On 29/07/2019 09:35, newshound wrote:
On 28/07/2019 08:18, TheChief wrote:
newshound Wrote in message:
On 27/07/2019 17:48, ARW wrote:
On 27/07/2019 17:41, TheChief wrote:

Hi Guys

How do I open the door to a washing machine when it has died mid
cycle.

I cannot power the machine up without tripping the RCD.Â* So it
Â*Â* cannot complete the wash and release the door.

Without a hammer or crowbar is there a way to retrieve the washing?

Wait, or try a non RCD supply.


These days, quite a lot of machines (e.g. my Bosch) have a little
plastic strap that comes down under the cover to the drain pump. You
pull this down hard, and it releases the catch. It is quite fiddly to
do, on the Bosch.


Hey Newshound

Thanks for that. Yes mine has this release strap,Â* but there is
Â* absolutely no reference to this in the manual supplied with the
Â* machine.
Er indoors can now at least get at her uniforms she needs for work
Â* next week.

Phil

Good result, glad to help.

For other victims, the strap sits between a couple of guides, but if you
wiggle it out from between them (like I did last week) the angle is such
that you can't then pull hard enough to release the catch. The strap has
a sort of arrow head with a hole in it. The technique, I have found, is
to spear the hole with a stiff metal skewer and then push downwards
using the skewer as a cantilever. It could have been engineered so much
better, particularly for those with limited dexterity. And, of course,
it is right down at floor level, so both difficult to get at and to see.

The drain cover has a cunning hinge which means you can remove and
replace it completely without tools. This makes it much easier to drain
the drum, using the little hose, or to take the pump cover off without
getting water everywhere. But again, this is not intuitively obvious.

Oh, and the one essential tool for these jobs is a wet and dry vacuum
cleaner, which lets you catch all the leakage without getting puddles
all over the floor.

When our washing machine failed, I just moved it to the kitchen door and
dropped the hose outside. Gravity then drained it.

Luckily for us the RCD was only tripping as the heater was energised, so
getting the door to open was not a problem. I have not investigated how
to do so without power.

Incidentally, why do the door interlocks have such long delays? Our
machine finishes pumping and stops spinning and comes to a complete stop
within seconds, yet won't allow opening the door for 3 full minutes - a
pain when you are waiting for it to finish.

SteveW