Modifications I Have Made To Our Hotpoint Wmud843 Washing Machine

[andyr12345]

here are some of the 'mods' I have done to our washing machine, (after wifes approval of course)

Machine: Hotpoint WMUD843 Bought September 2012:

 

https://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x361/Andyr_45/DSC_0039.jpg

• Cut/Filed extra bit of plastic on door fascia where hinge is to allow porthole door to open back further

https://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x361/Andyr_45/DSC_0035.jpg

• Adjusted water level of washing machine. By cutting the top off the Water Level switch (very carefully with a hacksaw) and adjusting plastic screw (a couple of turns slowly clockwise) this will put more water into the drum, thus if the fast wash 60'c / 40'c /30'c means that you can only wash 3kg (which is what it says in the instructions) by adjusting the level this allows us to do a full wash (8kg) on fast wash by bringing the water up to the bottom of the drum during washing allowing to wash the clothes properly and without ruining them because more water for them to wash in. However this has its own drawbacks, we find it puts an extra 5-10 onto the wash, and throws the 'time to end' out. Say if it says '0.01' on last rinse the display will go to 'spin 0.06' and then after 6 minutes the was will end. Also because of more water going into drum you will have to add a bit more washing powder than normal and of course the water wll take longer to heat up the water if it has more water going into the drum. Beware if you are going to attempt this yourself because if you screw the water level switch too much the water will come up to the bottom of the bottom of the glass on the porthole door, but not only that, after it washes and comes to rinse the display will go crazy, bring up an error number and the buzzer will beep indicating a fault with the washing machine, so when adjusting the water level have it stop when the water comes up to the bottom rim of the drum and no higher.
• The water Level Switch :
• https://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x361/Andyr_45/DSC_0041.jpg
  
• Unsoldered the Buzzer from the back of the LCD panel. Thanks to Hotpoint/Indesit to not allowing the consumer to disable the 'Beeps' on the washing machine when you press the buttons or an error occurs or signal at the end of the completed wash this was getting on our nerves, so the only thing to do was unsolder one of the legs to the back of the buzzer which is located on the electronic board behind the LED display at the top front of the machine. Pretty sure Hotpoing could have made it so the consumer could have disabled the beeps even if the consumer had to press 2 buttons on the front of the fascia to do so, its supposed to be a 'super silent washer' that you can put on at night why have it that you cannot disable the loud beeps?
   
• Changed 2 phase wires on the motor, swapped them around so spin goes clockwise as opposed to ant-clockwise as every other automatic washing machine since they were invented spun in a clockwise direction but Hotpoint and Indesit machines lately seem to spin anti-clockwise, I dont know why? - maybe there is science that spinning anti-clockwise spins more water out of the clothes or less creases or what? i dunno really, but its more stisfying to watch the drum spin in the 'proper' direction now to what we are used to and the clothes come out just as dry as when it was spinning anti-clockwise
  
  We spin at 1200rpm, thats for towels jeans a cottons. The Machine will spin 1400rpm at a maximum but theres a few reasons we spin at 1200rpm, one is the spin is less noisier and less vibrate at 1200rpm than 1400rpm, I think personally it helps save the wear and tear bearings on the drum the lower the spin speed you select and prolong the life of the drum bearings/machine (I have nothing to back it up its just how i feel) - and also did not like the stories of the drums 'exploding' at the weld of the drum and crashing through the top of the washing machine at high spin speed on programmes like watchdog on the TV, i just figured if its spinning at 1200rpm it might do less damage than if the drum splits and 'explodes' at 1400rpm!
  
  
  Notes I observerved when 'tinkering' with machine:
  
  Drum:
  I noted the part number label on the outer machine drum and although the machine is an 8KG one and marketed as 8KG the part number of the drum matches exactly with the same part number of a 9KG drum and same physical size, so all I can denote is that the Drum is capable of taking 9KG of washing but maybe the combination of water level and software on the main control board are programmed to fill it up as a 8KG machine on this washing machine.
  
  Motor:
  The motor is of a Induction type motor, this gives the machine its 'super silent wash' and quiter spin (no shrill on spin) and no motor brushes to change ever which is good. A surprising thing to note on the part label on the motor it says its 1900rpm maximum speed! - really, in a 1400rpm washing machine?? - all I can denote is that to make all parts available I think Hotpoint use the same induction motor across their machines and govern the speed of the motors spin speed by programming the main control board with software attuned to the machine the motor is fitted to, so for example we have a 1400 spin speed model of Hotpoint however the motor says 1900rpm, so that screams to me that in the software of the main control panel the software limits/governs the motor to spin speed at 1400rpm!
  
