Problems with a Hotpoint tumble dryer...

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

After 9 years of no trouble at all, today my Hotpoint VTD20 (vented t/d) refused to go. It's got power alright, and when it's set appropriately and the door is shut it sort of hums to itself, perhaps like a stalled electric motor.

Opened up, there's no obvious problems (like black or smoking bits) though there was a lot of fluff which has been vacuumed out. The drum rotates fine by hand. When requested to go, nothing happens but if I then turn the drum by hand then the motor does then take over and run it ok, and once it's rotating well it doesn't slow down if one presses gently on the outside of the drum. Also the heating element seems to be working.

Having taken some of the cabinet apart we were able to unhitch the drive belt (which seems fine) from the motor spindle. When power is applied the spindle does not start to turn, even when there's no load on the motor. On the other hand we can turn the motor spindle by hand easily.

Present thoughts are that the next step is to remove the motor, clean/ lubricate it, and look for evidence of eg knackered brushes, though I don't yet know if they're replaceable - haven't seen any listed alone on the spares websites.

I'm happy to replace the motor, though that will cost around £75 alone, but want to be pretty sure that that actually is where the problem lies.

Can anyone suggest anything else that might be the cause and a simple diagnostic procedure to follow?

Thanks!

[Bob Minchin]

Failed starter relay or less likely starting capacitor open circuit or dying. The relay is usually a current operated relay, switching in the starting capacitor each time the drum starts or reverses.

[harryagain]

"Jeremy Nicoll - news posts" wrote in message news: [e-mail]...

Assuming an induction motor (No brushes). It is a single phase motor that requires an additional "start" winding (as well as the run winding) that may be permanently in circuit or only for starting. It sounds like one of the circuits is open circuit. To check if something is wrong in the start circuit, energise it (humming) and give it a twirl (carefully. no trapped fingers) If it then runs (it can go either way), there is a problem in the startt circit somewhere. (The permanent "run" winding seems to be OK the start winding would be smoking by now.)

The start winding may be open circuit in which case the motor is f***d. However there is usually a capacitor in series with the start winding which might be f***d and can be replaced. Also there is a switch in series which turns the start winding off when the motor has run up to speed.

[Brian Gaff]

Depends on how the motor is started up. I know some are given a bit of a big kick at start time and allowed to take more current for a while, but not up in these new fangled systems since I lost my sight. I'd suspect brushes, does it generate lots of radio interference or maybe when you slow the drum seem to have dead spots that might suggest commutator or brushes?

Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Oh, still that crude then, well I never did! I'd have thought the current designers would have had this controlled by at least six computers by now.. grin. Brian

[news]

I had the same problem with a Hotpoint dryer - it was the starting capacitor - something like this

Close inspection showed that it had failed spectacularly but a replacement gave the dryer several more years of useful service.

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

No-one listens much to radio here (I mean, I do, but via podcast and iPlayer mainly), indeed I'm not sure if we've even got a tranny to check this with. Though... my mp3 player has a crude FM radio feature... I'll see if that's affected. Thanks for the idea.

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

Thanks for reply; I had a close look at the capacitor a couple of hours ago, and it looks fine. But it's cheap to try a new one so I think I will.

[Rick Hughes]

Just trashed my Hotpoint Aquarius last week .... although had teh nice wording of 'electronic' on the front, it was all mechanical for programs, the rotary 'program dial' which had a huge number of can operated switches & wires ... and a multi pole DC motor.

It got to the point that I was repairing it every couple of months .... bit the bullet and bought a new Hotpoint .... this is all electronic now ........ lets see if it last the 20 yrs+ that its predecessor did.

[Bob Eager]

We had a Hotpoint that lasted 15 years or so. Replaced it with a Hotpoint.

Big mistake. Pile of rubbish.

Bearings lasted 14 months. Had them replaced (not covered by warranty). The new ones lasted about the same.

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

I'd like to thank everyone for their suggestions. I've had partial success in fixing it - I got a new starter capacitor from a local shop, fitted it, the drum started, so I reassembled the machine testing things a couple of times along the way. At the very end I struggled to get the machine back into its undercounter slot and get the through-wall vent connected, turned it on so I could feel the warm glow of a job well done... and turned it off damn quickly because of a nasty grating sound.

I've retired to bed for a rest (not really fit enough for this sort of things any longer) and will try again in a day or two.

[Weatherlawyer]

If I may be so gauche Brian, when did you lose your sight?

[Rick Hughes]

Going on personal experience ...

