Washing machine problem: timing switch or motor?

Not usually intermittent which seems to be the symptom.

I had that exact problem with an ancient GE dryer. Turned out the timer motor winding was open, how that happened I don't know, but it was a

120V timer so maybe the dryer lost ground at some point. At any rate after a fruitless search for a reasonably priced timer or motor I wound up opening the motor with a hacksaw, removing the hundreds of turns of hair thin wire from the spool then re-winding it with #28 magnet wire. I connected the rewound motor to a 7.5VAC transformer and 3 years later it's still working.

It depends on the washer, the timer in mine stops at various points and waits for the cycle to complete.

suddenly

filled

minutes,

it

this

is

Not on some washers, perhaps most. To account for vaying water pressure and thus flow rates, the timer motor power is cut off in the fill cycle until the water level is correct for the selected size of the load. So, if that pressure switch fails to close, there could be a mess I guess. :) But if the contacts were intermittent and the logic was set up such that the switch still prevented the timing motor from running if they opened even during the agitate cycle, it could explain the beahvior described by the original poster. Maybe. :)

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ:

Repair | Main Table of Contents:

+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: | Mirror Sites:

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

filled

minutes,

it

this

is

Could also be the motor is resetting the overload switch -- Result resets switch overheats, turns the motor off, resets after cooling down and recycles again. Better see what's happenings with the cover of and clamp on ammeter in place.

Well, I solved the problem the easy way. I found a used Whirlpool washer and dryer set (pretty old but working fine) on Craigslist from a guy who needed to get out of his apartment by the end of the month. He was so eager to put his apartment in clean, inspectable order that he even got a friend to help him and they DELIVERED the set to me. He only wanted $100 (I gave him an extra twenty and told him to take his friend to lunch for helping).

Then I put my old set up on the For Free section of Craigslist, and had 15 inquiries within a couple hours. I had a guy come by and pick them up.

Set moved in and set moved out without leaving the house!

I love Craigslist!!!

Bee

Heh, cool. There's a Freecycle list in this area. We bought a new sofa and put the old one and love seat on it and had 50 people that wanted them.

--
#1 Offishul Ruiner of Usenet, March 2007
#1 Usenet Asshole, March 2007
#1 Bartlo Pset, March 13-24 2007
#10 Most hated Usenetizen of all time
Pierre Salinger Memorial Hook, Line & Sinker, June 2004
COOSN-266-06-25794

Shoot! Now we'll never know....

Me too. Had a house which we sold for the property only. We recycled what we could, Craigslisters took much of the rest. The buyer was happy that he only needed one dumpster to haul off the remainder.....

jak