Why a washing machine can shock

Modern washing machines quite often electrocute their owners. This problem is especially relevant for residents of an apartment building. What should be done in such a situation, and what should be done to eliminate it?

Causes of electric shock

If you carefully study the situation, you can understand that not only a washing machine can harm its owner. Sources of danger can be:

• fridge;
• Electric kettle;
• dishwasher.

So what is the source of this problem? Let's analyze this question carefully. The case when the washing machine strikes the wearer with a current can mean that its outer case is under low voltage. In other words, a current leakage occurs on the walls of the washing machine.This condition can be caused by a number of reasons.

Damage to the wiring

If your device has received similar damage, then its further use becomes dangerous: you can get serious damage from the impact of high voltage electricity. Get rid of such an unpleasant breakdown will help attentive inspection wiring. Carefully examine the integrity of the insulation material. Do not allow the bare wires to come into contact with the body of the machine.

High humidity of the room

The machine may be energized if installed in a bathroom or other room with high humidity. If suddenly a touch with wet hands to the walls of the device is accompanied by a weak pinching - do not be alarmed. This is quite normal for worn out modelsthat have been in operation for many years.

Sometimes this happens with new cars. In this case, the fault of the manufacturer, who did not take into account all possible situations. High-quality help fix the situation. grounding.

Breakage of heating elements or engine failure

Damage to any of these parts leads to large-scale violations in the operation of the washing machine. Required to hold diagnosis of TEN and engine.In the event of a fault, you should immediately replace the broken nodes with new ones. It is better if the specialist service center does.

Check of TENA

Home Appliance Grounding

Virtually every company producing machines designs them in such a way that all electrical networks require compulsory grounding. In other words, socket Your apartment should be equipped with three wires:

• phase;
• land;
• zero.

But it is in an ideal situation. In reality, the main part of houses in the Russian Federation is not equipped with a grounding system. This is connected with the standards of construction of the USSR, in which the grounding was not mandatory. Modern residential complexes are built according to new calculations, but, as a rule, grounding in them may also be absent. There are cases when the earth wire itself is available, but is this scheme properly arranged?

If your washing machine is shocking and you don’t know what to do, first of all you need to find out if your house is equipped with a grounding system. Information about this should be provided without problems in the housing office. If the system is OK, the switchboard should be equipped special wire. Then you just need to replace the old wires with new, three-channel, and all your sockets will be connected to ground.

Important! Do not, under any circumstances, use water pipes and a heating system for grounding. In case of problems with the household appliance, this will lead to the spread of voltage across all pipes.

To solve this problem is quite troublesome, the replacement of the wiring and almost all outlets can take time and require financial investments. But this does not mean that you need to postpone everything indefinitely.

Grounding scheme for a washing machine

RCD application

It is possible to protect oneself from electric shocks by installing a RCD device - a safety shut-off device. A special device whose main function is to control electricity and turn it off in case of leakage.

Simply put, if there is a problem with the wiring, the RCD will be able to turn off the electricity in time and protect it from serious injury. This small fixture can save lives in the event of extreme voltage surges.

Standard instruction prescribes the installation of an RCD right behind introductory machineIn this case, the operating current is set higher than that of the input automaton. For example, if your automat is 32 A, then the RCD must be selected at 36 A. This is done so that when the circuit closes, the automaton correctly trips and protects the RCD from burning.

Connecting the washing machine through the RCD

These parameters speak about the operating voltage, but we are more interested in the parameters. cutoff. The cutoff shows how hard you can get a current before the RCD turns on. It can be said, the smaller this indicator, the weaker the blow will be. For example, in the bathroom it is best to put an RCD with a cutoff indicator of 10 mA. The remaining sockets can be equipped with 30mA UZO. This difference is due to the humidity of the room. To install the RCD, you will need to conduct a new wiring or install the RCD directly into the switchboard. Read more about the selection and installation of RCDs. here.

Attention! RCD does not solve the problem of electric shocks. He will protect you from the consequences, but can not eliminate the cause.

Other ways

Now consider alternative high voltage protection methods.

1. Move your home appliance to moredry room eg, to the kitchen. Humid air contributes greatly to electrical conductivity.Move your typewriter to another location, and perhaps the electric shocks will stop.
2. De-energize device After the completion of all programs do not be lazy to disconnect the machine from the network. Experts assure that such a habit more than once will help you to avoid injuries related to current.

Now you know why a washing machine periodically beats up. Provide your apartment with grounding, do not stint on the installation of the RCD, and then you will forever forget about the discomfort after an electric shock.