This device is to be found as the first component the inlet water flow meets, and this is how you spot it, along with its two wires to the top of it. This device has two distinct parts; the electrical coil of copper wire (called solenoid) and the plastic cased rubber tipped plunger which alters, or stops, the flow of the water (called valve). To test, apply 240volt directly to it and see if it opens.Make sure 240v is actually at the two terminals, by ,as I did recently, undoing the plug from a bedside lamp and touching the two wires across the terminals. The lamp will light of course if theres 240v there. If the valve does not open either the coil (solenoid) is faulty, due to a break in the copper wire, or the plastic plunger (valve) has stuck shut. Usually the coil has failed and a new coil (the solenoid) is needed. But sometimes they will only supply the complete solenoid valve unit, not just the coil component.
alan maytum, May 2009
