How to Check the Inlet Screen For Clogs in a Washer

Have you noticed that your washer doesn’t fill with water or is slow to fill with water? There are a handful of different reasons for it. One such reason is a clogged inlet screen. When hot or cold water is pumped into your washer, it should be pretty clean. However, on the off chance that it isn’t and there are some larger particles in the waterline, they will be caught by a small screen mesh installed in the inlet lines. This is something that is meant to protect the washer, but it can also be responsible for the non-function of it when the screen becomes almost completely clogged.

As many appliance owners do not know that inlet screens even exist, it can become a problem that just doesn’t get fixed. However, once you know they are there and how to get to them, this fix is easy and something you can fully do on your own.

To begin, you will want to shut off the water to your washer unit. Doing so at the inlet valves on the wall is fine, you do not need to shut off the water at the main. Once done, you will need to unscrew the water inlet hoses. On the back of your washer unit where the hoses attach, you will be able to look into the holes and see a screen in each of them. If this is indeed your issue, you will see a lot of debris on them as well. The debris will need to be scraped off or otherwise removed to fix the issue.

This is a common problem for homes that have very hard water. Essentially, the mineral scale builds up on this screen and causes clogs. Unfortunately, that screen only caught so much of it, so it is likely that there is build up in both the hoses and the actual appliance that will continue to shorten the lifespan of the appliance.