Bendix BWD1011 dryer shorting out MCB

[Steve]

Hi,

I seem to have a Bendix washer / dryer that is shorting out the rings MCB. This occurs immediately and only when the dryer is turned on. Now I want just to check my guess that this is probably due to the heater unit inside this thing. Is there anyway I can check before replacing the part. To be honest I'm not too sure what this unit will look like. The other disturbing thing is that instead of tripping the kitchens MCB this actually trips the main switch on the consumer unit. Is this most likely down to a duff MCB?

Many thanks for any help with both issues

Steve

[Andrew Gabriel]

My guess is that's it's an earth leakage fault, and the thing it is actually tripping is an RCD which is covering the whole house.

Heater element would be no.1 suspect, but there are other possibilities inside a washing machine such as water leaking into electrics, insulation worn off wiring by vibration against a sharp edge, etc.

[Lurch]

On 30 Dec 2004 05:57:59 -0800, [e-mail] (Steve) strung together this:

Exactly what Andrew said plus....

I'd leave it well alone if I were you. You've obviously never been inside a washer dryer before. You could quite easily spend more on trying to do it yourself than getting someone out to it.

[Nick Atty]

Anecdote time.

Our washer/dryer would trip the RCD about one run in four, during the spin cycle.

I took it apart, expecting to find something important soaking wet, and everything looked fine. Just as I was sliding the top back on I had my head at the right angle to see a minute burnt spot on the inside paint.

There is a capacitor strapped to a wiring harness, a good inch from the case when the thing is off. Obviously sometimes when spinning this bounces agains the case. There was a little peak on the solder connection to the capacitor and it had hammered a pin-prick hole through the heat-shrink insulation, so bingo - earth leakage and off goes the RCD. File it down, put some tape round it, and a couple of extra cable ties and problem solved.

But it was so difficult to spot - I'm still surprised I managed to.