Electrolux EL??? Tripping RCD

Can’t remember the exact model no. but probably a Zanussi anyway!

Thought I’d let you know about my first forray into dishwasher repairs which might be of help to others…..or not!!

Problem with my brother-in law’s machine, tripping the RCD when heat demanded. Checked the element, 25 ohms and meggered to earth fine. Noticed that a couple of sections of brown wire had embedded themselves in the internal black bitumus door lining, which suggested something getting hot. The insulation on the wire checked out fine though. Anyway, after ensuring these were clear we started up and hey presto no tripping! But now it seemed that the cabinet was getting rather hotter than it’s advertised 65 degs….. in fact the machine was more like a kettle!
Looked at the thermostat… problem found!…. the spring clip which forces against the bottom of the cabinet wasn’t doing its job, so after checking the thermostat switched at the right temp (out of circuit test), remounted it properly and all worked fine!

To get back to the original symptoms though (RCD tripping) I can only assume that those wires running tight against the cabinet were inducing a small current to earth when the heater switched in, and with RCDs being quite sensitive, that’s what caused it to trip.

By the way …. just out of interest , what’s the brown liquid in the matrix??