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Thread: Dishlex dishwasher tripping mains safety switch!

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    Unhappy Dishlex dishwasher tripping mains safety switch!

    Hey guys,

    Just wanted to say first that this forum is great, I've had help with my smoke alarm already, and appreciated every cent put forwards!

    Continuing my saga of house events (two weeks ago was a new gas hot water system, sadness) my dishwasher has been tripping the mains power safety switch in my house.

    It only trips the power when in a normal/eco cycle (i.e. pre-wash, wash, rinse, dry). I have a strong feeling it trips my house saftey switch when it needs to use the heating element in wash mode. It runs fine on the Rinse-only mode.

    I've got a Dishlex Global 300, and was already in the house when I bought it, so I reckon its around 14 years old. Inside everything is clean and shiny and has been working well in the past year until now!

    I've searched on the Internet and found other people having problems with exposed wiring from inside and around the door, especially underneath at the hinge part where the wires might get squashed. I have opened the door up and double checked - no dodgy wires. Everything is well protected. No water leakage anywhere.

    I can confirm there are no scorch/burn marks around the power plug either.

    There were two other options I found on the Internet as suggestions :

    1.) Heating element needs replacing (is 14 years too old?!)

    2.) The safety switch in my house might need replacing? (Is there a lifespan on these things?? From some suggestions I've read, it may get old and trip at a level too low?)

    I've taken a photo of my safety switch here :



    It is only the safety switch that trips - not the fuses.

    Any advice will, as always, be much appreciated!

    Cheers.
    Last edited by kickling; 30-03-11 at 10:44 PM.



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    The safety switch is tripping because there is some current flow to earth.

    This could be from a few sources, such as damaged cabling, water/moisture across terminals/exposed wiring, faulty switch or a damaged heating element.

    From your description, it sounds like it's the heating element.

    Sometimes an RCD (safety switch) can trigger falsely and pulses from electric motors, eg: pump, can trigger them.

    I'd start with checking the heating element first.

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    Thanks MTV for the advice. I can confirm that nothing else in the house was running that needed high power (oven, washing machine, microwave, computers, tv).

    The heating element at the bottom of the dishwasher looks "rusty", but I don't know if that's the normal colour of it to begin with. I can't rub off any of the "rust" colour with my finger.

    If the part is cheap, it's a small price to pay for testing this suggestion if it's not the case!

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    Quote Originally Posted by kickling View Post
    Thanks MTV for the advice. I can confirm that nothing else in the house was running that needed high power (oven, washing machine, microwave, computers, tv).
    A safety switch isn't designed to trip with a circuit overload, just when there is a current flowing to earth.

    Overloaded circuits/short circuits cause a circuit breaker to trip (or fuse to blow) but unless it's a short to earth (which is current flowing to earth) a safety switch usually won't trip.

    In your case, the safety switch is likely to be tripping as there is a current flow to earth, quite likely to be from a faulty heating element.

    Without the safety switch being there and if the earth wasn't functioning well, the appliance could become 'live' to touch. The safety switch is preventing that from happening.

    NOTE.... don't rely 100% on a safety switch, as sometimes they too can fail and not protect people from potentially lethal electric shocks.

    I would strongly recommend you don't use the dishwasher at all until the fault is found and rectified.

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    kickling (31-03-11)

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    Excellent, thanks for the info and tips.

    Yup, I've switched the dishwasher off and I'm sourcing a replacement element today.

    Will provide an update later!

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