First m/c was a Candy ... failed after 3 yrs, then I had a WHICH 'Best Buy' Bendix, fell apart after 5 years. (drum casting fractured.)

Bought the Hotpoint Aquarius 1200 ... lasted at least 20 years ... That includes both kids from zero upwards - a lot of laundry.

So happy to get another Hotpoint .... did a lot of Goggling around and found only praise from owners for model we bought .... it has 5 yr warranty anyway.

Certainly the quietest m/c we have ever had, incredibly so.

[Bob Eager]

Our experience too. Had to replace the bearings after 7 years, a couple of sets of motor brishes, a door seal and a heater seal. Nothing major.

But they have changed. Had I realised that, I've never have bought another.

They are nothing like the previous ones...different company, different factory, different construction. No way of replacing bearings...needed to replace the whole tub at about £130 a pop.

Not my experience....it may not have sounded terribly noisy until we replaced it with a Bosch, which makes MUCH less noise.

[news]

Well glad you have had at least a partial success, and thanks for keeping us updated on the solution. I'm sure the grating noise will be something trivial connected with the reassembly. Good Luck.

[alan]

My experience with Hotpoint Aquarius machines has not been that good and none lasted anywhere near 20 years.

I find the mindset of "it lasted 20 years so let's buy the same brand" somewhat flawed.

The brand is owned by a different company, it has a different design team, it is manufactured in a different country, it probably has an identical internal design to that of cheaper machines with different badge.

With many items you should Google for problems rather than users giving good reviews. For instance, many Amazon 5 star reviews seem to be from people posting to say that an item was delivered quickly and they haven't had time to open the box yet! With a washing machine you need to hear from people who have had it for a year.

[alan]

A Bosch made in China or a Bosch made in Europe?

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

As well as considering how to repair my dryer I did do some looking around for possible replacements. Ads for machines, and even reviews on eg revoo can be sparse on detail too though some review sites do have photos of machines (rear panels included), so I usually download the user manual. For me, the location of the rear panel exhaust outlet is important because it has to align with the existing through-wall duct, more or less anyway.

It's exremely clear from line-drawings in the manuals, or photos of rear panels, that some machines use identical chassis; the manuals are often nearly identical in wording etc, as you'd expect when items are from the same parent company.

What's often not clear is practical stuff like: can you open the door when the machine is in the middle of a drying programme? There seems now to be an alarming tendency for machines to have many preset programmes where you are presumed to have put inly one type/weight of fabric into the machine, then tell it the fabric type and degree of wetness you want in the result - ready to iron/wear/store in a cupboard etc, turn it on, and leave it. But real people sometimes want to take things out part-way through... and I've read reviews which says you can't do that. OTOH the manual for the machine where a reviewer said you can't... explained twice that you can. So I end up unsure whether a reviewer was an idiot or if the design has been changed.

[Bob Eager]

A Logiixx - made in Europe.

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

A day or two after the grating sound appeared I took the machine apart again and found that one of the hard-plastic 'skid pads' on which the front of the drum rotates was crumpled, with the drum edge pushing against the crumpled mess. Inevitably this was the skid pad in the least accessible position.

I found a "shaft kit" at an online spares company and ordered it - as the price for new shaft, bearings, seals etc plus 4 new skid pads was under £20 and it seemed worth replacing those bits at the same time (though in fact we decided not to change the shaft itself).

This afternoon we took the rear bearing & rear panel off, took out the drum, replaced the seals & bearing, replaced the skid pads, and put it all back together again.

The critical part of the job is not to let the drum come off its front (skid pad) supports while reassembling the dryer. After refitting the rear panel the whole unit - lieing on its front on an old duvet on a low coffee table (as not having it on the floor made it easier to see stuff and meant the refitting of the drum was more controlled) - was very shakey; it then only had a sort of U-shaped chassis - rear panel, base & front-panel. We refitted the non-motor-side side panel while the machine was still flat, with one person holding the drum so it couldn't come out of the skid-pad lined runners.

Then we stood the dryer on its base, being very careful to hold the rear panel & drum towards the front of the machine.

We had the motor-side side panel off the dryer for access to motor & spindle and - with the help of a 20mm or so diameter plastic tube - 'walked' the belt over the end of the spindle into place. One of us fiddled with the tube & belt while the other turned the drum when asked to AND held the front and rear panels close enough together that the drum couldn't come adrift.

I wouldn't really like to try this with just one person... As it was, there were moments when we also had a pair of luggage-elastics stretched round the machine to pull the front & rear panels together.

After that, putting the motor-side side panel back on and reassembling the rest of the machine was easy.

It's fine now.