Washing machine tripping RCD

piglet74

As above,

It goes for a very short time, then trips,
I got the clothes out of it, and tried it empty, and its spinning away .. Not a bother on it!

Any ideas?

Thanks

Browntoa

I'm thinking heating elements gone, or letting water in so it "shorts"

JuzaMum

I second Browntoas' opinion.
I had the same with my washing machine and it was the heating element. The water went in then when the element switched on to heat it would trip the RCD. It would drain and spin fine as these functions didn't use the heating element.
I bought a new element for £10 and found a youtube tutorial showing how to fit it. When the old element came out you could see the 'blown' part as it was blackened. The repair worked and I have a working machine without a £50 call out charge.

EssexExile

Or motor brushes (if it has them).

brightontraveller

Normally if it’s the element it would trip moment element draws a load ( depending on selected cycle) most start to heat the water once the door is closed and the cycle with element use starts?

Try it at different cycles e.g starting at “spin only cycle” then 40 degree wash etc if it works for a full “spin only cycle” but not any that use element e.g. 40 degree etc then check element, programmer , motor, etc

cyclonebri1

the element always draws a load in spite of the above post, how on earth could it do anything if it didnt''
Point being all the load has to go to neutral and eventually to earth. earth leakage trips ensure they don't go directly to earth which is why your system is telling you there is some sort of problem and you need to sort it or Madam Trip will get knickers in a twist

brightontraveller

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

the element always draws a load in spite of the above post, how on earth could it do anything if it didnt''
Point being all the load has to go to neutral and eventually to earth. earth leakage trips ensure they don't go directly to earth which is why your system is telling you there is some sort of problem and you need to sort it or Madam Trip will get knickers in a twist

Fault current needs to be excess of that required to trip RCD you believe heating elements always draws sufficient load regardless of cycle selected? There is drawing a load and drawing a sufficient load?

xyz123

brightontraveller wrote: »

Fault current needs to be excess of that required to trip RCD you believe heating elements always draws sufficient load regardless of cycle selected? There is drawing a load and drawing a sufficient load?

Amount of electrical load has nothing to do with RCD trip. RCD will trip at 30mA and if there is a fault then as soon as heating element draws current (little or more) earth current will flow tripping the RCD.

Ben84

The drawing load things seem needlessly complex for what needs to be explained here. The whole thing is quite simple really. Washing machines heat water with an element in the bottom, which is just a regular heating element, much like the ones found in kettles and immersion heaters. When elements go bad they can often start leaking electricity or shorting to earth - a fault which is detected by the RCD in your consumer unit, and it switches the power off. A faulty element however only does this when it's turned on, which happens when the washing machine needs to heat water. The washing machine will contain some kind of programmer that rotates around turning things like the heating element and motor on and off, or a microchip that does the same task electronically. So, if you have a bad element, everything will work perfectly normally until the programmer switches the element on and the RCD trips. Because of this, an RCD tripping at the same point during the cycle each time is a strong indicator that it's the element.

Washing machines however can also trip the RCD randomly during cycles due to their vibrations rubbing cables inside against the metal parts, which over time can wear off the cable's insulation and make contact between live and earth.

cyclonebri1

brightontraveller wrote: »

Fault current needs to be excess of that required to trip RCD you believe heating elements always draws sufficient load regardless of cycle selected? There is drawing a load and drawing a sufficient load?

No I didn't say that, you said that it would trip the moment it sensed a load, you didn't specify over load, but it would be the MCB rather than the RCD that dropped out under those circumstances.

piglet74

I run a short wash last night, with the machine empty, it run ok. So it seems to be going when its empty.

This area has really hard water. I'm on my forth machine in four years, ( albeit two were mine I had from my previous houses, two were landlords from other houses, not four brand new machines) six kettles, three irons... The limescale is horrific , might this be a factor?