Hotpoint Washer Exploded

[domesticbliss]

Hello all! What an interesting forum - fascinating seeing some familiar vintage appliances. I came across this site whilst googling for an Electra 11500 which my Mother had for 17 years - problem free too I think.
Anyway, I thought I would enlighten you guys to my latest incdent.
Whilst on final spin (1600) our 3 1/2 year old Hotpoint Washer exploded. I mean that the internals burst though the top of the machine, cracking our new worktops in the process. After contacting Indesit they have offered us a replacement machine (the Hotpoint WMF760) and compensation for the mangled clothes stuck in the machine. We are still awaiting an answer about replacing the worktop. It seriously frightened my Wife and sent knifes and crockery onto the floor; fortunately our 5 month old was not in the vicinity at the time. I am an engineer, and cannot fathom out what caused this. I am not going to rip it apart as Indesit want it back for investigation. Have a look at these photos and see what you reckon!!

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[macboy91si]

Dead Horse

There have been NUMEROUS posts on this, if you use the Searchilator you can read to your hearts content, I think the big offender was Candy.

 

Hi, and welcome to the group!

 

-Tim

 

[arbilab]

I don't know if anyone has said officially but it appears a drum welding process went wrong and it comes apart in operation hurling the drum through the outer tub and through the machine top. One vendor may be making drums for several machine brands, and of course many brands are already cross-owned.

 

[qualin]

Wow.. That is downright awesome. I've never seen anything fail quite like that before. I can understand how that would be downright terrifying.

It's strange seeing the inner drum without the machine being disassembled yet.

Sorry to hear you got burned.

 

[domesticbliss]

Thanks for your replies. They are delivering the new machine on Monday and have sent an A4 sticker to go on the old machine which says "THIS APPLIANCE IS URGENTLY REQUIRED FOR Q&R INVESTIGATION" along with a few other details. I don't expect I will hear the cause of the failure!! I will keep you posted.

 

[ariston4life]

the reason for all these failures is a weakened drum seem that over time splits and causes the drum to break apart... whoever makes the drums needs to re-evaluate their R&D

 

[fl1012]

Stabilising Bar.....

Am i right in thinking that Hotpoint/Indesit retro-fitted some sort of (largely inadeqate) stabilising bar to some of their affected machines?

I thought this problem had more or less died out on Hotpoint/Indesit machines & that they were largely more sucessful in sorting it out as it occured, unlike Candy/Hoover who's machines still seem to be appearing in local press because of their failing drum welds.

If you think the Hotpoint shown in this thread looks bad, you should see the mess of some Candy Grand O's and Hoover Vision HD machines that have exploded. Seems to me that as much as i'm not a fan of any of the brands, the Hotpoint/Indesit ones don't seem to create quite as much devistation when they fail.

To domesticbliss:

I trust that the replacement Hotpoint won't suffer the same fate - Hotpoint/Indesit do seem to have improved quality in the last 12 months (though they needed to). However i might be inclined just to ask for compensation & go & choose my own new machine from another manufacturer. Some of Hotpoint's very latest designs look alot better made than the one they're offering you. The WMF760 is quite a decent spec machine - they've not just offered you the cheapest they could find (it's £429.99 in Currys), but it's one of the older machines in their range and their newer ones like the one posted below, appears better built.

Failing that, Zanussi & Gorenje are two of the other decent cheaper brands. AEG isn't bad but they're essentially a slightly better built Zanussi & possibly not worth spending too much more money on. Some higher end brands that are decent include some LG models & Miele machines. If you use Which? to help choose a machine, read the owner reviews aswell as Which? tests, as Which? tests don't show long-term reliability, where their owner reviews can do.

Hope that helps,
Liam

 

[fl1012]

Newer Hotpoint

Forgot to show a link to an arguably better-built Hotpoint. The one's like this feel more solid.

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/hotpoint-wmpf742p-washing-machine-polar-white-10096455-pdt.html

 

[aeg03]

Hi FL1012,

I thought that it was because of the drum paddle coming off and the clothes falling through and the whole think to shatter. I may be wrong. The Indesit we have has the fiddly paddles which feel like they might fall off with a heavy load, the paddles make a sound when manually rotating the drum.

Im trying to sell this on Gumtree as its brand new.

 

[domesticbliss]

Split Drum?

Thank you for your replies. I was about to go out and purchase a Zanussi, when the phone rang and it was Indesit offering me a new machine. I accepted, along with a cheque for the damaged clothes. I am still awaiting an answer for my damaged worktops. I am also going to film the machine as extra evidence too, as they are taking the machine away Monday when they deliver the new one.

I was studying the failed machine earlier. The drum has split where it joined underneath one of the three "paddles". The paddle is now wedged between the drum and the outer drum/tub. I guess this came off causing the drum to separate? Up until now the machine was great, has had a real hammering and was VERY quiet.

Indesit MUST know of a fault. I simply cannot believe they offered us a brand new machine just like that. Scared? Guilty? I think so!! Considering so many of these explosions (admittedly Hoover/Candy items) made it into local and sometimes national press I think they want the machine back ASAP before someone else gets hold of it!!

