Zanussi FL811..Don't want to spin at high speed

Afnoon people,

When the good old (27 years old FFS!) Zanussi washing machine goes through the program up to the fast spin cycle it starts up at low revs, then should build up to high speed once the pump has cleared the excess etc. When it begins the high speed spin it blows the CU breaker and then stops (Naturally) So Am I right in thinking that the motor capacitor has died and hence the blowing of the breaker ?

Or could it be brushes on the motor?

Suggestions please..................

Reply to
Nthkentman
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Don't know that model, but it's quite common that the top spin speed uses a separate set of field windings on the motor. It might be that those windings are shorted to the motor casing, or it might be that a connection in the wiring loom for those windings has snapped and is touching some metalwork or the insulation worn through where it rubs against some metalwork. Inspect the wiring, and measure the insulation resistance between windings and casing. Failing that, it could be a fault on the control board.

Dust shed from motor brushes can also cause a short to the motor casing, but given that this apparently only happens on the top spin speed, that's a less likely cause, but not impossible.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I don't know that model, but it's probably similar to the Zanussi machine which I had, which was over 30 years old when that died a couple of years ago.

I never quite managed to figure out how the motor worked, but it had umpteen wires going to it. There were some heavy lumps of metal on the back of the pulley which could move slightly relative to the pulley. If I rotated the pulley by hand, it would make clunk-click type noises - sometimes coupled with more resistance and with the motor appearing to turn faster relative to the pulley than before. I always assumed that there was some sort of clutch (magnetic or centrifugal?) which engaged a different set of gears at the front of the motor when it went into high-speed spin mode - but I'm not really sure. I mention it just in case it's relevant to your problem. Does yours have something similar?

Reply to
Roger Mills

Reminds me of an English Electric my parents bought when I was born. It predated any viable electronic motor control, so it had a sodding great gearbox on the motor, with several large mains solenoids operating actuators to change gear, and a freewheeling clutch so it could change down gears without the spinning the motor too fast. It lasted 25 years, and the only thing that needed replacing was the clutch (which worked like a spring pushed onto a shaft - turning it one way grips the shaft, and turning it the other way causes a slight unwinding of the spring and the shaft slides inside it).

I can still vividly recall the loud bangs as the solendoids operated to change gear, particularly for the final spin (which would not have been fast by today's standards).

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Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

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is always helpful.

Reply to
F

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