Hotpoint WMF760 trips RCD on spin cycle

[Julian57]

Hi all, I have a Hotpoint WMF760, less than 2 years old (May 2010 purchase date), unfortunately now just out of warranty. Some time ago I noticed it occasionally tripped the domestic RCD when coming on the fast (1600 rpm) spin cycle. The trips became more and more frequent, and we got by through dropping the spin to 1200 – worked for a while, but now we’re on 800 rpm.

It seems a progressive problem, and presumably associated with a spike in the current load. A service engineer I know tells me it’s the motor, which will need replacing (£££!). Anyone got any advice? I think the fault probably first appeared within the warranty period, but I can’t convince Hotpoint, who just want to sell me a service contract. 😥

By the way, the service engineer says that model is actually an Indesit machine – bad news to me as Indesit have never had a glowing reputation in the UK. Are all Hotpoints rebadged Indesits now?

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WMF760 trips RCD on spin cycle

Hotpoint taken over by Indesit around 10 years ago. 😥

It has a 3 phase motor so it is not a brush or armature problem although it could still be the motor.

It could also be earth leakage faults elswhere such as the heater or poor wiring connections.

The only way to be certain is to run a megger over all of the components checking for low insulation.

[beerchang]

Re: Hotpoint WMF760 trips RCD on spin cycle

hi m8

you need to change the motor,main pcb and download a new file on to the eepromm as the pcb’s are generic
you cant do this without access to indesits servicenet web site and memwriter application.
as you have not got warranty this will cost you £250 at least
also you will need a indesit or comet engineer to do this.
this is a known fault as there is tech bullitins on servicenet
with the fix.
hope this helps.

[yogibear]

Re: Hotpoint WMF760 trips RCD on spin cycle

Cut off and replace the mains plug it causes tripping and is the cheapest trial fix without a megga and a service engineer.

[Martin]

Re: Hotpoint WMF760 trips RCD on spin cycle

Julian57 wrote:Hi all, I have a Hotpoint WMF760, less than 2 years old (May 2010 purchase date), unfortunately now just out of warranty.

All Hotpoints (made by Indesit) carry a 5 year parts warranty so the Motor and the Main Circuit Board can be replaced for LABOUR ONLY (about £130 I believe).

The 13amp moulded plugtops are indeed a known weakness and can cause this fault. However if that were the case the RCD would trip at any point in the wash cycle and long before the final spin anyway.

If you take the first option and call Hotpoint in to do the repair under warranty it is best NOT to cut the plugtop off meanwhile as that could invalidate your rights under the terms of the guarantee.

[Julian57]

Re: Hotpoint WMF760 trips RCD on spin cycle

Thanks for the friendly and erudite advice everyone. Interesting there’s a known fault. 😉

[iadom]

Re: Hotpoint WMF760 trips RCD on spin cycle

Julian57 wrote:Thanks for the friendly and erudite advice everyone. Interesting there’s a known fault. 😉

All faults are ‘known’ as soon as they occur, even if it is just the once, 😉

[yogibear]

Re: Hotpoint WMF760 trips RCD on spin cycle

Having thought about this problem, and not ruling out motor faults entirely, although our three phase motors in general are very reliable and I change probably less than one a month out of 200ish calls. Have you noticed any sign of a leak? Pulled the machine out and looked for ANY signs of water underneath?
The reason I ask is because you say its getting worse as time goes by (leaks tend to do this) and it wont take much water getting into the motor wiring plug to cause your problem. As for the 13A plug forget that TBH when they are faulty they trip the RCD at the first power on.

@ Martin it will not invalidate any guarantee as long putting your own plug on doesn,t in itself, cause a problem.

[runsilent]

Re: Hotpoint WMF760 trips RCD on spin cycle

My machine began to exhibit exactly the same fault – the RCD would trip now and again, always when the machine was in its final spin cycle. I reasoned that it could have been a faulty heater element and replaced it – fault now appears to be cured. The reason, I believe is as follows. During the spin, especially with some loads, the drum and heater experience high levels of vibration and in a faulty heater this could cause an intermittant short or some degree of electrical leakage between the element and earth. Now although the heater is not on during spin it is still connected to mains neutral and if shorts or leaks occur, any current flowing in the ring circuit neutral (from ANY appliance!) can return instead via earth – causing the RCD to trip.

[yogibear]

Re: Hotpoint WMF760 trips RCD on spin cycle

The definitive cure has been found out to be the eeprom file. It needs rewriting, Indesit have released a Tech Bulletin to their engineers.

[Author]

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