- This topic has 8 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 21 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hi,
This looks like a great forum, I’m after a little help please.
I am a novice to washing machine repairs but after drum movement became very temperamental and I could hear some crackling when it struggled to turn I thought I’d have a go at fixing it (4 year old machine). After reading around it looked likely to be the carbon brushes.
I have just replaced these and it turns when it should so this looks like the problem, however on the fastest spin I can see quite a lot of sparking and hear some crackling under the machine. 🙁 🙁
So, is there a “bedding in” period that this is acceptable for,
have I done something completely wrong,
should I have bought a Hoover manufactured pair rather than pattern,
could the fault be with a different part of the motor
or something else?Thanks for any advice.
Jon
Re: Sparking after replacing brushes – Hoover WDM120
JonC wrote:So, is there a “bedding in” period that this is acceptable for,
Jon,
Yes indeed, best not to allow them to do a fast spin first off. Better to let them do a long wash cycle instead 😉
Martin
Re: Sparking after replacing brushes – Hoover WDM120
Martin,
Wow, fast response 😀 😀 😀
Thanks so much, I feel a lot better now.
Jon
Re: Sparking after replacing brushes – Hoover WDM120
From experience with these Candy produced machines this does sound as though you will soon be needing either an armature or a new motor.
I always fit genuine carbons unless it is difficult to get them.
Edit ,just spotted that the machine is 4 years old. You should have a five year manufacturers g/tee on the parts. If you have fitted non gen brushes I suggest you retain ( or recover from the dustbin ) 🙂 the old brushes and if the fault persists, refit the old brushes and contact Hoover who will fit a new motor for labour only.
Don’t mention that you have tried to repair it yourself BTW.
Re: Sparking after replacing brushes – Hoover WDM120
iadom
Thanks for the reccomendation on original parts. I would have got these but no parts suppliers near me seem to stock originals, only patterns 😥
I have already kept the old brushes “just in case” 😉
I realised the 5 year parts but its not great when you pay labour and the parts are under £20
Out of curiosity are you aware of any detailed differences between manufacturer and non-manufacturer brushes?
This is a really friendly helpful forum compared to some I’ve come across. Keep up the good work. 😀
Jon
Re: Sparking after replacing brushes – Hoover WDM120
As a general rule, gen brushes are of a consistent quality, pattern spares can vary quite a lot in terms of quality. Although in the recent past genuine Hotpoint brushes did have some serious problems these have been resolved. For the small cost difference I would always recommend using genuine brushes. It all comes down to experience, some non gen spares are actually sourced from the same manufacturer that the original appliance maker uses, and on the odd, very rare occasion (Hoover armatures about 7 or 8 years ago comes to mind) the pattern spares are more reliable, however, overall genuine spares are in the main better quality. Using pattern, none mechanical/electrical parts such as door trims, handles, hinges etc is fine.
The same thing applies to my car, I would never, ever, fit non gen spares to my vehicle.
Re: Sparking after replacing brushes – Hoover WDM120
When replacing motor brushes it is nearly always neccessary to ‘dress’ the commutator, and if it shows sign of wear then the brushes too need dressing.
The commutator can be dressed with fine emery cloth or paper when the motor is out of the machine…simply press it lightly onto the commutator with one finger whilst rotating the armature in one direction only. When all the black pitting has been removed then give it a good brush out with something like an old toothbrush.
If the commutator has a groove worn into it by the brushes (can be felt by a finger nail ‘catching’ the edge of the groove, then the brushes can be dressed by carefully filing a chamfer on the sides at the tip of each brush…this need only be 1mm wide or so, this allows the brush to ‘sit down’ into the groove.
Finally, after refitting the motor set the machine going onto the fastest spin it will do but with no wash load inside…this will give the speediest bedding in at the lowest electrical load i.e. the least sparkingRe: Sparking after replacing brushes – Hoover WDM120
Apologies again for my lack of knowledge but I am keen to learn.
The commutator is what the brush sits against? Do I have to dress this out of the machine or can I do this whilst installed and just turn it round?
Is it just a case of trying to get the most contact area between the commutator and brush? If I didn’t bother doing this on a 4 year old macine would it matter?
I will get onto howstuffworks.com to have a look again but it really doesn’t get down to the detail here. If there are any sites you can reccomend to increase my understanding I would be grateful.
I only found this site through a necessity to fix my washing machine and am enjoying learning from you guys.
My washing machine is running quite loud now in a whining way, could this be because of not dressing?
Jon
Re: Sparking after replacing brushes – Hoover WDM120
JonC wrote:My washing machine is running quite loud now in a whining way, could this be because of not dressing?
If it only sparks during the fastest spin, then read my earlier posting. If it sparks at most speeds then the armature is at fault and a new motor required. Also if you look closely at the commutator segments and one or two are blacked or marked more than the others, your motor is duff 🙁
Martin
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.