SMEG dishwasher has suddenly started tripping RCD

If its tripping the RCd then there is leakage to earth which should be ignored at your peril. As it does not do this when the valve is unscrewed from the water pipe (is this copper?) then suspicion must fall on the valve.

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 22:17:12 +0100, "BillV" strung together this:

Not neccesarily, if the valve is disconnected then water isn't getting in and something isn't getting wet. It could, (and more likely), be this 'something' that is at fault.

He could test that theory by either putting water manually into the machine, or touching the valve body to the water pipe [with insulated gloves hopefully] :-)

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 23:06:07 +0100, "BillV" strung together this:

Possibly, although manually filling it wouldn't bring water into contact with exactly the same parts as an automated fill would so could cause misdiagnosis\confusion. Might be worth doing it though, but noting that this isn't a faultless\foolproof way of finding the fault.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try two things tonight (with rubber gloves!):

Won't work as they don't draw in water they merely open to the feed pressure.

You're right about the valve of course. Tried both of these, but now reckon that the problem is with an internal motor or pump. On a different wash cycle I found that the valve opened with no problems, however the RCD tripped soon afterwards - I suspect that this is when something internal tried to activate and drew too much current because it is stuck or has failed. Not sure what yet - and also noticed that the Low Salt indicator light is on, even though there's lots of Salt in the reservoir.

Now stuck with the inevitable choice - do I risk the wrath of my wife by taking the machine apart, or do I call in someone? If it's the latter, can anyone recommend anyone in the Reading area?

Thanks, Richard.