Hose for Washing Machine Leaking

[Andrew Joiner]

I learned that Stainless hoses are mandatory on washing machines after a near disaster with rubber hoses.

I put Stainless Steel hoses on our washing machine . The red rubber gaskets they came with are 5 years old. The gaskets cracked and now drip.

What's the most durable hose gasket?

[Raymond Fries]

Not sure which gasket is the best but maybe try that thread tape. That should seal the threads to prevent a leak.

[Jim Matthews]

That's about right for a natural rubber gasket.
There are some polyurethane gaskets, but if they're overtightened the seal will fail.

Consider retrofitting a shutoff valve where the hoses connect.
Mine actuates with a lever. When it's time for a wash, I flip it to run water.

When the wash is done, the supply is shut off right at the source.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Those stainless hoses leak too. Just a rubber hose inside. Replace very 5 years. $20.

[Todd Willhoit]

Those stainless hoses leak too. Just a rubber hose inside.

+1 It happened to me.

[Biff Johnson]

The stainless steel is just a protective jacket, won't do anything to protect the inner rubber from degrading. I'm afraid they are a maintenance item that will have to be replaced just like a standard hose.

[David G Baker]

I have used "O" ring type washers for years and have never had one fail. They are plump where standard hose washers are flat. I have found that occasionally I run into a hose bib that I can't use the "O" ring type washer on due to the short amount of threads on it and the washer is to thick, then I have to go back to the flat washers.

[Stephen Tashiro]

I wonder how much the failure of clothes washer hoses is due to deterioration of the rubber hose and how much is due to the fact that the washer vibrates the hoses over and over again. (For comparison, I can't think of any non-vibrated examples of rubber hoses that are indoors and left under constant pressure.)

[Andrew Joiner]

My washing machine has stainless steel hoses that came with a red gasket on one end and black gasket on the other. The same supplier still stocks all hoses that way.The red that failed at 5 years looked like rubber. The black is fine it's not rubber, more like o-ring material( looks like pvc ). I found some gaskets that match the black and replaced all 4.

I had to go to 4 places to find non- rubber hose gaskets!

[Andrew Joiner]

The stainless steel is just a protective jacket, won't do anything to protect the inner rubber from degrading. I'm afraid they are a maintenance item that will have to be replaced just like a standard hose.

Mike ,Todd, and Biff,
Do you replace all your stainless steel supply lines every 5 years?


I have stainless steel supply lines on all my sinks/toilets/ dishwasher. They're all 10 years old and fine. I hope the washing machine style hose gasket was the weak link. Glad we have polished concrete floors in the entire house.

[John Coloccia]

I think the hoses can take a real beating from both vibration AND the solenoids turning on an off, but then again dishwasher hoses never seem to fail do they? My Miele washer is on the original hoses. I think my wife bought that thing 15 or 20 years ago. I don't think they're rubber, though.

Anyhow, I wonder why not use PEX...or braided nylon....or anything else? Rubber seems like such an incredibly poor choice, I just can't figure out why it would ever be used.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Mike ,Todd, and Biff,
Do you replace all your stainless steel supply lines every 5 years?


I have stainless steel supply lines on all my sinks/toilets/ dishwasher. They're all 10 years old and fine. I hope the washing machine style hose gasket was the weak link. Glad we have polished concrete floors in the entire house.

Hardwood in my house. No way I'd wait ten years.

[Todd Willhoit]

Andrew,
Mine were new, straight from the package, and in service less than 60 days when the leak developed. They were to replace a standard set that was around eight years old. A pinhole developed in the cold water line. Luckily there was little damage. Sent them to the mfg but never received a failure report.

Our most recent set came with the washer and has been in service seven years.

[Mike Cutler]

Anyhow, I wonder why not use PEX...or braided nylon....or anything else? Rubber seems like such an incredibly poor choice, I just can't figure out why it would ever be used.

Depending on the source and quality, a rated "black rubber hose will outlast the appliances lifetime, and is chemically inert. A BUNA gasket seal will definitely last more than 5 years.

Putting in a stainless steel braided hose just by description is nonsense. It's still the inner material that is doing the work, and if the steel braid is just the garbage at the home center, a person would be better off going to an industrial plumbing supply house and sourcing nylon reinforced, neoprene hose.
If I thought my hoses for appliances were only good for a few years. I'd change to a different manufacturer, or just replace them with braided fuel line.
The hose should outlast the appliance.

