How To Identify Faults For Washing Machines Or Dishwashers Before You Call An Engineer

When you enter her house, the facial expression is really quite heart warming; she is pleased to see you. The only other time you see this is when the wife looks at you sometimes, its the pleading and eye flashing. "Darling!, the dog has done something on the carpet can you clear it up for me .....Darling! ......Sweetie?" This lady though, she's a stranger. Why is she being so well.....nice. "That looks a very heavy case, is that were you keep all your tools, you must be very strong." "Not at all." I say modestly. Why am I blushing? Funny how you always end up doing that tight little, half embarrassed laugh and lop sided grin when someone says something like that and you catch yourself thinking " Yer, she's right." "I really hope you can help me" she said. She turned and looked at me hope leaping in her eyes "I'm so lost without it" "Here it is" she said, leading me into the kitchen, and pointing. There it is indeed a washing machine, and its broken. The culture shock our women folk experience when the washing machine breaks down is quite breath taking. Might be due to the thought that a trek to the nearest stream and bashing the clothes on a rock could have something to do with it. I put my tool case down, gratefully, its heavy, I must be getting old. "What seems to be the problem?" "Well" she said, her face now turning into an expression of fierce concentration. "I think the thingomegig in the whatsisname is blocked and there's a lot of slushing about when this....this.... thingy" she said frustratingly waggling her finger in the direction of "The drum" I said helpfully. "Yes, that's it, the drum" she said. "I would be so grateful if you can help me get it working again, look at it all" I turned in the direction she was looking behind me. Yes, it was a lot of dirty washing. "Tell you what" I said my face brightening "How about us having a nice strong cup of tea"

That's how it is for me as a washing machine, dishwasher and tumble dryer engineer. Because this is what I do.The tea bit is a bit fanciful. No, I jest, my Customers are very good offering cups of tea and my customers are usually good at explaining what the fault is as well. However, a few extra tips from an engineers point of view might suffice to help you as a Customer to help me trace a fault quickly, it could be very helpful if as much information as possible is given to the build-up leading up to when the machine started to go wrong. If the fault description is not quite right, its easy to start at the wrong end of the problem and waste a lot of time.(a classic case of going round the moon to get to your .....well I'll leave it there!). Sometimes its difficult because you switch it on and walk away and you don't notice anything until it goes obviously horribly wrong. Take time out and observe exactly what's happening and at what point its happening.

Before you call an engineer there are some simple checks that you can do, which not only can help an engineer if you call one but, you never know, you might avoid calling him out at all. There are the obvious faults, of cause. If the machine is full of water and not draining, (also, this produces another symptom, the machine will not spin the clothes at the end of the wash programme, its not the spin function that's wrong its the fact that there's water still in the drum which will stop it spinning). Try this, some machines have a drain only function, this eliminates any noise from something else happening, like the drum turning for instance, if there isn't a drain only function select a spin and there should be a minute or two before the drum starts turning meanwhile you should hear the sound of the drain pump churning. Can you hear anything? No! then the drain pumps not working. If its a Yes! then there is a blockage somewhere.

The other obvious one is if nothing happens at all when you switch on, some machines have some form of 'mains on' indicator light, if its not on when you push the mains switch on then there is no power going to the machine. Check the mains electric socket that the machine uses, plug a table lamp into the socket, and see if you've got power to the machine. If not, check the fuse in the plug, sounds obvious, but its worth checking. If you've got power to the machine then its possibly the door switch on the door of the machine, so you would call an engineer for that.

If its being incredibly naughty and spilling water all over the floor (then you've got the Deluxe model there then..it cleans your floor as well!). Turn everything off like the water taps (usually under the sink) to the machine and unplug the mains plug, then call someone. That goes for the machine tripping safety switches or blowing electric mains fuses as well. What I mean is those faults that the machine is working but then stops or doesn't do something that it should. Try a few things out first, does the timer stop at the same point in the cycle? On electo-mechanical timer units (you can identify this type as the dial you set your programme with and clicks on a detent mechanism as you turn it around, and turns around as the wash programme advances). If it stops or the machine just carries on indefinitely doing the same function with the timer just sticking in the same place or you have to click the timer on one click and the machine carries on. Before you do that though, mark it with a pencil on the dial and on the corresponding part of the panel. Then the engineer can see the exact point the fault is occurring. This type of fault can indicate a heater or timer problem.

However, due to modern technical advances, mechanical timers are being replaced by electronic control devices, so you can't see at what point the programme is. Although some have a programme timer LED display, make a note of the time the display has when the fault occurs (or anything in the display for that matter) and also the programme you are using. Some of them cough up error codes on its LED display, these can be listed, to a limited degree in the operators handbook but they are not usually very comprehensive. The only thing you can do here (again first make a note of which programme the machine went wrong on) is to start a programme again, this time though try a 'Quick' or the shortest wash programme there is on a washing machine, if its a dishwasher again try a 'Quick' programme if its got one. Don't try the 'Rinse' programme because that doesn't heat the water and it might be a heating fault. Time how long into the cycle it goes before it stops or goes wrong or sometimes if it doesn't go wrong at all. To an engineer this can help to eliminate a few things. If you think it may be the water is not going into the machine on a washing machine or dishwasher, just loosen off the the hose connection into the back of the machine (don't disconnect it completely) and see if the water is coming through. Unfortunately, it does require heaving the the machine out to get at the back to do this. If it isn't check the shut off valve hasn't been turned off. Surprisingly, and not altogether uncommon, the valve to the machine can be turned off, for instance if you have just had a plumber round to do a job (or hubby), perhaps some work under the sink and his forgotten to turn the tap back on again.

If you have done all this, you've done two things. You have eliminated any possibility that there was something very simple and you can possibly fix it yourself, which has saved you an engineers call. And also the possibility if it turns out not to be the machine and its a house wiring problem, no power from the mains socket for instance, in which case you call an electrician. Or if its a water problem you call a plumber. And secondly, if you do call one you can explain to the engineer your diagnosis, and he'll make you a cup of tea!

Or indeed if your not that energetic, just call someone out anyway, lay back and let me do it. Contact me on my website at http://www.jefffservice.co.uk to find out what I charge and if I'm in your area. Then ring, fax or e-mail me to arrange a call and you can tell me, armed with all the information I've given you, exactly what the fault is!

After being made redundant in 1992 after 13 years as a computer engineer, I decided I'd try going self-employed (I could make myself redundant then, save somebody else telling me!) I turned to training myself up on running a small business and becoming a Domestic Appliance engineer.