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[Taxi_Driver]

My Mums, probably about 5 years old....

She's determined she needs a new one.....so she shall get one...no probs..

But the problem with it, is it keeps tripping the ELCB....apparently is fine spin drying...just on main wash it trips the breaker.

I'm thinking this is most likely the heater element doing this....i cannot understand anything else doing it....as its ok on spin drying....

So instead of letting Curry's (most likely) take it away to the tip.....do you reckon its worth me taking it away instead and replacing the heater element....see if it fixes it....then keep it as a spare for my old 15yo Bosch (or swap it over)

Anything else likely to cause the ELCB to trip?? 

[Kevin Wood]

Yep, most likely the element. Worth saving for the sake of a £15 part, especially as many newer machines are getting to be practically throw-away items that are impossible to repair.

Worth having a look inside to see if there's any evidence of water leakage on to any electrics first. The motor being a prime example, if it's slung under the drum as most are.

There's often a mains filter on the mains inlet too, Sometimes the capacitors in them can go leaky and trip the breaker. Should be easy to isolate the fault with a megger.

(Currently awaiting bits to get ours back working)

[tigers_gonads]

RCD / ELCB tripping is caused by a neutral / earth leakage.
If as you say it is okay on spin but trips on the heat / wash cycle then yup, i'd be looking at the heater element as kev says
One question though, is the programmer mechanical or digital ?
Sometimes, the mechanical contacts can wear and start to arc which will definitely trip a old ELCB so beware 

As for fixing it up, all depends on the price of the element tbh 

[flyer 0712]

My daughters Bosch washing machine recently needed the drum bearing replacing so it had to be taken apart..a bit time consuming but an easy job..in doing so we removed the heater element  just to inspect it while it was there in front of us,only to find it was caked in crap and lime scale even though she uses a very well known lime scale remover that is supposed to stop the lime scale..what a complete load of crap and waste of money...Anyway I said at the time if you ever have to replace the element it would be so easy,,,,If you are not sure about doing it I found a video on you tube that made it so easy to do..

[Marks DTM Calib]

Remember that an ELCB will trip when there is greater than a 30mA imbalance between live and neutral currents.....that could a neutral to earth fault or a live to earth fault.

Easy way to test is to disconnect the heater element and give it a run.

I cant see it being the filter or it would be tripping on spin and all sorts. 

[Taxi_Driver]

Remember that an ELCB will trip when there is greater than a 30mA imbalance between live and neutral currents.....that could a neutral to earth fault or a live to earth fault.

Easy way to test is to disconnect the heater element and give it a run.

I cant see it being the filter or it would be tripping on spin and all sorts. 

Thanks for all the replies guys....sounds like its worth having a go at fixing it 

I can imagine disconnecting the heater causing another problem, ie wont it stop mid cycle waiting for the water to heat up and not carry on until the water does heat up 

[05omegav6]

Test it on its coldest setting

[Rog]

I'm a firm believer that all "white goods" are designed to have a life expectancy of around five years, even "quality" brands like Bosch. 

[Kevin Wood]

Remember that an ELCB will trip when there is greater than a 30mA imbalance between live and neutral currents.....that could a neutral to earth fault or a live to earth fault.

Easy way to test is to disconnect the heater element and give it a run.

I cant see it being the filter or it would be tripping on spin and all sorts. 

Thanks for all the replies guys....sounds like its worth having a go at fixing it 

I can imagine disconnecting the heater causing another problem, ie wont it stop mid cycle waiting for the water to heat up and not carry on until the water does heat up 

Maybe, maybe not. On a lot of simpler machines the heater is just powered, in series with a thermostat, during the wash cycle and there is no provision for the timer to wait.

If you're going to disconnect the heater anyway, just check for leakage between element and earth, then you have something conclusive. If it's bad enough, you may see it with a normal multimeter on ohms. Failing that, a megger is your friend.

[Kevin Wood]

I'm a firm believer that all "white goods" are designed to have a life expectancy of around five years, even "quality" brands like Bosch. 

The problem is that all (bar a couple) of the "quality" brands also now make cheap shite.

[TheBoy]

I'm a firm believer that all "white goods" are designed to have a life expectancy of around five years, even "quality" brands like Bosch. 

Sssshhh, don't let my dishwasher hear that.

Oh, I forgot, its cheap shite (hotpoint)

[ronnyd]

Had a Bosch tumble dryer a few years back, a real Friday afternoon job. Continually blowing overloads etc.
Got dumped after a couple of years and now using my daughters old Electra, still goes ok, or am i tempting fate?

[Vamps]

I'm a firm believer that all "white goods" are designed to have a life expectancy of around five years, even "quality" brands like Bosch. 
[/quote

[Vamps]

I'm a firm believer that all "white goods" are designed to have a life expectancy of around five years, even "quality" brands like Bosch. 
[/quote

That's about right in our household for washer and dryer, we have better luck with fridges x2 and freezers also x2, my very first auto washer, an Ariston, was still going strong over 10 years later when I left it in a house I moved out of..........

[Vamps]

Sorry, not sure what went wrong there......