A Washing machine tripping or fusing electrics is a fault you can’t really deal with unless you have electrical knowledge, and a specialist insulation test meter. However, you might be able to do some basic checks as described in this article. A fusing washing machine can be caused by many different components, and many different wires or connections.
Most common causes for a washing machine fusing electrics
- The motor
- The heater
- The suppressor
- A wire shorting out somewhere
- Water getting onto an electrical part
Insulation test meter
To properly diagnose a fusing washing machine you need an insulation test meter. These meters put 500 volts (DC) through the appliance and individual parts.
They can detect the slightest of leaks to earth (low insulation faults). So this isn’t a diy job. If you have the right equipment then you probably already know how to diagnose and deal with low insulation faults. If not, you should get someone in to look at it unless you can see something obvious like a chaffed wire.
If you can’t see anything it might be wiser to book an appliance repair
If you don’t have an insulation test meter
Without an insulation test meter you can’t do proper insulation tests, but it may be worth testing with an ordinary multimeter if that’s all you have. It should pick up a direct short to earth. For example, if you test for continuity between the heating element pins and its earth tag or any part of the metal on the element (remove wires before testing) there should be no continuity.
Warning
Never test anything on an appliance when it is plugged in. Don’t try to test live parts. Disconnect from mains before testing.
If you do get a continuity reading, then electricity running through the heater will find a path to earth. This will trip rcds or fuse the plug. The same applies to any other part such as the motor. There should be no continuity between any electrical connection and earth (or the metal casing of the part). However, if no reading is found it doesn’t prove there is no fault.
No continuity may just mean a fault can’t be detected. A continuity test (or multimeter) uses a little as 3 volt’s. It can’t jump gaps, or pass through high resistance paths. But 230 volts from the mains can if there is a fault. This is why a proper insulation test meter is needed.
Exactly when is it tripping the electrics?
If you don’t have an insulation test meter, and/or you can’t find anything with a multimeter, the next best thing is to try to get clues by observing exactly when the machine trips out. If it’s as soon as you plug it in then it could be the suppressor (warning: suppressors and capacitors can give a nasty shock – even when unplugged).
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If it only trips out after it has started filling with water and the drum first started to turn, then maybe it’s a fault on the motor. (If you suspect the motor then it should also trip on spin).
If it trips the electrics a short time after it has finished filling with water and has been turning the drum ok a few times then suspect the heater. (removing the heater from washing machine).
If it only trips out on spin then it could be a bare wire in the wiring somewhere that’s touching something metal when the drum is bouncing around. This can often be intermittent, only tripping with large loads when the drum bounces around much more.
Process of elimination
A competent engineer should be able to find the cause of this fault quite quickly. But without an insulation test meter it’s a different story. You can disconnect the washer from the mains and do physical checks for any snagged or disconnected wires.
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Or for wires where the plastic insulation has been rubbing against something revealing the copper wire. This can short out if it touches something metal when the tub swings about on spin with a heavy load in.
If a part is suspected you can disconnect it to see if it stops the fusing. However this isn’t an ideal method. It could just trigger an error code.
And if it stops the tripping you can’t guarantee it means the part is faulty. For example, you could have a bare wire in the wiring harness to the motor which is shorting out on something.
You might disconnect the motor (moving the affected wire away from where it shorts out).
The washer no longer trips the electrics. So you buy a new motor at great expense. But it isn’t the motor.
The only way to truly test is with an insulation test meter. By the way they are far too expensive to buy to test one appliance. They are typically between £200 and £600 and carried by professional repair engineers.
If washer has tripped the RCD or fused – and now won’t work properly
Most people will naturally reset or replace a fuse and try the appliance again. If it fuses or trips again do not keep repeating this pointless cycle. Clearly there is something drastically wrong, which needs fixing. Especially in the case of physically blowing a fuse. If you keep allowing something to blow the fuse it can cause more damage to components.
Also, it would be very stupid to try bypassing a fuse!
Occasionally the washer might work OK and appear to have suffered no ill effects. If so, keep an eye on it. If it does it again try to observe when it does it as described above to get clues of possible suspects. If the appliance starts up – but with something not working properly – then it needs repairing. Whatever fused has failed completely, or damaged something else.
If nothing is working at all other than some lights it could be the main suppressor or main pcb. If the motor no longer runs it could be that the motor is the problem and it’s failed completely. However it could also have blown something on the pcb. Without the right knowledge and a proper insulation test meter you need to call in an engineer.
Fused and door won’t open
If the door won’t open and the washer has tripped the electrics it could have fused the door lock inside. This should only usually happen if there was a big flash, and maybe there isn’t an RCD fuse-board fitted (which should trip fast enough to not blow parts inside).
Alternatively it could even be the door lock that has tripped the electrics due to something shorting out inside (Washing Machine Door Will Not Open).
Notice how I keep saying, “could”? That’s not a good reason to speculatively by new parts. You need to be sure a part is faulty before thinking about buying one unless it’s cheap enough for you to be happy to take a risk on. And is also easy to replace.
