English Electric Wash'n'Rinse - Smoke'n'Sparks!

[Steve_J]

Hello all, this is my first post on this excellent forum.

I have a home full of vintage appliances, all used and enjoyed. Everything from the Morphy Richards CA75 iron to a selection of 405-line televisions!

Last year I acquired an English Electric Wash'n'Rinse (with heater) which looks to be in good cosmetic condition. Unfortunately (briefly) applying power to the motor results in a nasty hum, followed by sparks and smoke. It makes no effort to move, although it is all free to turn by hand. Access underneath looks to be tricky, so it's hard to see what may be going on.

I'll post a photo or two of the machine (and the kitchen) as soon as I find my camera. In the meantime, any advice gratefully received.

Many thanks, Steve

 

[warmsecondrinse]

Hello,

Just a guess, but I'd wager that our gurus will want information that's on the faceplates of both motor and machine. If a photo's not feasible, I'd write down the info and post it.

Model number
Serial number
Date of manufacture
Everything else, lol

If you have a link to the owner's manual or repairman's guide (or both!), posting those'd likely move things along. Should you have hard copies, scanning and adding to the library here might be a good idea.

Jim

 

[chestermikeuk]

English Electric Wash n Rinse

A warm welcome to the club Steve, Central Midlands appears to be where many collectors are heading and based, hope to catch up soon, The English Electric wash and rinse was a workhorse in many a kitchen, access can be through the side and sounds like the gearbox may be tight and in Drive so the motor has stalled, with power off see if you can get your hand in and turn the large pulley connected to the belt from the motor... If its not been used for many years it could just need freeing up....

Is yours like this model?

 

[davetranter]

Nasty hum from induction motor

If everything is 'free to turn', it sounds like either:-
The 'Start' winding has burned out, hence the machine being taken out of use in the first place....
or...
The start capacitor has dried out or is missing.... It's the sort of part which may have been scavenged to repair another machine at some time in the past.

Sadly 'smoke and sparks' may indicate that the motor is now beyond use, even if it was still good before power was applied.... :-(

Hope this helps

Dave T

 

[Steve_J]

A very belated update!

I must apologise for the delay in replying to the previous helpful posters- thanks very much all of you. I know there's nothing more frustrating than when a thread suddenly goes 'dead'! Other projects have been taking up my time, but now I'm back on the case of this machine, which is identical to Mike's and in pretty good cosmetic order too.

The motor has now been removed for closer inspection. The first thing I noticed was the filthy and blackened condition of the contact for the starter winding. It was covered in black grease and cack. To my surprise this cleaned up like new with a few blasts of Servisol, then pulling some strips of thin card through for good measure. The wiring to the motor itself is brittle and the insulation is hard and snaps off. I think I've read before that these EE machines generally need a full re-wire.

The optimist in me wonders if the dodgy contact was the cause of the snapping and sparking I experienced, whereas my pessimistic side is telling me the starter winding itself is the problem (although I can't see any physical signs of distress).

I guess the first thing to do is replace the wiring to the motor, which is going to be tricky as one of the wires has broken within about an inch of where it's joined to the copper winding wire inside the motor itself. I'm hoping to solder the new wires to the stubs of the old and keep it tidy with heat-shrink.

Meanwhile here are some more up to date photos.

Cheers all,
Steve

 

[keymatic3203]

motor rewire

Hi Steve

yes I think it was me who said about english electric motors. I have one of these machines and had to do the same. But be brave, I had to cut the strings to free the actual joint between the brittle wire and the copper coils, and solder direct to the coils and heatshrink as you say, I think it's the only way to be sure no futher problems occur. I'm sure all will work well for you.

All the best

Mathew

 

[Steve_J]

Thanks Mathew, I think cutting one or two of those fabric bindings will be essential if I am to make any progress. Good to know that you managed it and all was well. Hopefully I'll get some time spare at the weekend and be able to report back further.

I found the mains cable into the machine was fine, but all the internal wiring was really brittle.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[keymatic3203]

steve that's exactly as I found mine

Though I've got no further than rewiring the motor and just putting a plug on the motor lead, the rest of the wiring would need renewing, but that's no where near a priority restoration at the moment and is right at the back of the garage with a machine on top, and at least a dozen in front of it (double stacked), with a layer of electric lawnmowers and vacs on top of that lol.

I really can't remember any problems getting to the junction of the coils and the supply wire, just gently sand the ends of the copper to remove some of the laquer and solder the new supply wire on.

Hope you'll be washing away soon, it seems a huge wash tub compared to the twin tubs we are used to, but then this is a 9lb load machine.

Mathew

 

[sesteve]

Hi Steve

I had exactly the same problem with my Colston so I've attached the link in case the pictures help. I was worried how I was going to tackle this but solder and heat shrink tubing did the trick. I have a bit of a phobia of wringer machines having had my arm go through one when I was 9 but as Mathew says its a big tub on your machine and it looks in great shape.

Good luck
S

Loading…

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[Steve_J]

Now up for grabs! Any takers?

Hi Steve and well done on your excellent repair work on the Colston. You've made a really neat job of it.

Unfortunately I don't think I can get any further with my EE machine. I just can't get good enough access to the winding to solder new leads to it. I don't think there's anything I can release to ease the assembly further up the casing and in any case there are a couple of metal tabs in the way. Hmmm!

Reluctantly I'm going to have to throw in the towel (ho ho!) as I have numerous other projects and distractions on the go. If anyone fancies taking this machine on, then I'd be willing to let them have it f.o.c. in the hope they can either repair it for themselves or use it for spares. It's in great overall condition, is all complete and is identical to Chester Mike's example, dare I say it with a slightly smarter control panel! ;-)

Regards
Steve

 

[davetranter]

E-E washer

Steve_J

I have an E-E dryer, so this could be an interesting project for me.... I can probably borrow a van, too... Assuming the machine is still available??

All best

Dave T