UK why is the washing machine tripping

[lonrom]

Greetings All. FTP. the electric keeps tripping mid cycle - not every time and not related to any particular programme. we have recently replaced the washing machine and the problem still persists and is probably more frequent now. it is not one of the usual suspects of latch, element etc. am scratching my head and any suggestions are much appreciated. thanks in advance.

 

[pc1966]

Can you clarify exactly what is tripping?

I suspect it is an RCD (residual current device) but if you can post a photo of your consumer unit (CU = fuse box) and point out what it is tripping it might help. If posting photos, etc, please blank out any personal information on yourself or who fitted the board, etc.

More generally there are a few possible reasons for this. Given it is a new washing machine with the same issue it is unlikely you had two with a similar fault.

It can be caused by a lot of circuits on one RCD, so it has close to the trip current on the small amount of leakage everything has and occasionally the washing machine pushes it over. Or it can be a fault on one of the other circuits between neutral and earth that causes enough current to go that route only when the machine's motor kicks in a it takes a high current to spin the motor up.

Probably you will need to get someone in to check the house wiring to rule those possible reasons out, but there may be other tests a DIY person could do to narrow it down. Out of interest, has the property been tested (EICR = electrical installation condition report) in the last few years?

 

[brianmoooore]

Just been answering questions on a similar other thread! Are all your sockets on one RCD? A pic. of your fusebox may help.

 

[Pete999]

Greetings All. FTP. the electric keeps tripping mid cycle - not every time and not related to any particular programme. we have recently replaced the washing machine and the problem still persists and is probably more frequent now. it is not one of the usual suspects of latch, element etc. am scratching my head and any suggestions are much appreciated. thanks in advance.

Water getting in the electrical gubbins I should imagine

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Unlikely if the OP has replaced the washing machine and it is still happening, as he seems to imply. As per @pc1966 it might well be a neutral-earth somewhere that is being revealed by the WM heater coming on and putting load on the circuit.

 

[ipf]

Strangely enough, had a call today from a woman having the same problem, tripping every few minutes.......quick call because she sounded in a bit of trouble. It's a double RCD con unit, replaced a few years ago. Obviously it's an intermittent fault so I gave the washer a couple of runs and checked other loads on the circuit....no tripping. Not much you can do without starting to take things apart, so I ramp tested (21mA), a bit on the low side. I found an oven, with clock, plugged in to the circuit, hardly ever used, so unplugged to take that out of the equation. Other usual kitchen stuff. She had loads of washes to do and hasn't phoned back yet......
The biggest problem was trying to get over to her what exactly she needed to do (unplugging other appliances) and explaining the reasons for doing so.

 

[timhoward]

The biggest problem was trying to get over to her what exactly she needed to do (unplugging other appliances) and explaining the reasons for doing so.

It can certainly be fun trying to explain rcds. I’ve settled on the phrase ‘electricity going the wrong way’, what the ‘right way’ is, and the rcd measures how much goes the ‘wrong way’. I’ve given up on describing it as Earth leakage. Takes too long!

 

[pc1966]

RCDs are hard to explain, even some sparks struggle a bit to grasp their implications. I guess some might see an accountancy analogue - if money in and money out don't tally then someone is staling stuff - but it would be nice to have a simple A4 leaflet to hand out that was understandable by most non-specialists.

There are some, like the BEMA booklet, that go some way to cover them with handy diagrams but they go far too deep and end up as a couple of dozen pages, etc.

 

[timhoward]

RCDs are hard to explain, even some sparks struggle a bit to grasp their implications. I guess some might see an accountancy analogue - if money in and money out don't tally then someone is stealing stuff

I like that. I might steal that one for the odd occasion the blank look prevails. I'm half expecting someone to point out that my stock answer is flawed because they actually check that the right amount is going the right way....but it seems to work with customers and gets the point over.
My worst experience was when I dumbed it down a lot and the customer turned out to be a retired physics teacher! Luckily he was a lovely man and I let him play with my MFT and measure his earth electrode which made his day. He was the opposite of most customers who want the power back on pronto. "What else can we test?!"

 

[nicebutdim]

My worst experience was when I dumbed it down a lot and the customer turned out to be a retired physics teacher! Luckily he was a lovely man and I let him play with my MFT and measure his earth electrode which made his day. He was the opposite of most customers who want the power back on pronto. "What else can we test?!"

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