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

On Mon, 24 May 2010 06:15:47 -0700 (PDT), zzapper wrote:

The fusebox is General Electric main fuse rating 80AMPs 0.03A

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.

used to happen very rarely, now happened twice on same wash. Washing
Machine is I guess 8 years old

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.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In article o.uk,
"Dave Liquorice" writes:

At a guess the heater in the washing machine has become leaky. Are
you in a hard water area?

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?

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On May 24, 4:02*pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Mon, 24 May 2010 06:15:47 -0700 (PDT), zzapper wrote:
The fusebox is General Electric main fuse rating 80AMPs 0.03A *

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.

used to happen very rarely, now happened twice on same wash. Washing
Machine is I guess 8 years old

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 suppression 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.

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

In article ,
zzapper writes:
On May 24, 4:02*pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Mon, 24 May 2010 06:15:47 -0700 (PDT), zzapper wrote:
The fusebox is General Electric main fuse rating 80AMPs 0.03A *

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.

used to happen very rarely, now happened twice on same wash. Washing
Machine is I guess 8 years old

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 suppression 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.
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

Ah, that's useful.
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.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Mon, 24 May 2010 11:08:49 -0700 (PDT), zzapper wrote:

The last time it tripped very little else was on.

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...

And Answer to Andrew's query it happens I believe during fast spin

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.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On May 24, 7:47*pm, (Andrew Gabriel)
wrote:
In article ,
* * * * zzapper writes:



On May 24, 4:02*pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Mon, 24 May 2010 06:15:47 -0700 (PDT), zzapper wrote:
The fusebox is General Electric main fuse rating 80AMPs 0.03A *

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.

used to happen very rarely, now happened twice on same wash. Washing
Machine is I guess 8 years old

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 suppression 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.
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

Ah, that's useful.
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.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

I think you are saying the Washing Machine is AFU
Dave

"zzapper" wrote in message
...
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


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

"zzapper" wrote in message
...
On May 24, 7:47 pm, (Andrew Gabriel)
wrote:
In article
,
zzapper writes:



On May 24, 4:02 pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Mon, 24 May 2010 06:15:47 -0700 (PDT), zzapper wrote:
The fusebox is General Electric main fuse rating 80AMPs 0.03A

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.

used to happen very rarely, now happened twice on same wash. Washing
Machine is I guess 8 years old

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 suppression 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.
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

Ah, that's useful.
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.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

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

On May 24, 8:17*pm, "spamlet" wrote:

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.

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. £6 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.

zzapper wrote:
On May 24, 4:02 pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Mon, 24 May 2010 06:15:47 -0700 (PDT), zzapper wrote:
The fusebox is General Electric main fuse rating 80AMPs 0.03A
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.

used to happen very rarely, now happened twice on same wash. Washing
Machine is I guess 8 years old
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 suppression 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.

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


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.

Dave