Help - Need a Spin Doctor !

[Mark]

Hi

I have a Zanussi 1186 washing machine which is increasingly reluctant to spin. Rather than spinning it just reverse tumbles slowly for about

5-10 minutes and then stops. It does this whether or not the drum has anything in.

I checked the belt isn't slipping, I checked the motor windings and everything is Ok.

As a last resort I read the troubleshooting section in the user guide. Unlike the usual "is it plugged in, yes, then call an engineer" I found:

"Not spinning is because the unbalance detection device has cut in because the laundry is not evenly distributed in the drum....the laundry is redistributed by reverse rotation of the drum....if after ten minutes the laundry is still not evenly distributed....the machine will switch off.."

So what I need to know is, what exactly is the "unbalance detection device", where is it, and can I fix it, replace it or bypass it?

Thanks for any help.

Mark

[tarquinlinbin]

If you take the lid off,it will probably show itself. It has to sense loading in the drum so it'll probably be directly mounted on it or there may be a mechanical linkage to it. I wouldnt bypass it though,i;d get a new one if poss.

[david hodgkinson]

Hi

I had this with our servis machine recently and after some research I found several reasons for not spinning at full/half speed. It can sometimes be caused by the machine not thinking that it has emptied all the water from the drum.

The common cause for this is the "air pressure value", it 's either the presssure pipe blocked, or the valve itself. This unit then informs the controller that the water has emptied and it is now safe to spin.

The pipe usually feeds from the bottom of the drum to the valve, usually located at the top of the machine.

I hope this helps, but someone else told me that it is sometimes motor bushes, but I don't think this usually happens, just watch the motor suring spin and see if the bushes "arc"

David Hodgk>

[N. Thornton]

I believe theyre fitted to enable much lighter duty mechanical parts to be used. Bypass it and when it spins an off balance load it might all come apart quite destructively - so better to fix it :)

Regards, NT

[Ian Middleton]

I had this on a Zanussi washing machine (can't remember make), wouldn't spin or if it tried to spin, it would either spin fast for a second then back to slow tumble, or spin at some slow speed that certainly wasn't 600 or

1200rpm.

Anyway cost about £50 labour/callout + £60 controller module. The faulty module was a motor controller module, attached to motor (or nearby) which I had not spotted when I took the machine apart. It looked like a cover to a junction box but in fact was a small PCB with electronics on.

When replaced full fuctionality was restore. Looked like a blown diode and "over warmed" resistor on the faulty board board causing the fault. Interestingly on the replacement module the diode and resistor were much much bigger, so looked like an inherent design fault.

[NoSpamThanks]

In message , Ian Middleton writes

I'd guess it was a Zanussi