  Main Control Board:
  The Main electronic Control Board (Bottom right of machine if looking at the front of the machine face on) looks to me to be a standard main board fitted across the WMUD range (and maybe some other Hotpoint washers) and all thats different per machine is the software that is loaded onto the EEPROM chip on the main board, in fact I think if you buy a brand new control board from Hotpoint service it comes as standard with no software loaded on it whatsover (this is what i think I havent looked fully into it) which means if your control board goes 'BANG!' one day you cant just order a new board from Hotpoint/Indesite service and unplug your old board and put the new one in, I dont think that will work, I think the new board will have to be programmed with software designed for your model of washing machine, so if you have the WMUD843 this will be programmed to tell it to use washing programs for the WMUD843, Spin at 1400rpm maximum speed and fill up and wash to the specifications of an 8KG machine. - In the old days an engineer would come out and get out his laptop and special lead and plug it into a 'Diagnostic socket' at the rear of the machine and would have to take no covers off the machine at all (well apart from the cover covering the diagnostic socket) and plug the lead into the diagnostic socket and on his laptop would all the software for the range of different Hotpoint machines and he would choose the correct software matched to the model number of your machine. These days I believe the case is (Unless i am mistaken) a laptop isnt even needed now these days and that a 'module' fits into the Diagnostic socket and something like a 'memory' card fits into the module and thats how they program or re-program a control board. I believe same module fits the sockets across the range, but the smart memory cards that hold the software or firmware if you like of the machine specifically for your model number of Hotpoint washing machine and this programs the memory chip on the main control board. Its a very effective way when you think about it because if you think about it, if new firmware (or software) comes out after the washing machine has been sold then this could in fact 'update' the machine to act differently or iron out any bugs or errors the machine may have after its sold, or update the washing machine to do extra things it couldnt do when the machine was sold, or maybe a manufacturer of a garment requires to be washed in a different way (say gentler drum agitation) well new firmware for the machine could tell the machine to do this on the required wash program. Its just the same these days as 'updating' a mobile phone or DVD player or something like that, you often find included in the firmware/software are improvements and things like bugs can be sorted out.
   
•  
• THINGS TO NOTE IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE MESSING AROUND ADAPTING YOUR WASHING MACHINE LIKE I DID YOU WILL VOID THE WARRANTY (THE STANDARD 1 YEARS ONE AND ALSO THE 5 YEAR WARRANT ON DRUM ETC) AND MESSING AROUND WITH THE MACHINE EVEN WITH THE MACHINE UNPLUGGED CAN ELECTROCUTE YOU THE CONTRO PANEL CONTAINS CAPACITORS THAT CAN HOLD ELECTRICITY FOR A LONG TIME EVEN AFTER UNPLUGGING THE MACHINE - DONT GO TAKING BACK OFF IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING OR HAVE A CLUE ABOUT THESE THINGS!
  AND OF COURSE YOU COULD BREAK YOUR MACHINE! - OF COURSE MANY PEOPLE WILL NOT BE LIKE ME AND BE PERFECTLY HAPPY WITH THE OPERATION OF THE HOTPOINT WMUD843 AND HAVE NO DESIRE TO MODIFY THE MACHINE THE WAYS I HAVE AND WILL BE PERFECTLY HAPPY THE WAY IT IS
   

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Wow, that's extreme pimping A couple of thoughts. First, I don't know how you got the wife to agree with you messing around with such a vital resource

Making the motor spin the other way could have potential suspension problems as historically the suspension has always been stronger on the side which takes the force of the drum spinning in one direction. Sometimes they had 2 dampers on that side, sometimes just a stronger one. It may be they don't bother these days, don't honestly know. But if you find it less stable and bouncing around more that could be why.

The beeps should be able to be turned off, presumably if they were though it would tell you how in the instruction book. Not being able to turn them off is poor design. Better quality washing machines will let you. However, the beeps are also used for warnings when things go wrong so only some should be allowed to be disabled - all none essential.

Drums. The outer drum may be the same, it may be the inner drum which is different.

Motor: That's how they do it, and it's a point I mentioned years ago in an article. They don;t make the ones which spin at extreme speeds any better quality, almost all parts including the motor or usually the same. They just disable them to make them spin slower. It's a cheap way of making more expensive models with "better" features they can just adjust for little cost. A washer spinning at 1600 should have a bigger motor, better suspension - but they don't, which is why I would never buy a fast spinning machine from a brand in the budget range. They just aren't built well enough.

Main control board.It makes sense for them to use exactly the same board across all models and just program them differently. Miele engineers use laptops as do some others. Some are just programmed by running a config programme. Sadly, without knowledge or equipment most people would not be able to fit one.