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Washing machine hoses

When our home inspector went through he mentioned to me that I should replace the existing rubber hoses on the washing machine with steel-reinforced ones. I wondered if washing machine hoses were specially prone to fail, perhaps something to do with the intermittent nature of the load (if you look at the hoses when the washing machine runs, they jerk as the machine draws water in phases). I also began to wonder if dishwasher hoses suffered from the same problem.

A quick search brought up two documents, one from a community association underwriter - which I assume insures people with rental properties. The other document I found was from an insurance association serving hotels and inns. The first one claims that steel-reinforced hoses are no better than rubber hoses since the hoses are damaged at the connection. The other one suggests that steel-reinforced hoses may be better than regular rubber hoses but all hoses should be replaced every five years or so.

I could not find reasons why these hoses were more susceptible to rupturing and why the dish washer water connection does not suffer from the same maintenance issue.


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