 

[domesticbliss]

Question!

In picture 15 of 28 (see my link in my first post) on the far right of the picture, you can see a round component fitted to the chassis of the machhine. There are several wires connected to it. Is it a balance sensor? I am interested how these things work! I am a refrigeration engineer - makes a change to fridges etc!!

Thanks.

Wayne

 

[domesticbliss]

One more Q!

So, in pic 19, the 4 L shaped slots, are they where the paddle fastens too or where the drum joins? OR is the drum welded together on that rusty looking lip?

 

[fl1012]

aeg03

That rings a bell now that you've said it, though i do remember reading about this (pretty flimsy) stabilising bar being fitted to some machines, and i dunno how fitting that would stop a paddle falling off so i'm quite unsure.

domesticbliss

If you're getting the new Hotpoint for free then i guess you can't complain. Personally i wouldn't want it as i think only their very latest ones show enough promise in the quality department, but it is very unlikely the new one will suffer the same fate as your current one - i think Indesit/Hotpoint took the problem more seriously than Hoover/Candy have.

Good idea re filming it. It amazes me that no authorities appear to have clamped down on Indesit/Hotpoint or Hoover/Candy, so there's no harm keeping evidence for future use if needed.

I'm not sure about whether that component in photo 15 is the balance sensor, i've not seen one before i'm afraid. However, from photo 19 it looks to me like the other end of the now seperated drum will also have 4 L shape slots. These would've lined up over the ones in the photo & the drum would've been welded/sealed at the point where the rust is. The paddle would've then clipped into the L shapes, effectively helping to strengthen the joint a little bit. It could be that the paddle came off/loose meaning the rusty (and seemingly weak) seem could no longer hold the drum together without the (albeit small) help from the drum paddle. It's also possible that when the paddle loosened an item of clothing got caught between the inner & outer drum, causing further stress on the drum seem.

However, it could simply be the fault of the (rusty) seem itself. This could've seperated by itself, allowing the drum to pull apart and causing the drum paddle to unclip itself. There's quite alot of possibilities unfortunately. On Candy/Hoover the problem was said to be the drum weld itself being inferior, but i'm less certain of the cause on Hotpoint/Indesit machines.

I'd hope it's not caused by paddles coming loose, as a quick look on eBay would reveal machines from many manufacturers that have paddles missing. I must admit even our Zanussi has paddles that you can rattle around abit, but Zanussi have used the same ones since the early 90's and i've never noticed a machine with one missing, so i guess they don't have the problem that some other makes have. The machines with paddles missing that i've seen are incidently Hoover, Indesit, Hotpoint and possibly Beko.

They don't make them like they used to, unfortunately

Liam

 

[arbilab]

Wayne, chip gyros/accelerometers cost about a dollar today. $20 toy helicopters have them. I don't know with certainty that's what they're doing for balance sense but it's a cheap, effective way to do it. For $3 it covers all 3 axes.

My '98 Frigiwhite doesn't have a module. It reads RPM changes during distribution and that's all. About 95% effective on mixed loads, but the timer is clockwork so it can't compensate for a missed spin where balance never happened.

 

[hotpoint9534]

There is no physical "balance sensor" as such. As a previous poster said the module looks at the RPM during distribution and if this varies too much then the distribute is aborted and the machine tries again.

Tom.

 

[HOTPOINTMARK]

hotpoint washers

hi u hav just ansewed my qestion about the rubbish washing machines i just had new one hotpoint wml720 its like a bake bean tin if thats just happen to yours why hav u excepted a other machine for the same thing to happen again it dont make senes

http://[email protected]

 

[hotpoint9534]

To be honest your sentence doesn't make very much sense. Is it really that difficult to use basic punctuation and grammar? Perhaps English in schools isn't taught very well these days.

Tom.

 

[a440]

So glad that your family was not hurt!
I can't even begin to imagine what this must have sounded like!!!
They have to "think" about replacing your counter top? This is crazy!
They should give you whatever you want to stop you from contacting any media source!

 

[domesticbliss]

Thank you for your replies!! Liam, interesting theories. I think you are correct in saying the seam has gone weak and the paddle was helping it stay together maybe.

I will be contacting them again to demand that our worktops are replaced, with the added threat of media contact. I have already contacted Consumer Direct/Trading Standards as well as Which? Watchdog don't have a series running at present or I would have contacted them too perhaps. I certainly cannot afford a new machine at the moment, and we need one desperately with 2 children so the sooner this replacement is here the better (tomorrow morning)

The more I look at the machine, the more I see that the drum splitting has caused this. It is a very small joint too, given the stress it is put under at 1600 rpm/vibrations etc.

I think I would rather have another Hotpoint than a Beko, Haier or some unbranded junk. I have a Beko Fridge which is surprisingly good and solid, but I am a fridge engineer so if it breaks - no problem! On the other hand my neighbour has a Beko Washer and it has been fine (touchwood) Having said that, we wouldn't have chosen another Hotpoint this time round, once burned.............etc! We were looking at a Zanussi that was on offer in Comet. A Miele would be nice too!