AEG, 6yrs old replaced drain pump but still not pumping!

[gsh1980]

Greetings to everyone from a very locked-down Italy for a very long-time. I have an AEG Tumble Drier (T75370AH) that I have already taken apart in the past because the belt snapped, but which has now developed yet another fault: Water is no longer collecting the water receptacle which slides open like a drawer at the same height as the control display.

My first line of attack was to replace the Drain Pump which can be accessed via the back of the drier with a dedicated access behind some screws and panel that reads something about Fluron gas. Once I changed the pump and started the machine I was able to hear the pump working and it should have then started sucking up the water that I put in the back compartment. This did not happen.

Logically my next thing to test was whether o not the tubes were blocked (there is a red tube that goes from the pump fitting up to the water collection receptacle while there is also a clear tube running down from the receptacle in case the water collection case becomes full and over-flows. I removed the tubes and checked them for to see if there were any blocks in the tubes, but there were not any.

So that is where I am at.

If I run a drying cycle it will run until such time as the safety mechanism cuts out - IE I get a light on the front of the machine indicating to me that the water container needs emptying but it is, obviously, empty. If I run a full cycle, all the water remains in the bottom of the drier and it leaks out of the front of the at the bottom where the condenser filter is.

I have also removed the back panel and cleaned out the inside of the Drier and also pulled the front bottom panel off and cleaned the condenser filter (which this model has such that it is basically impossible to remove).

What on earth is there left to do, I am completely stumped. I am lucky as I have a shop very close by that sells all the technical spares for this model. I am already £50 down for the drain pump (original).

Thanks.

Gillliam

https://manualzz.com/doc/50641822/aeg-t75370ah-manuale-utente

 

[arbilab]

Hi Gilliam.  We're pretty locked down too.

 

Not familiar with AEG, but just in general:  For it to know (or just think) the receptacle needs emptying, there must be a sensor of some sort.  Maybe a float but more likely just two metal strips that conduct electricity when water hits them.  If you can find that sensor, it may have something stuck to it that keeps it wet.  Cleaning may solve it. 

 

Simple as it is, it should not outright fail but it probably can anyway.  Should not be expensive to replace and see if that makes everything work again.  Let us know.   There will be someone stopping by who knows more about AEG.

 

[henene4]

There is an angle piece up at the water tank. Maybe that is blocked.

Just disconnect the longer tube going to the upper recepticle and let it hang in a bucket.

If water does not drain to the bucket you'll have a larger problem somewhere in the sump under the condenser unit, which is sealed to the compressor, so takeing that - which should be possible, not sure though - out of the plastic air ducting will be a huge endevour and if you are not verry carefull will make the dryer a total loss (a ruptured pipe somewhere in the compressor system is usualy always beyond the price of a new machine).

If the water drains into the bucket the blockage is after the plastic pipe.
You can then either bother to change that plastic piece, try to clean it up or just leave it draining directly to the drain if a drain is nearby.

Just don't let the pump run to long without any water flow - if the old one was burned out the new one might burn out as well.

Just to be sure take out the pump again and check if you overlooked some packaging or so on the pump inlet.

 

[gsh1980]

Thank you both for your kind replies.

@arbilab - Thanks for these observations. As I can here the pump working but nothing going up the tube I am going to keep a look out for these sensors. In answer to your question about how the Drier regulates the water level around the pump there is a plastic encased bobble, that I think uses the same principle as the toilet, it sits and the internal roundel is slowly raised as the water fills up. At a certain point it will get to a height which will tell the drier something is wrong and it will cut out. I had noticed some dirt around the inside of that so I will give that a clean too.

@henene4 - thanks for confirming what I feared which is that if the problem is not with a small change to the existing solution then it is going to get ugly quick. I think AEG realized in future models that the condenser filter at the front at the bottom should, like pretty much all models now, be removable so you can clean it properly. In this model I have it is in a walled garden and the only way to get to it is to literally take the whole unit apart, which is a simply huge job I don't want to take on.

I'll take this on this evening and see what it brings.

 

[gsh1972]

Houston we have success!!

I changed computers which means that I can't get my old login, but it is still me and I wanted to write an update to this thread in case it is helpful. Certainly I would not have arrived with the solution to my drier woes, had I not been advised to do so, so I had to write back to let you know how I got on!

I opened the back up and if you look at the two pictures (one is called before and one is called after, although not sure whether you will see this when I post the message) you can see the little clear bobble on the left. In one photo you can see a dark ring of dirt. I never thought that it could be the problem, but I managed to take it apart (it's one inside another on a plastic running like a toilet stopcock) and gave it a good clear. Also at the top of the inside there was a tiny metal square that must have done something with regards to the contact. Once I cleaned and dried it and put it back together I also tested the tunes by giving them a good blow. There was no blockage.

I filled up the back with water and turned it on, the water came out in a jet from the tube that fills the water receptacle, and went everywhere nearly shorting out the new Drain Pump! Classic action.

Once I had put it all back together I ran a test and it seemed to be working fine. But no, again the message, saying the container was full. It wasn't completely. Then I noticed that the plastic container itself had a small hairline crack in it that was sending water back down the clear tube (see photo) and causing the system to go into tilt.

So that now works, but I am still not 100% happy but I know that the reason why it is blocking is proabably nothing other than small bits of fluff that are blocking the filter at the back after I did an industrial clean on the condenser filter. I'll just pop the back off and sort that.

Anyway, that's it. Problem resolved and thanks for your help.

G.