Washing machines- Is it normal practice to attach earth terminal to heater using tape

Cinquestelle

I called in an engineer to look at our washing machine after noticing a burning smell coming from machine. Taking the lid if the machine it was noted that the earth terminal had come undone from the heater box. It had been fixed on using blue sticky tape.

It was difficult to get the visiting engineer to comment beyond saying that it may have been the tape that was causing the smell. However, it is the way the earthing was done that is of greater concern to me now. Is this not an unsafe way of doing things?

I would be very grateful to receive views, particularly from engineers.

Jonesya

The electrical connection to the earthing conductor should be held securely in place using some form of secure mechanical fixing.

Typically it might be a screw terminal or a compression connector, normally a ring type connector bolted onto a stud or a blade type connector. It might be soldered.

You might find tape being used a long the length of the cable, to hold it in place and stop it moving and possibly wrapped around an electrical connection, but not as the only means of holding the earth onto the element.

DaftyDuck

I agree with the above. There should have been a proper fixing, but tape may have held the wire in place along the length.

Mind you, I bought a house 15 years ago. Previous owners had built a granny extension, and moved "mother" in... it'd been mother's money that paid for the extension. They'd DIY-fitted an electric shower for her, and the only earth was attached with a poly-bag twist wire... a reused "Hovis" one! :eek:

I always suspected they'd hoped to move her in, then rapidly move her on!

(I'm not an engineer, b.t.w., not by a long shot!)

cyclonebri1

No, but it is common practice to tape over the mechanical clamp with stripy earth tape, purely for ID purposes.

However, there is an issue with your post. The instasller would have not touched the internals of your machine, the heater box or whatever. He would simply have connected to to mains input in the connection box at the rear of the machine.

Someone has pratted about with your washer, not the installer however.

Cinquestelle

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

No, but it is common practice to tape over the mechanical clamp with stripy earth tape, purely for ID purposes.

However, there is an issue with your post. The instasller would have not touched the internals of your machine, the heater box or whatever. He would simply have connected to to mains input in the connection box at the rear of the machine.

Someone has pratted about with your washer, not the installer however.

A few weeks ago the dryer in the washing machine broke down and so an engineer was called. He replaced the entire unit, not just the element.

It was following today's visit- in response to my concern about a burning smell coming from the machine - that it was discovered that instead of a making a secure fixing in common with the other visible terminals, the previous engineer (who had replaced the heating unit) had simply used tape to attach the earth, and this had since detached itself. I am concerned about what danger this placed my family in.