Intermittent Door Unlock Problems

[Alrie25]

Beko 71442 

 

I've got an intermittent problem with the door unlocking on my machine, and like cars I know the intermittent problems are the hardest to solve!

 

When starting a programme, the door locks fine, but sometimes after the programme has finished, the door does not unlock. The padlock icon on the display just continues to flash (whereas normally it extinguishes after a minute and the door opens).

 

When the door won't unlock, what I do is put the machine on a spin or drain programme and then once that finishes, the door usually unlocks ok.

 

I've done a bit of reading on this and I guess my machine has a door interlock with bi-metallic strip rather than one that's linked to the pump.  Nevertheless I cleaned the filter after the first time this happened but it wasn't really dirty and nothing appeared blocked.

 

Obviously what I can't understand is that it works sometimes, but not others.  Could it be the interlock? Or is it more likely the main board?

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

If by any chance the door interlock was linked to the pressure system to stop the door opening when watered is inside (which used to be common but appears to have been largely abandoned these days) then a blockage in the pressure system would prevent the door from opening until the air pressure had released. Putting the machine back onto spin could potentially help that process.

 

However, the chances are that most door interlocks now are just simple bimetal devices which should cool down and open after a minute or so. If it is just a normal bimetal door interlock then maybe it is just faulty and occasionally jamming. I suppose the best way to test it would be when it appears to stick if you turn off the power to the machine and within a minute or so the door will open then maybe something was still energising it when it shouldn't have been. But if the power is cut and the door still will not open after a few minutes, then this would imply that something inside the door lock is just jammed.

 

I have an article on my main site Whitegoodshelp that try to explain exactly how most washing machine door interlocks work, which may help.