Did The Engineer Break My Machine?

[deetee]

So, my Bosch Maxx washing machine (unkown age, perhaps 7 years) stopped rotating. A local engineer came and replaced the brushes, whcih were evidently worn. It worked,. It made some screechy noises, but he said this was normal and was bedding in. Then after 3 or 4 cycles, it tripped the RCD. The motor is apparently burnt out, with plastic melted around it.

He obviously says it was a worn machine and this might have happened anyway. I find the timing just too unlikely that it wasn't him that caused it. Is there any way of telling?

[edhorwood]

Difficult one. He could have damaged a brush when installing it. Maybe he didn't check and clean the commutator. Maybe he didn't test the motor properly. I think you have two choices here. Firstly, replace the motor for a new one, or secondly buy a new machine. My machine is older than yours, much older and I have replaced virtually every single part over the years. My motto, if the machine does a good job and repairs are cheaper than a new machine, then repair it. I am lucky, because there are no labour costs involved because I repair it myself. If you can replace the motor yourself, then it might be worth it but only you know the answer to that question. I paid £100 for a brand new motor about 3 years ago. My machine has been brilliant ever since.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

New brushes tend to make a motor noisier at first, creating a ratchety sound until they've bedded in so that part is normal unless it was making more concerning noises which might have indicated excessive sparking, which should not have been left.

If the new brush was sparking excessively and he saw it but ignored it then he would be responsible but it's possible it seemed ok when they were first fitted but then started sparking heavily when you tried it with laundry inside. I always tested my repaired washing machines with a load of laundry to put a proper load onto the motor. Some faults can only show themselves under heavy load conditions.

Unfortunately it's not going to be possible to prove anything unless an independent engineer can say what he thinks happened. He could have done a bad job, fitted the brushes badly, fitted the wrong type brushes, or just ignored a clearly worn armature and hoped the brushes would bed in. But it could also just be that the brushes seem to be okay but the motor deteriorated rapidly.

If the engineer didn't seem trustworthy the only thing you could do is get a different engineer and hope he can work out what happened but if the engineer seemed okay it might not have been his fault. It's impossible to say without being able to examine the motor.