In article ,
Stephen writes:
Hello,

The spring on our washing machine door handle is worn out. I can't
seem to buy the spring separately and have to buy it as part of a
complete handle.

They have told me that if the spring is worn out, perhaps the door
interlock is similarly old and worn too and that I should replace that
at the same time. It's £10. They say that if the interlock fails due
to age, it will blow the pcb

That sounds to me much more likely to be bull**** than true.

and the pcb costs more to replace than
buying a new machine.

That is often is true.

I don't know how true any of that is but if there is a microswitch
that senses whether the door is closed, I guess it could fail
eventually and I guess I bought the machine in 2001-2. Do you think it
is worth changing the interlock?

If you said the make/model, someone might have some specific knowledge.

I was told the same story again: that the pcbs used to be
protected by fused inputs but the manufacturers removed the fuses to
save money. I was told that if the brushes wear out on the motor, this
will blow the pcb too. The brushes are about £12/pair.

Yes, I had the brushes blow one of the triacs on the PCB, although
I don't know that this is particularly common.
A new triac was less than a quid (actually I think I got two for
less than a quid), although the manufacturer wouldn't regard the
PCB as a repairable item, because they almost certainly buy them
in as complete tested units. Depends if you're up to diagnosing
and repairing the PCB yourself.

It looks like I will have to remove the belt and the motor to get a
look at the brushes. I don't want to do this once to have a look and
then a second time a week later to replace them, so I wonder whether
to just buy a pair and do it all in one go.

Do you think it is worth doing this, or do you think they are just
trying to find extra sales of parts?

How much are they charging? What's the model?

Genuine Hotpoint bearings are under 5 quid from CPC, but you can pay
up to 10 times that price at some places. Likewise motor brushes.

--
Andrew Gabriel
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