Hotpoint WMA 30 Door switch

[jerry111]

Hello,

The door switch/latch mechanism is starting to fail. If the door is pressed hard or if my wife now kicks it closed with her stiletto’s the door light will stop flashing and the machine will run. What level disassembly do I need to do to get at the switch? I’ve had this machine for 10 years now, before that it was a rental machine. all I’ve had to do over the years is change the motor brushes. If I can get another year or two from it, that’ll be good.

Looking at some of the posts about the quality of the newer Hotpoint’s, I’m a bit concerned that they won’t as tough as this old model.

Thanks for any help or advice offered. 🙂

Jerry111.

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WMA 30 Door switch

First thing to check is the door latch spring, accessible by splitting the door panels. I would strongly advise against your wife’s actions, a faulty door interlock on these will often take out the main £100 pcb if not attended to.

If you Google for a 1603332 spring you will see what it should look like.

[jerry111]

Re: Hotpoint WMA 30 Door switch

Thanks for the advice and the part number for the spring. I’ll tell her to go a little easy with the door for now.

The sprung claw on the door does seem to have a positive feel to it, so I think the spring is probably OK. The door hinge does appear to be worn as the claw now no longer lines up with the latch socket – and the door has to lifted slightly for it to close. I’ll take the door off tomorrow and have a closer look.

As the door latch sells for around £10.00 or less, it’d be false economy not to change it.

Cheers, 😉

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WMA 30 Door switch

If the spring is in good condition then you should change the door interlock switch ASAP. Although if the spring has never been changed it is long overdue.

[jerry111]

Re: Hotpoint WMA 30 Door switch

Hi

I took the door off the machine today, and you were quite correct in saying that the spring had broken – it had!

The door latch was removed, but only after releasing a cable to it that had been trapped in the chassis. How it had not cut through I don’t know!
The solenoid assembly had half seized up. I’ve cleaned it of all the goo on the slide mech, and put a tiny amount of WD40 onto the plastic guides only. After reassembly it worked first go. I’ll get a new latch and spring on order pronto.

When I took the door off I noticed two bad scrape marks on the glass bowl. It looks as if the front edge of the drum has been chafing on the glass. Is this a result of overloading, or is there a problem with the drum suspension as well?

I’ve attached a picture of the marks on the bowl.

Thanks again for the advice, you were spot-on.

Regards, Jerry111.

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WMA 30 Door switch

I would guess that 90{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of WMA’s that get to this age will have those marks on the door. Often caused by trying to wash badly balanced loads, under loading with heavy, single items or overloading. At the age of this machine the suspension units will more than likely be worn.

Easy to check, plug out, top off and press down hard on the top concrete weight then release quickly. The drum should not ‘bounce’ but go down then up and stop.

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