Hotpoint WF430 blown up! (Found fault, need advice)

[TBJ]

Hi,

The other day my Hotpoint washer was refusing to complete a wash cycle. It kept getting about halfway through, then it would stop and flash lights 1 and 3 (F10 error, I believe it to mean no cold fill).

I read that this error could be caused by a kinked fill hose so pulled the machine out and shifted the hose (it did not seem kinked). Sure enough, the machine successfully completed two cycles.

That night, the MCB for my wall sockets tripped between 3 and 7am. Came down in the morning and in attempting to pinpoint the faulty device threw the breaker – it tripped out immediately with a flash from the socket area and a scorched socket and plug.

I’ve replaced the socket and inspected the innards of the old one, definitely not a fault with the socket. So that leaves me with a fault with the washing machine. The machine was OFF at the time of the trip (at the front panel, at least). looks as though it has an internal fault and tripped the breaker/cooked the socket rather than blow the plug fuse.

Any idea what could cause this and where I should look to start diagnosing the fault? Could the fill errors I got the previous day have been related? Cheers. (By the way, the machine was definitely filling even before un-kinking the hose…). Cheers.

[odom]

Re: Hotpoint WF430 blown up!

TBJ wrote:Came down in the morning and in attempting to pinpoint the faulty device threw the breaker – it tripped out immediately with a flash from the socket area and a scorched socket and plug.

I assume what you means is you were disconnecting components on the machine with it still plugged in. You shorted a component to earth and were extremely lucky that the appliance was earthed properly, and that the plug took the shock rather than you.

Firstly, you’re extremely lucky not to have been electrocuted. As for your machine – whatever the fault was, the cheap and nasty Indesit board will now certainly be absolutely knackered, along with wiring leading to the board from the component you were testing. You still have the original fault to sort as well.

To be frank, now’s the time to call an engineer – it’s going to be a lot more expensive than if you’d done this in the first place. Repairs@ will help you find your nearest. For future reference, the way to test components is with a multimeter or megger, not by taking potshots with a £100 PCB.

[TBJ]

Re: Hotpoint WF430 blown up!

Hi,

No, that’s not it at all! I haven’t done anything to the washer yet except unplug it (after working out that it was the appliance causing the trip, by turning the MCB back on once.)

All I did the night before was pull the machine out from the wall, do two washes and switch it off. When I came downstairs in the morning it had tripped the MCB, I have not opened it up or touched it yet.

The machine cost me less than 100 quid in the first place, with a fault like this is the culprit likely to be the PCB then? Do these sometimes short out even with front panel power off?

If machine is not worth fixing I’ll most likely scrap it and buy a new one, it owes me very little…

Cheers.

[TBJ]

Re: Hotpoint WF430 blown up!

Sorry to post here again, but I have been troubleshooting and believe I have found the problem with my machine.

Just to clarify: I have not, at any point, been delving around inside it with the power switched on. It went “bang” after I reset the tripped MCB, before I knew the washer had a fault. It’s been unplugged ever since.

So anyway, I took the cover off last night. First thought was the mains supressor at the top of the machine – I unplugged this and tested it with my multimeter, seems OK, no shorts to speak of. L-N resistance is about 681k disconnected from the washer, L-E and N-E is infinite. Definitely no dead shorts.

Then I started delving deeper into the machine. Everything looked OK but I decided to take the main PCB out anyway to have a closer look – and I found this. Not immediately noticable unelss you’re looking hard, but definitely burnt:

Back of board showing singed tracks:

Scorched components – a resistor and a capacitor. Some other bits near one of the relays look scorched too.

The protective cover for the PCB, showing a burn mark near the singed bit of the board…

So, looks like my PCB has blown. My question is why would it do this? Have I got another faulty component that could cause the PCB to blow? Remember the washer was switched off at the front panel when it tripped the breaker for the first time.

I do intend to replace it if I can get one cheap enough, but obviously not before finding the reason why it blew in the first place.

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WF430 blown up! (Found fault, need advice)

A new PCB will cost you around £90, it will need programming with a £12 smart card, you will need an £80+ card reader to use the card.

The chances of buying a second hand board that is correctly configured is very remote.

Its possible that faults elsewhere have blown the PCB but as these Indesit boards are about the worst on the market it may just have failed because it has. 😥

[TBJ]

Re: Hotpoint WF430 blown up! (Found fault, need advice)

Damn, looks like the machine may be scrap then. 🙁 Maybe it’ll be worth breaking it for parts on ebay?

I don’t suppose there’s any chance the board might be repairable? I’m a bit of a dab hand with the soldering iron though obviously I realise that there’s a chance one or more of the microcontrollers might be blown too and that means curtains.

Thanks for the help 😀

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WF430 blown up! (Found fault, need advice)

Hardly worth the effort TBH. you would need to go through all of the components to find out if any of them have actually caused the machine to trip out first, board is likely to be corrupted if it went with a bang as well.

[Author]

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