DIYbanter - View Single Post

wrote:
A few years ago, when there were no tumblers availabe yet in the US
market, I had imported a French-made washing machine (Brandt) to the US
for energy and space-saving purposes. The machine was designed to work
in 220V/50hz and N. America has 110V/60hz. And as a mechanical
engineer, I was naive to think that as long as I had a 220V outlet in
my house, the worst scenario would only be that the machine runs a
little faster (20%) which amounts to 24 minutes in a 120-min wash
cycle.

Well, as it turned out, the machine runs a lot faster. The timing knob
finished a 120-min cycle in something like 6 minutes. The wash, drain,
rinse and spin all were cut short within each function. To this day, I
am still puzzled and not able to solve the problem. If anyone could
shed any light on this subject, I would greatly appreciate it.

The only other possible cause would be a defective timer which could
have been assembled with fewer gear sets than ought to be. But without
knowing for sure the root of the problem, it doesn't make sense for me
to invest another $100 to buy a timer from oversea with no English
service manual available.

A possibility is that the timer has developed a fault in that the gear
set in the timer is somehow sticking. Most washing machine timers have
a sytem where the main cam increments one notch for every so many
revolutions of the timer motor. You might notice two 'barrels' inside,
the rear one turning continously and the other clicking round once every
revolution of the rear barrel. The rear barrel controls the main motor,
and the front barrel the fill valves, drain pump and heater. Some
machines have a solenoid which kicks the front barrel out of gear for
certain parts of the wash - heat pause etc. This solenoid is controlled
by a triac on the control module, maybe that`s where the problem lies. A
continuously buzzing solenoid usually means a faulty module.

I,ve seen timers that clicked through in minutes because the little
planet gears were gummed up with deteriorating grease.

Hth

Ron(UK)

--
Lune Valley Audio
Public address system
Hire, Sales, Repairs
www.lunevalleyaudio.com