The fusebox is General Electric main fuse rating 80AMPs 0.03A used to happen very rarely, now happened twice on same wash. Washing Machine is I guess 8 years old
The fusebox is minimum 10 years old when we moved in to maximum 40 year which is age of the house
I've had experience before of trips aging, but what think ye?
(is there any chance that the trip is not hard-wired in ie replaceable)
Dave
Which is it 80A or 0.03A? I suspect you mean that fitted in the consumer unit is an RCD not "fuse" rated at 80A with a current 0.03A trip.
At a guess the heater in the washing machine has become leaky. Are you in a hard water area?
Either that and you now have more electronic kit with switched mode power supplies all of which will have supression components across the mains that all leak a bit and that this has now added such that the total is enough to trip the RCD.
or there's a leak developing somewhere else and the water is running into the electrics.
Does it happen at some particular point in the wash cycle?
You surmise correctly it's an RCD (how did I manage to leave that out),and 0.03A trip, yes hardwater. The last time it tripped very little else was on. It's on the ring main I believe rather than a spur.
And Answer to Andrew's query it happens I believe during fast spin
Dave
Possibilities could be vibration related, or motor related. For vibration, it could be a wire which is rubbing on some metalwork and worn through the insulation. Wiring loom from the chassis across to the drum would be first place I'd look. For the motor, some high spin speed designs have a separate set of field windings for the top spin speed, which might have gone faulty, although I doubt that would only trip on fast spin. Another possibility for motor leakage is a build-up of motor brush debris around the commutator, shorting it to the drive shaft, although again I can't think why that would only happen on fast spin.
The filters are directly after the mains input on most kit and frequently pre the switch so if the kit is plugged in you have the leakage... Even if it's switched off at the socket (assuming single pole switching) there is still the possibilty of N-E leakage. Ah go that straw...
If it's repeatable then you stand a chance of finding the fault. I'd expect a chaffed wire to spitz and sparken blowen fusen but I guess a neutral earth wouldn't do that but would trip the RCD.
I think you are saying the Washing Machine is AFU Dave
Almost certainly the water heater element. Ours did exactly the same for some time. I found that the element had a seam all along it and it was gradually letting in water. Another time a retaining clip inside the space between the inner and outer drum had been made of steel and gradually rusted away, so that the element could rise up and rub against the drum and gradually wear through. With a lot of fiddly 'ship in a bottle' type bodging and fixing, I managed to make a new retainer out of the end of the old element (Looks not unlike the metal part of an old push bike brake block), and lock down the replacement element with it and a nut on the outside of the outer drum. Should make it easier to change next time: but it's been working fine ever since. (Shhhh!).
Incidentally, the Haynes Washing Machine manual comes in very handy in helping diagnose these faults as the machines haven't really changed all that much over the years.
S
I think you are saying the Washing Machine is AFU Dave
Have a look at the heater element first. Then at the drive belt for the main drum. On our model the connections for the heater came quite close to the drive belt and there were signs of some contact: say when a heavy load spin kicks in. In our case, combined with a rusted retaining clip inside the drum, this meant that the element could be tipped up to hit the spinning drum and gradually wear away, to cause the RCD to trip when the water finally began to get in.
S
Seconded. It gave me the confidence to have a go at major surgery (drum bearings) on ours a few years ago. Done the brushes since and it soldiers on. =A36 for the book IIRC and what's the worst that can happen? If it's beyond economic repair you get a new machine, which you would have done without knowing if a fix was possible.
I had this. Turned out the main drum motor was shorting to earth..a bit. Not a lot, but enough.
I stripped it right down to the coils and the frame: I couldn't believe a 3k short to frame, but there it was.
Put in a recon unit.
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