ZWH 7162 J Trips fuse when loading water

[triplemaya]

ZWH 7162 J Trips fuse when loading water. This used to happen each time I did a 90 wash. I would leave it a while and restart and it went ok. But yesterday I cut out in a 60 wash. Restarted but tripped again. And again and again. Set it to cold and now it is cutting out immediately when loading water. Cannot even finish the wash on cold. Had to spin and use as is.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hi. You need a specialist meter to troubleshoot that kind of fault, unless you can see something obvious like water leaking onto something, or a bare wire catching on something - washing machine fusing electrics

[andyr12345]

Hi@triplemaya - i don't know how comfortable you are with electrical work but if you have back off (obviously with power turned off and washing machine 3 pin plug removed from wall socket) you could try checking parts by process of elimination - you could start start by disconnecting the spade terminals to the heater element at the bottom of the drum/tub (wrap some black insulation tape around them)  then plug in machine and try doing a wash if you can without it tripping (you might find though when it gets to stage of heating up water there may be an error code or flashing lights on the front of the machine and or error beeps and the cycle might stop ) - if still trips you could try pulling off the spade terminals for the NTC thermostat (normally near the heater element) wrap some black insulation tape around them (just in case they touch each other) and try again (again you may get error messages and beeps on front of the machine and cycle stop) if still tripping move on to motor of the washing machine and try unplugging the block connector on that and starting a wash cycle or spin cycle - still trips? - next move onto the Drain Pump , you may need to tip the machine backwards and get to the drain pump from the bottom of the machine and take off the spade terminals or block and tape them with electrical insulation tape and try the machine again.  onto the cold water solenoids on the top of the machine at the back. take of the spade connectors / block connecters and tape them up and start the machine and see if trips. there are normally 2 solenoids . 1 for the cold water inlet and that is energised at start of cycle - if that shorts out it could trip - then the second solenoid is for the fabric softener and happens/ energises at the end of the wash . 
Dont forget to always turn off the power power and pull the plug out of the wall before touching any wires/connectors /spade terminals . 

So, just a note about the 'trips' in the fuse box - there are 2 types . A RCCD / RCD (nomally a big one in the fuse box)  that normally trips when a voltage leak to earth or say like there is a water leak in your washing machine and it leaks onto some electrical connection or something inside the machine is leaking mains voltage to the metal cabinet of the washing machine .

then there are MCB's (miniature circuit breakers ) in the fuse board of the house that are normally small ones in the fuse board and these normally trip if there is a direct short in your washing machine (say for example live and neutral wire short out inside the machine or a component in the washing machine shorts out it will trip the MCB - sometimes the RCCD as well but normally the MCB) - and then normally if the MCB trips just the 3 pin sockets on the circuit stop working - say now if for example the washing machine is downstairs trips , and all the sockets just downstairs dont work but the upstairs sockets are working , its highly likely that something in the washing machine is shorting out when washing - if however its a leak to earth or the components getting damp inside it trips the 60/80a RCCD in the fuse board and then the way houses are normally wired up then all the sockets of the house (if they go through just 1 RCCD) will more than likely not be working (but house lights will be on) - so then potentially something could be getting damp inside the washing machine or a water leak onto a electrical component . 

Of course it could also be something on the electronics main circuit board , or somewhere else in the washing machine but it might be worth while eliminating those other components first to take them out of the equation.
Good luck 

 

[triplemaya]

Hi Andy. Thank you so much for this detailed how to. Of course, I was hoping that the symptom would have an obvious cause! For instance, I imagine the drain pump is not running when water is being pumped in! Anyway, this gives me a load of info on where to start. And I imagine the heater element is likely to be the cause so I will start there. Very grateful for your multiple instructions. And yes, will unplug etc. In classic form I managed to get two pieces of metal into a socket age around 7 or 8 and the message stayed with me!