hotpoint wd61 not heating water properly

[washerwoman]

Thanks to this forum, I have kept an old Hotpoint wd61 going. It is playing up again, so I hope someone can help me with the latest problem.
Last week, it stopped heating while the dryer was on. this had happened before and I knew it could be the orange lead near the fan come adrift. This was the case and it was fixed. However a few days later it stopped heating again and this time I found the live red wire by the fan had broken near the connector. I reconnected it and the dryer worked. I wanted to do a 95 C wash and I noticed that the machine clicked through quickly from C to D, so although it heated it wasn't to the hotter temperature. Any ideas anyone? I know the fashion is to wash at lower temperatures, but I like to wash certain things really hot.

 

[rocks1]

Is the economy button pushed in.

 

[washerwoman]

Hello Rocks, thanks for your reply. Yes,. the economy button is in, which I think means it is cancelled, not selected.

 

[rocks1]

Nope. If its in it means it will heat the water up. Out and it won't. Simple test put on a wash open dispenser tray and in 10 mins you will here a hissing noise from the dispenser if so its heating up. That button was done wrong from when it was built.

 

[washerwoman]

Hello again. I've had time to look a bit closer at this problem. The water was not hissing when I opened the drawer. I've realised that the heat I felt in the water was just from the hot water from the tap. I tried turning off my hot water and the machine wasn't heating at all. If this is an element problem, where is the washer element located on the machine? Any hints about replacing it?

 

[washerwoman]

OK. There has turned out to be a positive outcome to this problem, which may help anyone who still has this old model.
Firstly, I changed the element, which turned out to be all right, but the thermistor had an open circuit. Changing the element was a bit tricky as it would not come out easily and I had to unclip the metal clips from round the tub to push it through from the inside. This was also tricky, but a smear of washing up liquid helped. Put it all back together and the water heated up again, but only on the lower temperatures. Back to where I started. But I now know that:
1. The economy button switches off the heater in the machine and relies on the hot tap water for heat.
2. The hot fill on this machine is only used for the higher temperatures and it somehow senses the heat of the water coming in, because it didn't heat cold water coming in from the hot fill hose to boiling, but when it was hot water coming in, the boil wash worked again.