Electricians – appliance electrical ques
May be slightly off topic but hoping an electrician has some incite.
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Main question;
Thoughts on replacing roasted in-line fuse holder with an ordinary over rated in line fuse holder and lower12amp rated fuse for now to determine if the computer control board does still work or if I’m looking at a new washer?
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Have an Asko washer 240v. Problem is the inline fuse on what I think to be one leg of the 240v as there is an additional and identical 15amp fuse next to it, is roasted. Not just the fuse but the harness and both flat blade jumpers on either side coming in and out. Really don’t even know if the fuse is blown since I can’t get it out it’s so melted in.
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The other fuse and harness is intact but the white plastic clips for the jumpers are browning and brittle too.
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Both these fuses’ jumpers travel to what looks like a capacitor 1-2†round x 4-6†long or maybe starter?
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Fuses are original factory installed.
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1. What allows this potential fire hazard to occur before the fuse blows, assuming it is correctly engineered by the factory and is rated right?
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2. If the second fuse harness not pictured is in fact the 2nd leg of the 240v why is one in better shape than the other/causes?
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3. To track the problem further down the line or should I say the load, can this sort of thing be indicative of a bad starter or capacitor depending on what that next part is and or a bad computer board?
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4. There is one single what appears to be a resistor on the board that is a suspect to have “let its smoke out†too. Can greater resistance be created by this, upping the amperage back on the in line fuse?
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5. Multi-meter voltage on receptacle waivers 240-242, problem?
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Thanks guys
Replies
Heat usually means loose connection. The fuse may not have ever blown. If it was me I would think about getting a 4" square box and a cover plate with 2 screw in Edison base fuses. These will have screw terminals that should handle the current. If it did fail, it would be in the box.
Another option would be a 2 pole fused/breaker disconnect like you use on water heaters or air conditioners
Thanks
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Won’t be going that route, I’m mainly looking for the cheapest, relatively safe replacement for the harness to first figure if the board is even any good still. But I’ll keep it in mind and look into for after the finial repair as an added safety measure if this washer doesn’t get replaced and another completely unrelated application that I hadn’t considered which is; Want to use a cheap $12 manual thermo without relay inline for temp control several feet from a space heater. Space heater being a short circuit it’s self all wire associated including extension cords would heat up, weakest link burning up first so if it isn’t the thermo contacts themselves a weak link/fuse could be safely created and contained in what you described. So thanks.
If you have this on a 15a circuit and the recommended fuse is 15, jumper it out.
"1. What allows this potential fire hazard to occur before the fuse blows, assuming it is correctly engineered by the factory and is rated right?"
Based only on the picture I would suspect that the problem might be a defective fuse hold or a loose terminal.
"2. If the second fuse harness not pictured is in fact the 2nd leg of the 240v why is one in better shape than the other/causes? "
While is there any 120 load. Being a European brand probably not, but you never know. If not I again suspect a bad connection at the fuse holder.
"3. To track the problem further down the line or should I say the load, can this sort of thing be indicative of a bad starter or capacitor depending on what that next part is and or a bad computer board?
4. There is one single what appears to be a resistor on the board that is a suspect to have “let its smoke out” too. Can greater resistance be created by this, upping the amperage back on the in line fuse? "
A bad start cap can cause extra current. Without know what the resister does can say for sure that it did not "cause" a problem. But not by upping the amperage.
And it is unlikely that the control board could have cause the problem unless the power supply part of it shorted out.
Other failures might keep the motor on all the time, etc. but I don't see that it could cause over current. Unless it was a bad design and might try and run the motor both forward and reverse at the same time.
"5. Multi-meter voltage on receptacle waivers 240-242, problem?"
No, unless it is realy jumping wildly, but the meter response slow enough that it is all it shows. Unlikely.
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
I'd say that it's most likely that there was a bad connection in the fuse holder, and that the rated current of the fuse was never exceeded. I'd replace the fuse holder and try it out before digging too much deeper.