Hotpoint Ultimate S Line 10657J dead

[borzio]

Hi Guys
the Hotpoint washer is 18 months old and has had no faults previously.
Yesterday it tripped the Fuse box washing machine RCD, and blew the fuse in the machine's plug.
I replaced the fuse and flicked the wall socket switch (which I had checked was ok by powering the kettle), and the Hotpoint had no display and no buttons, on/off etc, worked.
I checked the cable fuse again and it was ok, the wall socket ok, and no RCD trip in the fuse box.
I checked the main cable with a tester and it showed that power was entering the machine, so I took the top off and checked from where the cable enters and the power was still getting through to the internals.
I checked the red cables through to blue box connector on the side of the machine, then beyond that to the cable to the door, to the front display, and the cable that runs down the back of the machine to the motor (?). All show that power is getting through, yet the display and the on/ off button don't work.
Any ideas where I go from here is appreciated, thanks

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

If your 'tester' is a volt-stick, likely it would show live parts all over the machine - a lot of the parts showing live, will probably very low control voltages.

You can, if you are practised with a volt-stick ascertain whether it has a neutral too.

At 18 months old, you really ought to be contacting the supplier under guarantee.

 

[borzio]

Thanks Harry, it was with a volt stick..
Hotpoint gave a 10 year parts warranty but on calling them they want £150 service charge or (worse than that) 20.50 per month for 12 months for service cover that covers 1 call out......the machine can be bought for £279 so neither is a good bet.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I would suggest getting in touch with Citizens Advice, to ask them what your rights are, because any reasonable person would expect a washing machine to be fault free for much longer than that - rather than mess about with it yourself.

The volt-stick lighting up all over the machine, suggests to me that it has maybe lost its neutral somewhere or the neutral has been blasted open circuit by a major fault or short inside the machine. With it unplugged, I would be following the mains lead into the machine, down to the PCB and looking for signs of damage carefully, especially on the control PCB itself, both back and front.

PCB's are always protected by a splash guard of some sort, to stop water dripping on them.

 

[borzio]

I felt the same re the 18 months, it's got to be an unreasonable timescale imo.
thanks for the advice re the pcb too, I've taken it out to the garage and will do as you suggest tomorrow and let you know the findings.
cheers and thanks