Heater element for Westinghouse DW

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customline

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Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Messages
503
Location
pennsylvania
Here are the pictures of the heater element for my '57 Westy. Anyone have any ideas where to find another one? Also looking for an owners manual for same unit. Thanx, Kev

7-25-2005-21-35-32--customline.jpg
 
Reply to gansky1

It works and is heating up like it should but our electrical tests show that there seems to be a leak to ground from it. We think that somewhere along the way, a pot or a heavy dish must have fallen on it and maybe cracked the insulation underneath the calrod coating. I did not see any visible signs of this but our electrical tests told us otherwise. The impeller motor works fine and has no electrical problems as with the pumps. All wiring and ground wiring is like new and in it's proper place. Maybe I should recheck the timer?
 
heating element

Looks like a standard D & M element to me. These elements are sort of "stretchy" so they don't have to the EXACT size of the original. What is the measurement? I disassembled my '78 KM dishwasher for parts, and I had just replaced the element. If it's th eright size, you can have it for the postage.
 
Kevin are you sure that the electrical leak is coming from the calrod element itself and not the related wiring to the element? With a proper grounding cord installed on the machine does it trip the circuit breaker?
 
Replies to Kenmore1978 and Robert

Kenmore, here is a picture of the element and it's measurements. Let me know if yours is the same or close to it.

Robert, the wiring to the element looks to be safe and problem free and the dishwasher has a brand new ac cord. All grounding wires are in the right place. I haven't plugged this unit into a non GFI outlet yet but so far it hasn't tripped my circuit breaker. Do you think it could be a contact in the timer in the drying cycle? The GFI only trips in this cycle. The element comes on during the power wash and two power rinses and nothing gets tripped. It's only when the element comes on and it's not submerged in water that the GFI trips.

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Have you checked for a grounded element by placing one probe on a terminal of the element and the other to the outer casing. If you get continuity, then the element is grounded and needs to be replaced. If not, it could be a timer contact. Hope this helps!
 
Odd in that, in theory, the element should be energized during the wash and some rinses...

If I didn't know any better I'd say a cam in the timer is causing the leak or maybe.... is there something else energized during the dry (a fan or lid release solenoid or a "Clean" pilot light) as well?
 
Reply to toggleswitch

I didn't try that one. I don't think I would want to run the machine without water but I could try running it with the heater wires disconnected and see what happens.
 
Reply to COLDSPOT66

Yes I probed the heat element and it did show it was grounded. I still am going to chck the timer cam by opening it up and see what's going on.
 
Reply to toggleswitch

the fan (or impeller in this case) is energized but the impeller motor doesn't seem to be the problem. We probed it will the unit was running and tested fine. When we probed both ends of the heater element it came up grounded. Why would it not set off the GFI during power wash and rinse is odd. It runs at the same wattage at all times whther wet or dry right? No pilot lights or lid release solonoid here, just a safety door switch in case the lid comes open. I still have yet to look at the timer cam.
 
element size

I'll pull out the element from my spare parts and measure it. There's quite a bit of "give" on those elements, so the terminals can probably either be "stretched" or "contracted" a couple of inches in order for the ends to go through the holes, so long as the rest of the circle doesn't rouch any other component.
 
replies to toggleswitch and kenmore1978

toggleswitch- Yes that's the correct term. Sorry for the confusion.

kenmore1978- Let me know what you come up with and if it's a fit, then e-mail me a price for the element.
 

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