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Looked at a WDL 540 Hotpoint W/D this afternoon and the damn thing had overheated on dry to the point it badly melted all three paddles and ruined the clothes!
There seems to be no obvious TOC fitted to the heater chamber either 😯 I could only see an NTC sensor downwind of the element.
Didn’t investigate any further as I thought she would be best contacting the manufacturer as its a serious fire risk IMO.It’s under 4 yrs old apparently, anyone else seen this fault?
Eddie.
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
TOC is inside the element.
Although I wouldn’t call a four year old Hotpoint a late model, more like near the end of it’s useful life. :rolls:
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
Was this the WDL540xUK.C model? Partfinder confirms there is no cut-out or thermal fuse on this model, unless it is built in to the 1200W element itself. The WDL540xUK model has the usual Indesit thermal fuse wire clamped to the outside of the heater box.
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
Both the wash and dry elements have internal TOC’s. 😉
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
iadom wrote:Both the wash and dry elements have internal TOC’s. 😉
The TOC on the one I looked at must have hung on far too long then! How hot must that air have been exiting the duct to melt the front third of all 3 paddles!?
The heater still had a circuit through it 😯Nasty pieces of junk to be sure.
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
I’d love to know what the melting point of these plastics were and what the TOC’s popped at. Just for my own curiosity so as we knew what sort of temperature has to be achieved before that can happen to figure out why or how.
At a guess though the TOCs will pop long before the melting point of any plastics. My guess would be that, as the washer should never exceed about 90?C and the dryer about 100-110?C at most they will probably pop about the 110-120?C mark. That should be greater than the temperature of direct steam, at least not under pressure etc.
My guess would be that the plastics will be the same sort of thing you see even on cheap kettles and toasters etc. that can withstand temperatures as high as that, if not higher, for considerable periods So, to get them to “melt” would take a bit of doing without direct flame or infra red heat.
Given there’s no naked flame or infra red heating going on you have to wonder how that stuff can melt.
I have a thought or two but I’d need the info to solidify the theory.
I wouldn’t assume an epidemic however without strong evidence to support it or a greater understanding of how and why.
Doesn’t change the fact that the machine isn’t exactly a glorious shining beacon of engineering per say but, a danger? I’d doubt it.
K.
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
Can’t remember ever seeing the cut out temp on any Hotpoint specs for internal TOC’s on either wash or dryer elements.
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
No, me either but I do recall the old in line ones never really being much more than about 120?C although I could be wrong of course. I think the WD ones I paid any attention too on the old casings of Candy’s were 135?C but, it was a while back.
135?C on the dryer housing however means it will pop way before anything in the tub gets even remotely close to that temperature unless there’s something in there soaking up heat. Even then though, you’d expect that the airflow would be restricted if that were the case and you’d be in an overheat situation anyway.
If you think about it, even if the control stat is knackered then the overheat is there for precisely that reason, to prevent any danger should that happen or there be another reason that the machine gets too hot. So, all things being equal, then even if the stat fails the safety pops and no harm, no foul, each component has done exactly as was intended.
Therefore you have a double safety in effect, the control stat as well as the overheat stat and sometimes, although I don’t know if it’s the case here so I won’t assume it to be so, a TOC in the element as well. But let’s assume it’s cheap and there’s no TOC in the element itself. It therefore could be a triple safety but, I’m assuming it isn’t.
To get runaway heat you have to have the control stat fail in the first place and then the TOC not operate.
Which makes me wonder, how do you get past that double safety to the point where stuff gets so hot is starts to melt? How is that even possible?
I’m just trying to look at it in a logical and objective manner, as I try to do with most things, to work out why or indeed how it could happen.
I have seen this before and I’m just interested to see what conclusion is reached when you think it through as I did.
It vexed me and I don’t like being vexed so I came up with my own theory or theories as to how you could replicate the issue.
K.
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
First we had the drums exploding, now they’re catching fire all over again. Is the Indesit the same series? As earlier this week this one sent out smoke signals……
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
I’m guessing you didn’t check the link in my first post Martin. 😉
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
iadom wrote:I’m guessing you didn’t check the link in my first post Martin. 😉
Good guess. 😀
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
As I said, the dryer element on the one I looked at was definitely not open circuit so if a TOC was indeed fitted in line with it it had not done its job.
I tried disconnecting the dryer element and taping up the spades to give the customer some peace of mind that the damn thing couldn’t possibly heat, but the panel lit up like a christmas tree in response to the open circuit it detected.
I didn’t test the NTC for a resistance change with a heat source so I’m not sure if thats to blame or is it the panel not responding to the NTC for whatever reason.
The paddles were MELTED I assure you! Like someone had gone at them with a blowtorch. Just the front of them though, proving the hot air must have been the cause.
I might try to upload a pic I took of one of the paddles if I can get my ancient Nokia to speak to my laptop 😕
Eddie
Re: Late model Hotpoint washer dryer, any known recalls?
I don’t doubt you Eddie, I am just trying to work out how that could happen.
The only way to overheat like that is if the control stat fails open and then the TOC fails to operate as well. To me, that seems somewhat unlikely as you would think that if the control stat had failed then the dryer would overheat and generate a call or, the TOC would kick in and same result.
Meanwhile, as you say, the electronics detect something is up and decide that they’re not going to play nice either.
The odds that both would fail in that way, at just the same time and the electronics not pick it I’d hate to think about. You’d probably have more chance of winning the lottery several months on the trot, every week.
Then there’s the small matter of how it got that hot in the drum before the element packed up as well.
Please understand I’m not saying for a minute that there couldn’t be something amiss or, that there’s something I’m not seeing but, when you think about it logically the chances of this are incredibly remote without some sort of causality.
And, one, two, or even a few does not an epidemic make. 😉
K.
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