Ariston Margherita CD12T – drum rotation on dryer cycle

[lallarookh]

This machine is nearly 8 years old but has only been used regularly in the last 3 years.

It seems to have problems spinning on the wash cycle, although I have assumed that it is very sensitive to heavy loads (for which read anything more than half-full [dry load] or anything with towels [which get heavy when wet]). When it hits these problems you can hear the spin speed building up towards full spin, but then dying away a long time before full speed is reached. Washing is left soaking wet, and trying to run the spin-only cycle don’t help since these only operate at half speed when set separately. Incidentally, when it does hit full-speed it is very noisy and produces significant vibrations (and has always been like this). For some reason spin is more likely to work normally on a wash which uses the 17 spin setting than one which uses the 7 setting.

I don’t know if this long preamble affects my query, but I thought I’d better cover it just in case. The main problem we have now is that the tumble function is no longer operating on the dryer cycle. Everything else seems as usual – the heater works, the drain pump operates regularly (and noisily – again, it’s always been like this). But the drum doesn’t move.

I assume that there isn’t a belt problem, since the drum rotates on wash cycles. Any ideas? Is it fixable? And if it is, is it expensive – or do we accept that it’s time to replace the machine (which I realise from this site isn’t a very good one).

If we do need to replace, it will have to be a washer-dryer because of space constraints, and we’d like another integrated unit to keep in with the rest of the fixtures (supplied as a piece as part of a new-build flat).

[Penguin45]

Re: Ariston Margherita CD12T – drum rotation on dryer cycle

Start with the basics. Is the filter trap clear, is the sink union clear? Secondly, at 8 years old, the drive motor brushes will be well worn – definitely worth checking. Thirdly, the electronic board which runs the motor was particularly prone to dry joints, and burning of the pcb contacts where the edge connectors push on.

Power off if you intend to do this yourself.

Penguin45.

[lallarookh]

Re: Ariston Margherita CD12T – drum rotation on dryer cycle

Thanks for this reply. Just picked this up after being away – and having to use the machine, discovered that the drum rotation on the dryer cycle has now re-started and is apparently working OK. I’m unsure what this means but am reluctant to do anything while it’s working, although I’ll check the filter trap (can’t see any problem with the sink union).

Although the machine is 8 years old, for its first 5 years it was hardly used at all. It has only been used regularly in the last 3 years – would the drive motor brushes be worn in that time?

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