Washing Machine tripping RCD- who to call?

[craig1912]

RCD tripping and I’ve narrowed it down to the washing machine.
Four year old Miele so under guarantee.

Do I call an electrician or do I call Miele? I’d rather not incur a call out fee for an electrician only to be told there is a fault with the washing machine. Cheers

[mrmistoffelees]

Do you have two ring mains in your house (say, one upstairs, one downstairs)? If so, plug the washing machine in on the upstairs ring using an extension lead. If it causes the upstairs to trip, it's the washing machine. If not, it's electrics. Broadly. It might be something else that's solved by the extension but this helps narrow it down.

[Doofus]

If the above shows it to be the machine, it's likely to be the mains filter, a small part inside the machine. Easily accessible, and straightforward to change. Part is going to be £10 - £20. YouTube will help you.

[craig1912]

mrmistoffelees said:

Do you have two ring mains in your house (say, one upstairs, one downstairs)? If so, plug the washing machine in on the upstairs ring using an extension lead. If it causes the upstairs to trip, it's the washing machine. If not, it's electrics. Broadly. It might be something else that's solved by the extension but this helps narrow it down.

Thanks- I’ll try plugging into upstairs ring main although looking at it both ring mains are on the same RCD. The one that’s tripping is the large one with RCCB above it in the picture.

Edited by craig1912 on Friday 26th April 12:40

[craig1912]

OK tried upstairs and same thing happens. It partially fills and starts a revolution and then trips.
It’s three years old so not under guarantee. Miele want £170 call-out so getting a local guy to have a look on Monday!

[119]

craig1912 said:

OK tried upstairs and same thing happens. It partially fills and starts a revolution and then trips.
It’s three years old so not under guarantee. Miele want £170 call-out so getting a local guy to have a look on Monday!

Good luck with that as Miele never usually sell spares to third parties but that may be different these days.

[Andy 308GTB]

My money is on the carbon brushes on the motor.

[mrmistoffelees]

Yeah that's going to be earth leakage/ground fault in the machine.

[craig1912]

119 said:

Good luck with that as Miele never usually sell spares to third parties but that may be different these days.

I’ll see what happens- local company have a good rep and no call out charge so if they can’t do it, no loss.
Miele aren’t what they were and this latest machine isn’t great- our last one was 10 years old (and failed just out of its 10 year guarantee!!)

[119]

In all honesty, you should give Miele a call and have a chat with them as they can be quite helpful, especially on a machine that is only four years old!

[119]

Andy 308GTB said:

My money is on the carbon brushes on the motor.

I think they are brushless.

[gregch]

Another vote here for calling Miele. We had what sounds like a similar fault - it would trip the breaker at the same point you describe. Miele guy came out and turned out to be the heater element had developed a split. Fixed there and then and been fine ever since.

I personally wouldn't recommend a Miele washing machine to anyone, purely because of the frankly poor washing performance, but they were excellent to deal with and a very stress-free repair process.

[119]

gregch said:

Another vote here for calling Miele. We had what sounds like a similar fault - it would trip the breaker at the same point you describe. Miele guy came out and turned out to be the heater element had developed a split. Fixed there and then and been fine ever since.

I personally wouldn't recommend a Miele washing machine to anyone, purely because of the frankly poor washing performance, but they were excellent to deal with and a very stress-free repair process.

How old is your machine out of interest?

Ours is knocking on for 10 years and it's been great so far with no loss of performance!

[craig1912]

119 said:

How old is your machine out of interest?

Ours is knocking on for 10 years and it's been great so far with no loss of performance!

Three years old. Previous Miele lasted just over 10 years

[craig1912]

Spoken to Miele.

Costs are £170 plus parts or £279 all in.

Said I would get someone local to diagnose issue. Virtually all parts are available on their website through something called MSD.

[119]

craig1912 said:

Spoken to Miele.

Costs are £170 plus parts or £279 all in.

Said I would get someone local to diagnose issue. Virtually all parts are available on their website through something called MSD.

Ah ok.

Thats a shame they aren't willing to contribute.

Mind you, the way things are going, it's unlikely we are going to see much in the way of good will from anyone any more.

Good luck!

[Andy 308GTB]

119 said:

Andy 308GTB said:

My money is on the carbon brushes on the motor.

I think they are brushless.

A quick Google suggests you are probably correct. I did come across a suggestion for the OP to run a cold wash, which in theory, if it ran OK, would point at the heating element being kaput.

[craig1912]

Andy 308GTB said:

A quick Google suggests you are probably correct. I did come across a suggestion for the OP to run a cold wash, which in theory, if it ran OK, would point at the heating element being kaput.

Yep heating element diagnosed. Will be about £110 fitted. Miele wanted £170 plus parts (£80ish)!!

Three years is pretty poor for what is an expensive washer which they claim has been tested for an equivalent of 20 years use!!

Edited by craig1912 on Monday 29th April 11:47

[vaud]

Why are Miele charging if it is under guarentee?

[craig1912]

vaud said:

Why are Miele charging if it is under guarentee?

It isn’t Miele guarantee is two years- machine is three years old.
Heating element below- not great fit three years old and with regular cleaning and Calgon tablet in every wash!!