Beko Wmi71641 Tripping The Electrics

[sparkie0001]

Hi Andy, I have the following issue with a Beko WMI71641. I will give a detailed description of the fault and hopefully you could point me to the fault. I am at a loss.

The machine is 2 years old and was working fine until a few weeks ago.

The machine trips the electrics at 3 points in any washing programme. I will give the description of the quick wash programme as that is the one we use most ofthe time.

The machine has a time to run of 39 minutes in total and works wonderfully for about 19 minutes, then with 20 minutes to go, the machine starts to drain and the electrics trip. After resetting the electrics a few times the machine continues until 16 minutes remain and it drains again, yep the electrics trip. after resetting a few times the machine runs again for a further 6 minutes and then drains again, and you guessed it, the electrics trip. after resetting again the machine completes it cycle with no further issues.

My first thought was the pump, however, the machine drains at 28 mins and has no issues at this point. But toi be sure I replaced the pump and after inspecting the PCB i replaced that as well because there was a small IC burnt along with several diodes on the board.

Having made these changes the machine still trips the electrics at the 3 points mentioned earlier. I have replaced the RCD in the main board too thinking this might be causing the issue.

Any ideas??

Thanks in advance.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

I have an article with general help for troubleshooting a washing machine tripping the electrics which is worth reading if you haven't already. If it gets through to pumping out then we can dismiss the heater. Also, the fact that it takes so long to trip should rule out the motor. Both of which are common culprits. The pump doesn't usually trip electrics but could water somehow be spraying onto something when it pumps out, maybe through a hose or even through the movement of the tub swaying about when it starts to drain?

[sparkie0001]

Hi Andy,

Having had the machine in bits, I can find no sign of water leakage, no sign of cable/wire damage.

I should have mentioned earlier that the tripping fault does not happen on every wash. It can run for days ok then suddenly start tripping for days. It can do one wash ok then start tripping on the next one. its weird.

I came across the Flash DC Module which has some soot deposits on it, but the components appear to be ok. I am not sure what part of the system uses this module and when. Could this be the issue??

[edhorwood]

Have you done a continuity check on the heater element? If it has a hot water feed, and you do a warm wash, then the heater may not be kicking in (not required). When doing a hot wash, it will kick in and maybe tripping the electric?

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

If a component is leaking to earth and tripping electrics it should do it every time without fail. Intermittent tripping tends to be a wire chaffing occasionally depending on the load or water leaking onto something. To troubleshoot a washing machine tripping the electrics you really need a proper insulation test meter capable of testing at 500 volts DC. Without one, you can only try to find a leak or a chaffing wire and if you can't find one there's no way of tracing the fault. It's normal for pcbs to have soot near parts which get hot.