Remember the machine that keeps tripping the mains???? Well here is Episode II The Hotpoint Strikes Back?

Question

1. It is tripping everything in the house and it has to be reset from the main fusebox under the stair,
2 There is nothing else on the circuit. it is a dedicated one.
3 I have plugged it into a seperate ring main and it still trips the main breaker not the individual ones.
4, The pump runs and it drains and tumbles, but when the water goes in and it tries to turn, thats when it trips. I am thinking that it is either the controller or the motor. Probably the motor because it completed a cycle on empty, when i tried a half load then it tripped.

Have a vote new machine or new motor and where can I get cheap ones of either as I have a teensy weensy budget!!

Answer 1

Please don't use it, tripping breakers isn't good for your house at all. Unless you have an electrician or a repairman for a friend it will cost you almost as much as a simple washer, since house calls from either run $100 here anyway, and that's before they look at it, let alone parts and labor. It sounds like the water is shorting something out. I don't know where you live, but try putting up a notice in the library or supermarket for a working machine. I just got a new one and I can't find anyone to take the old washer/dryer, It works fine, we just remodeled and wanted a stacked type for space. If that's happened to us its happened to others, and you might benefit from it.

Answer 2

I didn't think they made Hot Point anymore. It used to be GE made them. If it was the motor it would blow when it pumps and tumbles. If it is kicking the main breaker then you have a dead short. If the main is 100 amps and you use a 30 amp breaker for the dedicated line, then there must also be something wrong with 30 amp breaker, or the 100 amp main breaker is defective and kicking at a lower amperage. You may want to check to see if there is a run or start capacitor connected to the motor. A defective capacitor will kick a breaker. I think you may be better off with a different machine though. I guess I am just not too fond of Hot Point, we had a dishwasher years ago and it caught on fire. It was not even running and the motor started burning.

Answer 3

Back again?? I take it that your 'main breaker' is an RCD ( Earth leakage trip) in which case you have a earth fault somewhere in the machine that trips the breaker when the timer or something energises that component. Possibly the insulation in the motor has broken down or there could be a water leak somewhere and components have got wet. Either way the only way to trace it is to isolate various internal compnents and test with a megger (insulation tester) until the fault is found, and the part replaced.

The RCD is probably 30ma which equates to about 8000 ohms insulation resistance. Minimum allowed is 1 megohm (1000000) although domestic appliances in good condition would normally exceed 3/4/500 Megohms.

Answer 4

Has the main breaker ever tripped before, i.e., due to some other load?
It's very, very unusual for a device to trip the main breaker and not it's own. Before doing anything, you need to get a clamp on ammeter on the wire that feeds your washer and determine the amperage draw that is tripping the main.
Most likely, perhaps is a bad main breaker, non-functioning breaker for the machine (or both), or some other strange problem such as a dead short in the "wash" cycle wiring. Get an electrician to look at it before you spend money on a washer.

Answer 5

It would cost nearly as much to buy a new machine as to have a new motor fitted. If you are on a tight budget, and you live in Britain, then there are a few firms around which sell good reconditioned electrical items. You can either find these in your local paper, or in Yellow pages. Also people do sell good second hand machines, because they are going abroad or whatever, and again the local paper will advertise these, or cards in shop windows. Hope this helps, good luck. (PS I had lots of trouble with my last Hotpoint - wouldn't touch them again. Now have a Bosch which has given me years of good service and no problems)

Answer 6

The "main breaker" is probably an earth leakage device and so tripping, not because of high current, but becuase of an earth fault.

So, I think it would be the windings in the motor as they can leak out to the motor casing.

You could try disconneting the motor and leaving the control to run through a cycle. they woud isolate the problem to the motor - do the same with the solenoids in case its one of them.

Answer 7

This happened to ours - it turned out to be an intermittent dead short on the main motor armature. With a new motor costing £100++ you may be better shopping round for a good deal on a new machine. Try to find someone who knows what they are doing to test it for you - I'd forget calling out the engineer, you'll probably end up spending the price of a new one.

Answer 8

i`ve got a Hotpoint and i ca`nt have anything else plugged in when i use it like hoover microwave and that or mine trips as well apart from that its OK now but it packed up a week after the grantee ran out i knew it was going to break because it sounded like i was washing house bricks you need to get Hotpoint out if you want it fixed i tried a couple of other shops first but they said it was best to go direct to hot point If its an AquariusWMA34(mine is )they`ve got a manufacturing fault i had to have a new drum and motor in mine but because of the fault i only had to pay half price (£45)usually they charge £90 one flat rate for whatever so its a lot cheaper than a new one

good luck with it Keny

Answer 9

Looking for cheap spares in the UK ? Use your local re-cycle depot ( tip ) ours usually have about 20 waiting for disposal

Answer 10

the motor start circuit is faulty, maybe a weak capacitor, or intermittent centrifugal switch.