Washing Machine not Spining

[Richard]

I have a Bosch WET2820 washing machine that has suddenly stopped spinning. The M/C is six years old and when the same thing happened about 12 months ago I simply replaced the motor bushes and it up and running again. I've checked the bushes this time and they appear to be fine. I've checked the filters on the water feeds and cleaned out the vessel to which the outlet attaches and the suds pump fan is free to rotate. My last attempt was to check the electric door lock and in a desperate attempt to get it working I adjusted the sealed grub screw which really messed things up because before that the machine seemed to be going through the cycles OK but just not spinning, and now it's not really not even letting water in. I suspect I'll have to get a new door lock but does anybody have any ideas about or checks to eliminate any other possible causes. (i.e. is there a way of checking the motor is working ok)

[Brian Reay]

I assume you mean spin as is spin dry, rather than just rotate during the wash cycle. If so, check the water level sense system isn't blocked.

Usually, this is a thin pipe from the drain pipe to a pressure sensor- a disc about 2.5" in diameter, located above the centre of the drum.. Air in the thin pipe is pressurised (slightly) when there is enough water in the machine to reach the drum. What often happens is that the thin pipe gets (partially) blocked (scum etc) and the sensor "thinks" the machine still has too much water in it to spin.

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73 Brian

[Adrian Brentnall]

I don't know your model of washing machine - but when my old Electra refused to spin last year it was down to an accumulation of limescale in the pipework leading to the pressure (water level) switch.

I think the logic was that the machine was running the pump to empty the drum - and wouldn't start the spin until the drum was empty of water. As the switch never operated, the machine just sat there forever waiting for it.

Fairly easily fixed - just find the switch, follow the pipework back to the drum, remove rubber bits & clean. An hour or so, lots of limescale / detergent crud, and a couple of skinned knuckles later it was all working again - and has remained so (touch wood!)

HTH Adrian Suffolk UK

======return email munged================= take out the papers and the trash to reply

[Nick]

Do you always wash with cold water? If so, do a hot wash to clean out all the crud that accumulates in the machine.

[Richard]

Sorry, should have made it more clear, the drum doesn't rotate at any stage, either when on spin or a wash cycle, that's why I thought it might be the bushes again.

[Richard]

If I can work out how the door mechanism works and get it to fill with water I'll give it a go. I guess it's usualy run at 60 for coloureds.

[dennis]

If it never runs the motor I think that will be a waste of time.

You need to check if power is being applied to the motor and work from there. If you know nothing about this then I must warn you that there are lots of exposed live wires in most washing machines. There is a serious risk of shock if you are not careful.

[Stuart]

Reminds me of when I went to move mine and grabbed a very large capacitor underneath by mistake ..Ouch !!!!

Stuart

[Richard]

Correct, I've not really tried to test an electric motor before. I've just disconected the electrics from the motor and attached a test meter across the wires which should go to the two bushes. When I put the machine to spin I'm not getting ant respnse at all from the meter. (the meter was set to AC) although I would have expected some respone? I'm hoping it's not the motor as a replacement is =A3175 + VAT.

[Richard]

Forgot to say I checked the pipe between the water level regulator and pressure chamber but this seems clear, thanks for the suggestion though. I've just downloaded a picture of the parts calatlogue so at least I know what each bits called now.

[dennis]

You really need to do the test with the motor connected. Some electronic controllers will give odd readings without the motor being in circuit.

[Richard]

I've soldered wires to the bush terminals re-assemlbed the motor and put it back into the machine but still no register on the AC test meter on a spin cycle. Did the same test on an old hover motor and that showed a reading.

[dennis]

Broken wire or duff controller by the sound of it.

Tracing the wire should be easy. Testing the controller is probably hard.

If its like mine it will have relays inside that switch the mains. You can test and repair these but it is hard to do so while still in the machine and hard to connect when its not. Mine has a test port on it to connect to a laptop but you need an interface board and software to use it.

I expect the controller to be expensive. 8-(