Hotpoint WMA44 Tripping earth leakage

[oomarko]

Hello All,
After your help again 🙂 . About 12 months ago I recieved some excellent help in the fridge freezer section and now I need help with my wonderfull washing m/c!

Basically I have a hotpoint aquarius extra 1200 spin WMA44 (s/n 1669200001?) washing m/c, 3yrs old thats tripping the mains. Fairly convinced it’s something to do with the heating element as if I turn the temperature control to off it will go through the same cycle no problem. Just wondered really whats going to be involved repairing this as i’m loathed to pay the Hotpoint call out fee even though the parts should be covered as I’m a service engineer myself just not in the white goods field! ( The fridge freezer cost me £26 to repair and would have cost £90 if hotpoint were called ).

I’ve had a quick look round behind the control panel and inside the m/c and there’s no water where there shouldn’t be. Can anyone tell me which connector on the control board goes to the element so I can check it’s resistance? Also if I did call out Hotpoint and it was the element at fault would they replace the drum or just that component as I’m thinking if I was to do it myself I might aswell replace the bearings and seal whilst in there as the spin is not as quiet as it used to be and the total of those parts may well be getting close to the call out fee!

Any advice greatly appreciated,

Cheers,
Mark

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WMA44 Tripping earth leakage

There is a strong possibility that you have already put your finger on the problem. The noise will almost certainly be the bearings, most definately not a DIY job. Most of us replace the whole drum or drum rear half. It could be a leak from the bearing seals that is causing the heater to trip. If you take the small lower back panel off and can see any rusty marks on the back of the drum or on the chassis then you have a bearing seal failure. The later seal has been modified and is much more reliable.

Give Hotpoint a ring, they will more than likely replace the whole drum assembly which will include a new heater element for labour only, much cheaper than you can buy the required parts for.

[oomarko]

Re: Hotpoint WMA44 Tripping earth leakage

Think I might have been lucky on this one! Upon removing the control panel you could see where the wiring had been in contact with the machine frame. Although the cable holes have had they’re edges rolled to prevent a sharp corner you could still see where the wires had been rubbing. Whilst the insulation of the wires wasn’t worn through it was worn in those area’s and knowing how sensetive earth leakage trips are was probably enough to trip. A week on now after routing the wires away from the frame and atleast half a dozen washes I’ve had no further problems as yet!

If I do it’ll be a call out job then. Thanks for the advice…

Cheers,
Mark

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