Don’t get carried away
Over the years many experienced appliance repairmen have been seriously injured or killed.
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Hi Andy,
My washing machine – an Indesit Moon – blew when I was away in July. There had been a huge thunderstorm across the country, all my electrics were out, everything else worked in the house apart from my washing machine, so I suspect it got struck somehow and that was why the house electrics went out. I did try the fuse as you do, and a different plug point, it wasn’t that. I haven’t looked at anything else yet. Where do you recommend I start? (I have been using other clothes washing methods in the interim, I was going to renew my kitchen but now am not)
Hello Clare, I think it’s highly unlikely anything got struck by lightning. A lightning strike would literally blow things to pieces and caused massive damage. However, the lightning may have caused a power surge. If the washing machine did go dead after a power surge it may have suffered damage to the main PCB. You would need an engineer to look at that.
My washer can be on for a while then my electric trips can’t buy another yet but haven’t a tester
Hello Kath, the only thing I can suggest is to carefully read this article which is written specifically to advise what (limited) things you can check without an insulation test meter. Unfortunately if the article doesn’t help the only thing I can do is recommend an engineer.
It may be more difficult to troubleshoot if it only trips the electrics after it’s been on a while. If an expert engineer came to your house to look at the machine the first thing they would do is to use an insulation test meter on it to see if there is any earth leakage. If he didn’t have a meter he may find it very difficult unless he could spot something very simple and obvious. Without the insulation test meter it is difficult if you cannot see any obvious faults. Even for an engineer.
So a non-engineer without a meter is unlikely to solve this problem unless they have a very logical and methodical mind and a decent understanding of troubleshooting. My article gives a bit of general and basic advice but it’s all that can be advised so if it doesn’t help you need an engineer.
Hi I have a Defy DA455, one day I set it to spin dry and it started but then tripped the mains. Every attempt after resetting it, caused it to trip immediately. After checking everything,now it don’t trip but doesn’t do anything. Like no power is coming through,breaker is fine.
If you keep resetting it without fixing the cause of the tripping it can blow something in the machine, maybe the pcb, then the tripping stops because power no longer gets through to the part that caused it but there may be a second fault now.
Hi, i have Beko WMA667S. It’s quite old, over ten years and has worked for the most part of that time with no issues.
I’ve had to replace the carbon brushes in the motor a couple of times but nothing else.
I replaced a brush a few weeks ago and it has worked fine on at least 12 washes since then, but last night when the wash was nearly completed it blew the fuse and there was a terrible smell of burnt rubber.
I’ve had a look and there are no signs of anything being burnt, wires, connectors in or around the motor or pcb.
I’ve replaced the main fuse and the display is fine, the machine fills with water but then does nothing more.
I’m no engineer and don’t have circuit testing equipment.
have i finally killed the old girl or is there anything else i could check? you mention resetting the trip board, how would i go about that, if indeed you tihnk that needs doing?
Hello Martin, sorry for not replying sooner. It sounds like the main suspect is the motor, especially as the motor has now stopped running. It’s probably too late now as I’m sure you will have had to do something but the chances are the motor has developed low insulation often caused by a buildup of carbon dust especially if any of the carbon brushes fitted were not genuine. There are lots of brushes available and sold as spare parts which are only, “to fit”, or to “suit” but they are softer and wear out quicker causing a lot more carbon dust. The chances are a new machine might be the best course of action.
Hi,
My hotpoint aqualtis 113d was working fine today when all of a sudden it tripped my downstairs sockets in the middle of a cycle. I checked the fuse, it was fine but when i turn it back on at the socket it turns on then immediately trips again. I have checked the suppressor but it is still in one piece and there is no sign of burning is there anything else I can check for before calling some one out?
Hi Paul. I’ve written down everything I could think of to help track this fault in this article, so I can only advise reading it carefully. It’s not possible or even wise to try and write full extensive blow by blow instructions because machines differ and there’s only so much a non-engineer can safely check. Suppressors for example can give a nasty shock even after the machine has been unplugged and some PCB’s can hold a nasty charge for several minutes after the machine is unplugged so I can’t encourage too much delving (Can you still get a shock repairing an appliance if it’s turned off?). This fault as mentioned in my article needs a proper insulation test meter, even I would be limited and handicapped trying to track the cause without one so that limits what can be done right from the start. There’s a chance that a determined and skilful person can narrow down the cause of this fault from my help but most probably won’t be patient enough or have the diagnostic experience.
You can’t eliminate the suppressor visually although if it’s got signs of damage or burning then that’s fair enough. A suppressor can short to earth with no visible clues at all. The only way to test a suppressor is to put an insulation test meter on each of is terminals and put 500 volts dc through and see if there is any continuity to earth or not. However, if it’s a totally plastic suppressor with no earth tag then it can’t short to earth although it could short live to neutral. The same applies to the heating element and the motor and other possible causes, the can all look 100% perfectly OK but have low insulation which can cause it to trip the electrics. You can only test them with the meter or safely disconnect them and see if it stops tripping which would imply they are the cause.