hotarius point Aquarius 1100 WM63

[paulbennett77]

hi there,

i have a Hotpoint Aquarius 1100 washing machine
model No. WM63P

The washer is tripping out the home fuse box RCD as soon as the washer is switched on. I am a competent electrician but not a washing machine engineer.

I have managed to stop it tripping the RCD out by disconnecting all multiplugs on the main timer PCB board, any ideas???

I have heard the door latch can go faulty??

cheers

Paul.

[dave_h]

Re: hotarius point Aquarius 1100 WM63

Very much a newbie to this sort of machine ,but electrical /electronic principles ( I would think apply ) . Now that you’ve found how to stop RCD tripping – I would ( in the absence of a washing machine ecpert ) try reconnection ,one at a time ,to see which one causes RCD to trip . Just my 2p worth .

[iadom]

Re: hotarius point Aquarius 1100 WM63

Rather than do that and risk further damage you should arm yourself with a megger or suitable multimeter.

With the mains plug removed you should test each component for insulation or short circuits.

First thing to do would be to remove the motor brushes and check for signs of arcing. The motor and heater would be the obvious things to check first. The motor armature can go down to earth and the heater can get damaged by the drum catching it if the drum support has broken or the bearings have failed.

Has the machine been very noisy before it gave out?

The doorlock can also cause this fault but if you have only removed the small multiplugs and not the two or three large AMP tags underneath it would suggest the doorlock is Ok. Did the door actually lock when you tried it with all of the plugs removed?

In most cases a faulty doorlock will also blow tracks on the main timer, right at the front along the vertical edge.

[paulbennett77]

Re: hotpoint Aquarius 1100 WM63

hi there,

thanks for the replies, ive already done the plug each multiplug in one by one.

I have found that it only blows the RCD with the black multi plug connected. i have traced the wires and these goto the water hot and cold inlets and the door lock.

i have disconnect all connections on the inlets for hot and cold and it still blows the RCD, i then diconnected the door switch and bypassed it and it still blows the RCD, i’m not at a complete loss.

P.S i gather the door switch is just standard normallly open switch so i just connected the L to the L1, there is a neutral connection but i just left that alone.

any more ideas

many thanks

[iadom]

Re: hotarius point Aquarius 1100 WM63

Have you had a close look at the circuit board for any blown tracks ?

When you say you connected the L to L1 do you mean you removed both wires from the interlock and connected them together or moved the wire from L to L1, or L to C to be precise ?

The door lock would appear to be the source of the problem and is a fairly cheap item to replace.

I would have a look at the control unit PCB first though, it nearly always suffers when a door lock blows.

[Allsorts]

Re: hotpoint Aquarius 1100 WM63

paulbennett77 wrote: i then diconnected the door switch and bypassed it and it still blows the RCD

Leave the door open and switch the machine on… if it still trips the RCD then check the mains cable for shorts and check the power switch itself .. If it doesn’t trip then and the cable for the door switch with the water solenoids disconnected

George

[iadom]

Re: hotarius point Aquarius 1100 WM63

With the benefit of a good nights sleep I have some further thoughts. 🙂

First question is did you take my advice and actually check the individual components for insulation faults?

That is the only sensible thing to do, constantly allowing the machine to trip is not advisable.

Secondly you state that it does not trip if you remove the black connector plug to the door lock. Does it trip when this is connected to the timer but all other connectors are left off, or are any of the other connectors still attached?

[Martin]

Re: hotarius point Aquarius 1100 WM63

paulbennett77 wrote:I am a competent electrician but not a washing machine engineer.

Based on that statement Paul, and with the greatest respect to you, I’m not sure that that is entirely the case?

paulbennet77 wrote:i have disconnect all connections on the inlets for hot and cold and it still blows the RCD, i then diconnected the door switch and bypassed it and it still blows the RCD, i’m not at a complete loss.

Now a “competent electrician” per say would not operate in such a dangerous and haphazard fashion. But rather isolate the appliance entirely and test each individual component methodically with the aid of an ‘insulation tester’.

My colleague (iadom) touched on the subject and I have to say that the rules on giving technical advice is based entirely on making assumptions on each individuals capabilities. I’m less than convinced that for someone to be shorting wires to the door lock and plugging the machine in to see if the RCD trips is the way forward for you at this time. And for your own safety I would venture to suggest you stop at this point and contact a local repair company to assist you in the matter.

Safety is the watchword of UK Whitegoods and all those that freely volunteer in good faith to assist. We take no part in assisted suicidal missions, not in this forum anyway. Electricity kills!!!!!!!!!!!

Do please mind how you go. 😉

[paulbennett77]

Re: hotarius point Aquarius 1100 WM63

hi guys,

thanks for the advice etc,

Im going to check the individual componets with my IR meter and go from there i think.
Regarding the PCB timer board, there are no visable defects on the tracks, the machine will stay powered on with all the multiplugs inplace except the black plug that feeds the water inlets and door switch,

As for the ‘shorting’ of the door lock, i removed the lock from the washer and connected the L with the C and bypassed the switch but this still had no effect.

Thanks Martin for the ‘text book’ answer to the electricity at work regs, I understand that live working is not exceptable at electricain level work, but i deal with voltages over 1000v were live working circuits are a daily routine for myself, not everything can be unplugged from a 13A socket and tested via insualtion resistance.
As for your assumption that I am not a competent electrician, i beg to differ! as i did say in my statement, i am in no way experienced on fault finding washing machines & hence this is why i came to this website for help.

Regarding the risk factor of ‘shorting’ things out and risk of electric shock, well i would say that a good electrical installation should consist of a split board with twin RCD trips at 30mA making a fatel electric shock in domestic supplies near impossible!

But you are quite correct in your statement that ‘Electricity can kill’

many thanks for your help on this guys!

[iadom]

Re: hotarius point Aquarius 1100 WM63

paulbennett77 wrote:

Im going to check the individual componets with my IR meter and go from there i think.
Regarding the PCB timer board, there are no visable defects on the tracks, the machine will stay powered on with all the multiplugs inplace except the black plug that feeds the water inlets and door switch,

As I suspected, this is the line of thinking that came to me overnight. 🙂 How can the machine ‘stay powered on’ with the doorlock isolated? If you remove the black plug from the control unit PCB then you will get power to the On/Off switch and no further.

You need to think about it ‘logically’ which any successful domestic appliance engineer has to do. 😉

When you connect the black plug that ‘leads to’ the valves and the doorlock you are also supplying power to the rest of the machine. If as you say you have bypassed the doorlock and it still trips then there is an insulation leak elsewhere.

My money would be on the motor armature if it is a GDA/Hotpoint motor. The later FHP motor was not as prone to this fault.

Whilst I do concur with my esteemed colleague Martin in some of his observations and unless or until you do get round to insulation testing all of the components I suggest that you refit all connections then remove the plug from the motor itself and try it one last time.

[paulbennett77]

Re: hotarius point Aquarius 1100 WM63

hi there,

thanks for all this info ppl, its helping me work through this bit by bit lol.

regarding the motor, i have already unplugged the multiplug to the motor & it still trips the RCD, power ‘on/off’ switch has also been tested and is ok.
Its proving to be a bit of a bitch so far, but i’m willing to keep trying things as and when u guys have the time.

cheers

[iadom]

Re: hotarius point Aquarius 1100 WM63

A bit of a head scratcher and no mistake. 😥

The heater would be my next port of call.

[Author]

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