Hotpoint Aquarius Condenser / Dryer model (TDC32)

[jonifresh]

- Good afternoon to you all -

Does anyone know anything about Condenser/dryers

The warrenty period has just expired (dam) so it will cost us £89 call out fee from hotpoint to sort it. The dryer appears to be fully functional apart from the main thing - Its not drying our clothes, no heat is been produced.
My wife uses it all the time so she knows the score with cleaning the filters and emptying the water container.

I don't want to be ripped off thats all if its not a majoy job to repair it.


Thanks for any advise.


JONI

 

[drivewasher]

Assuming the empty water light is not on all the time

UNPLUG MACHINE

Take the rear panel off about 10 screws including a bar accross the top of it, inside here you will see the heater cover in about the centre, two thermostats on the heat shield about an inch diameter. one of them will most likely be open circuit, from memory it will be the right hand one with a green spot (depends on actuall model) this is the one-shot safety device, if open circuit it cannot be re set you will need to replace, it comes in a set of both of the stats you need to get the right set for your machine model and change both, but you MUST fit them in the right positions, a genuine set comes with an instruction sheet showng temps and the correct location for each model.
The most common reason for one-shot device failure is opening the dryer door to check if clothes are dry during the heat section on the timer, allowing the timer to finish to the off position will let the machine go throgh cold blow (last 10 mins or so) and cool the heater down

Aprox cost of genuine stat kit £10 to £15

 

[jonifresh]

Thanks for the info Sir

I will have a look tonight and let you know how i get on.


Joni

 

[jonifresh]

Hi

Just got around to taking a look inside the dryer, after repeated nagging sessions from my wife. Right there was a small square plate which i had to strip off first of all, about 2" square with some sort of switch inside. I then removed the big moon shaped cover and saw what i think is the element.
there`s about 4 of them, about 8" long by 1" and on inspection i noticed that one had broken.

I've done a quick google search for hotpoint spares and the cheapest i can find is £35 inc vat and delivery

Is this a good price or is that a rip off. My only bad thought is that if i replace this and it still doesn`t work.


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[ratm]

I'm new here but I think my years of guerilla repairs might be of help.
You can sometimes reset the single click type (Usually the left one with the colour dot on it) thermostat and save yourself a few bob. This is a bit dramatic but I assure you it works almost every time. Remove the offending item in the usual way and test with a continuity meter, if it's tripped there will no continuity. Hold it face down, (This is very important) contacts up and fire it as hard as you can at a solid surface, making sure it lands as flat as possible. One or two attempts on a soft surface is recomended to perfect the technique. A hard hearth or smooth concrete is ideal. You can see if the button has popped back out but you should always test it and see if it's now giving continuity. If it is you've saved a few bob if not no loss you can always buy a new one.

 

[jonifresh]

Thanks for the info -

I'm a bit confused to what you are saying though mate. I should remove the bad element and fire it at the ground, I need to have a closer look at this tonight because i didn`t see any switch that could popo back out.

Can you be a bit more specific please - this is the first time i've looked inside a dryer and i am almost clueless apart from trying to put bits of info on here together.

Thanks

 

[ratm]

Ok mate. A bit of confusion on the resetting thing. I assumed from your previous posts that you needed to replace the thermostats, the two 1/2 inch round components mounted on the housing above the element, with two wires running to both. There are slight variations between different machines but as a rule they all look very similar. Some have one screw and a metal tab holding them in place others have two screws. All have two male spades on the back some at right angles some flush. Most have a coloured dot between the spade connectors; red, green, blue etc. this is usually the one that doesn't reset.

However you appear to be in need of a heating element which is also dead easy to replace, if a bit fiddly and is another common fault especially if the machine gets a sudden jolt or the thermostat fails to pop.
The price you got seems ok. I'm lucky enough to work in a landfill and recycling centre so I get most of my stuff for nothing. Needless to say the element isn't re-settable so throwing it at anything would not be recommended. Hope this clarifies things for you.

 

[pabs02]

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