tumble dryer Beko Tumble dryer drum not earthed

[andyr12345]

Hi Andy . I think you said on occasion before that you never really got into repairing Tumble Dryers (didn't you?) and i know this is just a washing machine forum but I just wanted to get your angle on this. 
I have tested our new Beko Tumble dryer with a multimeter and the cabinet is earthed , which is good but I checked the drum itself (which is metal) and that isnt earthed. - well this would explain why the odd few times i have been getting a static electrical shock when removing dried items from the drum , especially if in with the drying there are synthetic items.  

apart from the aspect of getting static shocks, how safe are these tumble dryers that there is a large circumference of metal that can be touched by bare hands without it being earthed? I mean it might be a be in a million change but say if  a live wire in the cabinet gets to touch the revolving drum , its not going to blow a fuse or trip a switch , but if you open the door and touch the 'live' drum its gonna give you a jolt for sure. 

Have had the back off that covers the heater element and back of drum and the drum shaft fits into a plastic bearing , so thats where the ground stops to get to the metal drum. Now other makes like Creda/hotpoint and even white knight have all included a 'earthing strip' at the back of the drum that touches on the metal drum spindle so that it earths the drum ... Beko (manufactured by Arcelik in turkey) haven't . They have the screw holes to screw the earth strip to but they havent put one on! 

Whats your view on it andy, being an appliance engineer or even from a personal point of view. Do you think its safe not to have the drum earthed? 

 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hi Andy. I would check to see if that brass part is available as a spare part for your model. If it is, I'd fit it. If it isn't, maybe it doesn't need it although clearly it does if only to get rid of static shocks. Are you sure the static shocks are static and not the small tingles you can get when the appliance is plugged into an extension or wall socket that isn't earthed?

[andyr12345]

2 hours ago, Whitegoodshelp (Andy) said:

Hi Andy. I would check to see if that brass part is available as a spare part for your model. If it is, I'd fit it. If it isn't, maybe it doesn't need it although clearly it does if only to get rid of static shocks. Are you sure the static shocks are static and not the small tingles you can get when the appliance is plugged into an extension or wall socket that isn't earthed?

Hi Andy. No , I dont think its available as a spare part, I wonder if a Creda / hotpoint one might fit though. It might do - the holes are already there at the back of the machine and even one of the holes is even tapped with a screw thread to accept a screw to include one and there is an indentation in the drum spindle/shaft for the copper bit to sit on . Maybe at the time of manufacturing they didnt have any to hand or maybe they were saving money by not including it?

Yes tested the cabinet and thats earthed and the socket its plugged in is all wired / earthed correctly. i plugged one of these things in at the socket to test the socket :

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

I would definitely contact the manufacture, especially if you are getting small shocks from it. They should be able to tell you if the drum should be earthed or not.

[andyr12345]

4 hours ago, Whitegoodshelp (Andy) said:

I would definitely contact the manufacture, especially if you are getting small shocks from it. They should be able to tell you if the drum should be earthed or not.

I've contacted both Arcelik in Turkey who make the dryers for Beko, and Beko themselves. And for good measure I have filled out an online form for UK and Ireland trading standards . it said on their website 'if you think you have come across a safety issue on an appliance fill out this form and we will see if it needs investigating' - so out of that lot , someone should get back to me. i have contacted Beko in the past about a condenser dryer not drying fully and they were terrible after sales service, so I am not expecting too much from them, but maybe Trading Standards might reply about it. its only little static electric shocks I am getting from it when I remove the clothes after they have dried but still..

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by andyr12345