the same way.

porthole said:

You would think that the drain pans would be molded to fit the machines. My pan is made/cut the same way.

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Yes, I would agree. However, in a little research I did on drain pans, this style seems to be marketed to allow removal of this "lip" to facilitate sliding in the washer/dryer rather than lifting in, possible damaging the lip if the unit is dropped/scraped over the front lip. Mine was installed to facilitate drain tube routing through the near outside wall; hence removable lip in the rear.

The poor fit of the lip (lip was longer than inside dimension of pan) did not allow the lip to be screwed down tightly creating the seal - I had to build up the butyl tape to accommodate this gap between the lip and pan. The inside of the pan and lip outside corners are rounded and I could not simply cut off excess lip length.

Brian

I have the same style drip pan and it also does not quite fit. It came unsealed a couple of months ago and I haven't gotten a round "ToIt" to fix it yet. Guess I'll just build up the butyl tape to fill the space.

Mine was just delivered today. A dry fit seems to show the insert fits correctly, but we'll know for sure at the end of the month when I get to install it.

JohnDar said:

Mine was just delivered today. A dry fit seems to show the insert fits correctly, but we'll know for sure at the end of the month when I get to install it.

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1 or 2 piece?

porthole said:

1 or 2 piece?

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Two piece, PI-22 model. If it looks like there might be a problem after assembly, I'll put a caulk bead along the inner edge, which will be easily accessible at the front of the machine. The drain line will be at the rear of the machine, into the pipe chase for the drain and water lines to it. I don't anticipate needing to disassemble it once it's in unless I screw the pooch doing it.

Thanks, good to know about the link to purchase in Canada