For the OP
There is nothing exotic about the gasket for an appliance. Any quality plumbing supply house should be able to sell you BUNA type rubber gaskets, or O-rings. The stuff in a DIY'r store is generally going to be a low grade rubber/ poly/PVC material that will take a set and start to leak in a few years, or after a few retightenings.

[Ole Anderson]

I just replaced my red and black rubber hoses after 10 years and they still looked in good shape and we run about 75 psi on our city water connection. Concrete floor with the sump and pump 3 feet away. I installed a manual single lever shutoff on the connection, but it only gets used when we are on vacation, when I usually turn off the water at the meter anyway. Saw a blurb on DIY or HGTV channel about auto valves that either work with a solenoid or turn on manually and off automatically. Hoses aren't the only thing that can go wrong. My RV neighbor in FL left to go to the beach and when he returned and opened his door he was greeted with a flood of water, the fill solenoid on his washer had failed in the on position.

Washing machine hoses (usually 3/8" hose) use standard garden hose connections, o-rings won't work, you must use flat gaskets. Who is to say the rubber hose covered with ss braid sold for washing machine hose isn't the same hose used as fuel line? Probably a different rubber compound, but I'll bet similar pressure ratings. Be careful, some cheap look-alike hoses have a silver colored plastic braid that fools a lot of folks into thinking they are ss.

[ray hampton]

all faucets on the washer hoses need a paddle handle not a round wheel so that the water can be turn -off quick and not placed in a hard-to-get locale, paddle faucets handle are easier for the older people or the disabled to turn on or off and should be the standard handle on faucets

[Brian Lefort]

The stainless steel is designed to protect the hose from failure when the machine jumps around with an uneven load. They do not last longer than rubber hoses, as has been mentioned earlier in this thread, they are still rubber on the inside.

[Jason Roehl]

I think we've had our washer for about a dozen years or so now, and I don't recall ever replacing the black rubber hoses, or the gaskets, and this does include a move plus a few "un-hookings" for repair purposes (a stacked unit--that dryer is about to get fixed with a 12-gauge once and for all). When I do attach the hoses, I use channel-locks or large-mouth pliers for the final tightening.

Of course, when I was replacing a floor in a customer's house and reattaching the hoses so she could have the washer for the weekend, that final tightening (I really didn't put much elbow grease in it, either) snapped the valve in half... Instead of being done for the day, round trip to the store, cleanup, etc. cost me another hour and a half or so. She insisted she didn't need the washer, and I didn't have a torch with me, so I just cut the valve off and put a shark-bite style cap on there and replaced the valve the following Monday.

[Pat Barry]

The hose attaches to a plastic part at the washing machine, at least thats the way it is on my Kenmore machine, so you need to be very careful not to over-tighten this connection. It should not take any more torque than a garden hose.

[Jason Roehl]

The hose attaches to a plastic part at the washing machine, at least thats the way it is on my Kenmore machine, so you need to be very careful not to over-tighten this connection. It should not take any more torque than a garden hose.

True. The problem is that the two connections are so close together that I can't get my hand around either one to tighten them well. Thus the mechanical help, but I'm definitely just "snugging them up", not torquing them down like cylinder head bolts.

[ray hampton]

True. The problem is that the two connections are so close together that I can't get my hand around either one to tighten them well. Thus the mechanical help, but I'm definitely just "snugging them up", not torquing them down like cylinder head bolts.

If the faucets handle has a cylinder head bolt sticking up , then we could use a socket and ratchet to turn the water on or OFF

[Ole Anderson]

If the faucets handle has a cylinder head bolt sticking up , then we could use a socket and ratchet to turn the water on or OFF

Yea, and I could use my digital torque wrench to snug them up just right...

[John Coloccia]

I have to use pliers on my Miele because of how it's set up too. For an otherwise brilliantly engineered machine, the hose connections where designed by an idiot. There's no way to do it without using a wrench. There's also no way of removing the inline filters without using pliers, and they break half the time and I have to order new ones. TERRIBLE design. Miele should be ashamed of itself.