Hi I'm enquiring for my sister inlaw. She brought a $3000 washing machine a while ago. Recently it has stopped working. She took it into a service company who tested it and said there was nothing wrong with it. She tried it at home. Still didn't work. She took it back in. Same thing it worked at the shop. She tried it with an extension cord from the neighbour and it worked. She has been told she can order a new mother board $1000 but there is the chance it still may not work. Any sparkies out there who can explain why it would work at the neighbours. Apparently its to do with the phase/s. Cheers
russ18,
Sep 18, 9:56am
Sounds like there's something wrong with the socket the washing machine is plugged into. Blown fuse?
vandewc,
Sep 18, 10:05am
Now bit more than that. They checked that.
russ18,
Sep 18, 10:07am
Who checked that?
vandewc,
Sep 18, 10:09am
I guess my brother in law
russ18,
Sep 18, 10:13am
Sounds like he didn't check it properly. I have seen a small radio working on a socket with a blown fuse, there was that much copper splattered over the fuse holder and base from decades of fuses blowing that enough power was tracking across for the radio to work but most appliances wouldn't work.
vandewc,
Sep 18, 10:16am
I'll get them to check Russ. Cheers
tweake,
Sep 18, 10:19am
probably a bad connection in the line somewhere. did they check the voltage? mate had a place that had a few weird things happening and it was due to the transformer for the street set wrong and giving to much voltage.
gpg58,
Sep 18, 10:30am
re :"She tried it with an extension cord from the neighbour and it worked", so she should try it on extension lead from her other power points first, to see if it is her washing machine point at fault, or a problem at her switchboard end. If other things are not playing up as well, it is unlikely to be to be an incoming mains issue-(ie Do her fridges, microwave, electric jug, vacuum etc work ok) ps, could be a loose neutral, (at point or switchboard)so voltage testing to earth will not show a fault
vandewc,
Sep 18, 10:37am
How does a loose neutral do this? Interested.
solarboy,
Sep 18, 10:38am
I'd be trying a vacuum cleaner, electric jug or hair dryer of decent wattage in the washing machine socket too, to prove it both ways.
gpg58,
Sep 18, 11:03am
Phase is live at 230 volts to earth or neutral, so testing to earth will prove nothing if neutral is loose, or terminal/s in power point are burnt out. And modern testers/meters often do not put enough load on a circuit to prove a fault, which sometimes only will show under a large load.
Another fault i have seen a few times is, a plug in type circuit breaker fitting in its base too loosely, causing contacts to arc under load and get very hot. If circuit has one, pull it out and check its pins for discoloration.
macman26,
Sep 18, 11:21am
And if the contacts in the socket spread a bit. Especially in the older sockets. Another problem with sockets I've had a couple of times. The contact in the socket makes contact on the insulation of the plug. Perhaps time for a decent Sparky.
marte,
Sep 18, 1:50pm
Theres probably some crossover confusion between single and three phase.
On a 3 phase motor they sometimes do not work on a different 3 phase socket because two of the phases are in the wrong position. You have to swap over two of the wires on the socket (or plug, then back again to get it to work on the first socket again) before the motor will work.
Its a old problem that probably hardly happens these days because I expect electrictions will all wire up the sockets they put in exactly the same way now.
urbanrefugee54,
Sep 18, 5:07pm
get the house checked by electrician, might be safer - because if someone makes a mistake, it could be fatal or you might have a dead $3,000 washing machine.
tintop,
Sep 18, 7:41pm
This. Most definitely!
russ18,
Sep 18, 8:13pm
Well they could check the basics first before getting the experts in.
vandewc,
Sep 18, 9:30pm
Text my sister in law this morning. The freezer is on the same socket as the washing machine is on.
Any other ideas guys, apart from getting a sparky at this stage.
gpg58,
Sep 18, 9:46pm
Not on a double adapter i hope?(or multibox) if so try washer only plugged into wall outlet directly. Or as above, try an extension lead from somewhere else in house. Double adapters are pure junk, and should never be used on high current draw appliances.
russ18,
Sep 18, 9:51pm
So assuming the freezer is working we know that socket is working, so unplug the freezer and plug the washing machine in its place and see if it works
jhan,
Sep 18, 11:07pm
Did she swap the leads around to make sure. I have a washing machine and a freezer on one double outlet. Both work of course but I have had a double one in the kitchen which played up and was replaced.
johotech,
Sep 26, 4:50pm
Yep, it's quite common for one socket on a double outlet to be faulty. Even recent models have had bad batches. Particularly switches on sockets.
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