Cycle Won't Start

[uhha64]

Hi all, We have siemens wash&dry 10d52. After loading in the laundry and putting the washing powder and choosing the program (any program) the machine won't start. The display shows that the program is on but nothing happens. No indication that smth is wrong but the machine just won't start. The laundry inside is dry. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Normally with a washing machine that won't start the first thing to check is the fuse and socket, but when the lights are on, clearly that's not the problem. The next suspect is that the machine is waiting for the door to be closed because the power goes straight from the display and main control board to the door interlock and obviously no machine would be allowed to work with the door open. However, unless it's an old washing machine you should be getting an error code if the door isn't closed properly or it thinks the door isn't closed.

If the door interlock isn't operated nothing will work. Clearly people don't try to operate the machine with the door open, or if they accidentally did it will be the first thing they'd check when it the washing machine didn't start so it's usually a problem with the door lock itself being faulty or the door latch mechanism that operates it is broken, or loose somehow. Any of these would cause a washing machine to have the lights on but be dead.

If your machine produces error codes (check the troubleshooting guide in the instruction book) but isn't producing any flashing lights or error codes then it could be something you can't deal with and need an engineer.

Another thing that can cause a machine to appear not to work is if the water supply is cut off somehow and it's trying to fill. Again, this should produce an error code though on all but the pretty old machines. Just double check that it doesn't work on spin as well as a wash, which of course would be unaffected by a lack of water.

Apart from making sure the water is on, and checking the door is closed properly and no problems with the door latch this fault really needs an engineer to diagnose as it could be so many things.

I now have a full help article on washing machine won't start up