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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The fault could be anything from simple to serious, an appliance engineer should be able to find out what it is easily, it’s just not a diy job. An electrician is no good unless you suspect the fault is in the house electrics, you need an appliance engineer.
Hi Andy
I pulled my Bosch washing machine away from the wall to get to the stopcock and in doing so I must have over-stretched the power cable because now the first 2 inches as it comes out of the back of the machine are unsheathed. The 3 wires within are still sheathed. Now it trips the mains every time I plug it in. Do you think I need an electrician or an appliance engineer or is there likely to be a simple answer if I just take the back off myself?
Thanks
Hello again Andy,
Many thanks for your help so far. I had an appliance engineer test the machine and he said its a problem with the tub bearings, and to replace these on an older model machine would cost £200. Does this sound correct to you? He charged £50 for the callout and said labour would be included, were any parts needing to be replaced once examined. However now he has recommended I replace the machine considering the cost of the parts. I have looked online and bearings seem to be very cheap, am I looking at the right thing? He said he would need to replace the whole ‘tub’?
Hello Nick, it’s probably pulled the tags off the suppressor. Take the lid off and look, The live and neutral on the mains cable should connect to a small suppressor. It should be easy enough to see where they should go (live to live and neutral to neutral) but if you wire it up wrong it will blow up.
Hello Nazia, Drum bearings don’t normally cause a machine to trip the electrics but if they have gone many do need an entire tub, bearings often aren’t available as a spare part. Sometimes the bearings are available but if the machine is old and the drum bearings have collapsed it can mean a lot of damage is done inside and bearings can seize inside the drum and be unable to be knocked out. On an old machine I wouldn’t normally bother fixing it if drum bearings have gone.
Check to see if drum bearings are available for your model here washing machine drum spare parts (Ransom Spares guarantee the best prices).
Hi, my beko washing machine keeps tripping the fusebox mid cycle , i contacted a repair company who said it was the electrics in the house at fault and to contact the local authority , however the local authority came and said they were not at fault it was simply the washing machine to blame, any advice or shall i try a new engineer?, the washer is only 4years old , thanks
I would say it is more likely to be the washing machine. Does it trip every cycle? My article above looks at the various possible causes which should be investigated by a competent engineer. A proper insulation test meter is needed to test the washing machine and its components properly.
Hi Andy.
I’ve got a Hotpoint washer dryer (WDF740) that, besides being incredibly loud, has performed perfectly in the few years I’ve had it. Today the power tripped when it was mid way through a basic 30 degree cycle. After determining that it was definitely the washing machine rather than another appliance that had caused it I tried to find out what was up. I first emptied it, drained the water and isolated the water supply. I then took the top off and checked all the connections I could get to then did the same from underneath. There was nothing obviously loose or damaged or any sign of water getting somewhere it shouldn’t. I put it back together, switched it on and unlike before it didn’t trip again straight away, it did try to restart the program that was midway through but because the water supply was isolated it just pumped to no avail. I turned the water back on and after thirty seconds or so of filling it tripped the power again and now, as before the power trips as soon as you switch it on. From reading your advice above it sounds like the heater is the likely candidate for replacement, what do you think?
Thanks,
Scott.
no sometimes i can do 3 or 4 washes with no problems then other times it trips 5 or 6 times each cycle, i will try a different engineer, thanks for the help :-)
Hello chell. Intermittent faults are the hardest to find and its most likely why the engineer said there was nothing wrong with the machine when he couldn’t find anything. However, there are things such as leaks and wires catching with heavy loads only that can cause intermittent tripping. Sadly most engineers don’t have the time these days to test appliances thoroughly enough with intermittent faults and to be fair if it only trips every several washes and an engineer can’t see anything wrong there’s nothing much they can do unless they are experienced enough to check out unusual and rare faults they may have come across in the past.
The same goes for the electrician, which leaves you in an impossible position. All I can recommend is that you carefully observe when it trips to see if it only happens for example with heavy loads, or on specific wash cycles or when you’ve washed 2 consecutive times etc which may give clues for an appliance engineer.