Lucky escape for us all!

[rolls_rapide]

The washing machine fault...

I wonder whether the heater really was at fault.

Perhaps the real culprit was a leaking door seal, which then allowed water and detergent to drip onto the heater wiring loom. But in that case, surely the electrics would short-circuit, tripping the electrics and blowing fuses? (That happened to a Hoover New Wave we had).

Another scenario might be that the heater relay stuck 'on'. But wouldn't the thermistor, safety thermostat, and any built-in heater fuse detect overheating errors and blow?

Or the pressure vessel/sump hose somehow was clogged with gunge, allowing far too low water levels?

Maybe the heater simply developed a 'hot spot'? (hard water and scale?)

Thankfully it wasn't catastrophic.

 

[combo52]

Burned wiring on a water heating element

In a front loading washer.

This type of damage would be caused by loose, high resistance, wire, connections, or possibly water leaking onto the terminals.

This type of thing is not caused by a stuck heater relay or a hotspot on the heater or a heating element that’s burning out I’ve replaced easily 1000 or more heating elements and stoves, dryers, etc. it never damages the wiring. As a heating element is burning out, it actually draws less power at the end of its life.

Yes, it’s fortunate that it didn’t start a house fire, but since the cabinet of the washing machine is steel, it’s very unlikely to spread to the home plus the homes sprinkler system with protect from a catastrophic fire very effectively. However, if the tub had continue to burn, you could have a lot of smoke damage.

Question for the European guys how common are arc fault breakers on that side of the ocean?

Here in the US, they’re starting to mandate arc fault breakers, which, when something starts to arcing like this should theoretically shut the power off immediately. When my business partner, Jason was rewiring his home, he updated to all arc fault breakers. There’s somewhat more expensive and every once in a while, something will cause a nuisance trip especially something that’s older that has a contact at arcs internally.

John

 

[brisnat81]

In Australia, it became mandatory to use arc fault breakers in April this year. They didn’t exist in the AU standards until 2018.

So going forward all new breakers will need to provide earth leakage and arc fault protection.

 

[henene4]

Sean

Yeah, I don't post my E-Mail publicly.

If you have an upgraded membership - like I have - you can message me directly.
Giving my E-Mail out with the only the requirement of creating a free account is in my view to big of a risk for abuse.

A few people on here have my private E-mail.

And sure, experience is unmatchable.

John has NO experience in European appliances, so maybe, he should actually listen to you and give out opinions on stuff he ACTUALLY knows about.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Arc-Fault Detection Devices

AFDDs (as they are called outside the US & Canada) have recently become required in the UK in high-risk situations such as student accommodation and care homes.  AFDDs are recommended for socket outlet circuits in all premises but are not yet mandatory.

 

I have them in the US on some circuits and not one of them has ever tripped for any reason except on one occasion when a dishwasher blew up in smoke!  I bought this Whirlpool for $20 and it had been sitting outside and the seller had hosed it down (!).  I tested it outside and it worked for a while and then this happened.  It was plugged into a circuit protected by a combined GFCI-AFCI.  After it tripped, the indicator light showed that it was an arc fault that had caused the trip and not a ground fault.  Check out my video:

 



 

 

 

 

 

[adam-aussie-vac]

Hosed it down?

Like literally sprayed it with a hose on the front?

 

[combo52]

Burning control board on a whirlpool dishwasher

Wow, Mark, you caught one on camera, they had a lot of boards burn in point voyager dishwashers it could be particularly bad on the plastic machines like that because sometimes the fire spread pretty badly.

The connections on the board would overheat and start a fire. this one may have been caused by water if enough water got in there when the guy cleaned the machine but it was still a bad design.

It’s good the arc fault breaker shut down however, I’m not sure this was a success. The dishwasher could’ve still burned the house down if the fire had really gotten going.

John