Patent ID: 8850856

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a clothes basket rotatable about an axis; a motor coupled to the clothes basket; an additive tank; a liquid level sensor configured to determine a level of additive in the additive tank; a Venturi component having a first hole fluidly connecting to a water inlet, a second hole fluidly connecting to the additive tank, and a third hole fluidly connecting to the clothes basket; a first valve located between the water inlet and the Venturi component; a second valve located between the Venturi component and the clothes basket; and a processor coupled to the first valve and the second valve, the processor being configured to: carry out a dispensing phase of the apparatus by opening the first valve and opening the second valve so as to create a vacuum in an area where the Venturi component is connected to the additive tank resulting in suction of additive from the additive tank to the clothes basket; and carry out a self-cleaning phase of the apparatus by: opening the first valve and closing the second valve responsive to the liquid level sensor determining that the level of additive in the additive tank reaches a predetermined level so as to wash the additive tank; and opening the second valve after a specified duration of time so as to create the vacuum in the area where the Venturi component is connected to the additive tank resulting in suction of waste-water from the additive tank to the clothes basket.