Warning Changing Hotpoint Aquarius Brushes

[Zebo]

In a nutshell, the brushes of our Aquarius 1200 were worn out after 8 years service, I put new ones in (£15 locally, and a seemingly east task) but on its first run the insulation on one of the brush crimps burnt through (must have been touching the motor body)

I refitted the crimp the other way around, but it looks as though the motor is now damaged as its blowing fuses when the motor is plugged in

So the warning is, be VERY careful when fitting new brushes, be sure the wires/crimps are properly fitted and NOT touching the motor body BEFORE you switch on.

[Zebo]

Todays update on the Aquarius 1200 (and for anyone interested, the date on the inside of the machine is 1999 (8 years old)

I removed the motor and stripped out the armature, an easy job. The commentator was a bit of a mess, also one of the new brushes had a lump out of it (as did the old ones) so I cleaned it up, under cut the segments and put it all back together again. So far, so good

I switched on and no fuses blew but as the program started, it didn’t have much power for the intermittent rotation during the wash, it hardly moved, just buzzed and rocked back and forth gently. I helped it along a bit, but I couldn’t see the wife carrying on like this for the next few years. I turned the program on to empty and spin, and stood back…

Well, bit by bit the spin speed built up nicely but as it was nearing full speed smoke started to rise from around the motor, then there was a sound like a firework. I peeped inside gingerly; the motor commentator was like a Catherine wheel complete with loud pops and bangs. I nearly ran for it, but hit the off button instead

Guess I need a new washer, Miele make nice machine don’t they

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

This is a good general warning that diy washing machine repairs are not always straight forward. As the brushes had "lumps out of them" the chances are there was a raised or loose segment on the armature.