Guitarists with experience of fixing washing machines

Col_Decker

Suck it you Mothers. That's 3 for 3 this week on the repair fronts:

 

Van - yup

Washing Machine - yup

Dishwasher - yup. Good one this was. The heating system packed up so the washer wouldn't run any programme. Looked on line for quotes for spare parts: heater element @ £120. thermostat @ £90, control PCB @ £150. Eeeek!!! So I stripped the washer to do some fault finding. See if you can spot the problem on the PCB below (no prizes will be given) ...

 

Tonight I will eat Steak and drink beer to bask in my glory.

 

Phil_aka_Pip

There's a burnt-looking solder blob just upwards and to the right of centre?

Col_Decker

That's right PAP. That was the problem. A easy fix, but a bit of a bastard to get to.

chillidoggy

How are you with toasters, Decker?

mike_l

He can break them too Chilli

Phil_aka_Pip

Col_Decker said:

That's right PAP. That was the problem. A easy fix, but a bit of a bastard to get to.

Why did it burn? What caused it to pass too much current?

Col_Decker

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Col_Decker said:

That's right PAP. That was the problem. A easy fix, but a bit of a bastard to get to.

Why did it burn? What caused it to pass too much current?

Interesting question, and one that is on my mind too. Dishwasher forums ... yes I know, who knew right? ... suggest that its a fairly common cause of dishwasher breakdowns. Could be a design flaw coupled with vibration from the washer causing the solder joint to break, hence passing the normal current through a smaller volume of material I guess.

Col_Decker

Col_Decker said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Col_Decker said:

That's right PAP. That was the problem. A easy fix, but a bit of a bastard to get to.

Why did it burn? What caused it to pass too much current?

Interesting question, and one that is on my mind too. Dishwasher forums ... yes I know, who knew right? ... suggest that its a fairly common cause of dishwasher breakdowns. Must be a design flaw coupled with vibration from the washer causing the solder joint to break, hence passing the normal current through a smaller volume of material I guess.

Having said that though, our head of security and fire crew at work (who sits opposite me in the office) says that faulty dishwashers are the second biggest causes of house fires after smoking. As we tend to put them on when we go to bed so we're not there to take action when they go wrong (ie get stuck in a programme causing a motor stall / pcb burn out / etc). In other words, don't put the dishy on at bed time folks.

Phil_aka_Pip

Col_Decker said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Col_Decker said:

That's right PAP. That was the problem. A easy fix, but a bit of a bastard to get to.

Why did it burn? What caused it to pass too much current?

Interesting question, and one that is on my mind too. Dishwasher forums ... yes I know, who knew right? ... suggest that its a fairly common cause of dishwasher breakdowns. Could be a design flaw coupled with vibration from the washer causing the solder joint to break, hence passing the normal current through a smaller volume of material I guess.

Physical failure may be indicated if the rest of the circuit behaves as it should. I was wondering if a resistor or some other component that normally does not pass much current suddenly goes short circuit. Then you've got a joint that fails dud to overheating, but you'd also expect that some of the functionality is lost. If it isn't then you may get away with re-blobbing the joint.

imalone

PCBs tend to go on a lot of things after a while, they don't really seem to get the testing for hot spots in particular. Our boiler has twice blown the PCB (with about five years between them), different plumber changed it each time and both said it's a known problem with that model (basically sparking to the case takes out a particular connection). Not much I can do as it's a rented place. Similarly our washer/drier is now just a washer due to PCB failure, and can't really mess about with the board to try fixing it as it'll be my fault if it goes wrong.

chillidoggy

If Decker's dishwasher catches fire, I shall be *inconsolable.

*Hospitalised by excessive laughter.

Col_Decker

?

mike_l

He from Margate Decker, I shouldn't worry.

Skipped

My new Washer/dryer is hardly getting used.
Isn't handwashing amazing?
I have just put 2 Tea towels outside to dry. Hmmmm......Looking a bit cloudy.  
:x

stickyfiddle

Col_Decker said:

Suck it you Mothers. That's 3 for 3 this week on the repair fronts:

 

Van - yup

Washing Machine - yup

Dishwasher - yup. Good one this was. The heating system packed up so the washer wouldn't run any programme. Looked on line for quotes for spare parts: heater element @ £120. thermostat @ £90, control PCB @ £150. Eeeek!!! So I stripped the washer to do some fault finding. See if you can spot the problem on the PCB below (no prizes will be given) ...

 

Tonight I will eat Steak and drink beer to bask in my glory.

The problem is you don't have proper NOS JRC4558D chips in that dishwasher. Your plates will get shit tone unless you upgrade.