The current washing machine is so modified and arranged that many have already forgotten about those times when they washed several batches of laundry in the same water.
A modern washing machine is good in everything and thanks to it washing turns into a holiday, unless there are surprises in terms of malfunctions and breakdowns.
The machine cannot work without electricity, but there is some danger in this.
Unfortunately, power surges often occur in the network and they can disable equipment. Such drops in electricity are fraught with the repair of a washing machine.
The purpose of the network filter
Works great for this task. surge protector for washing machine. It will protect against surges and voltage drops in the network, drowning out impulse and high-frequency interference.
A surge protector is not only an extension cord with a certain number of sockets and a fuse.
The filter can be built into the equipment at the production stage or purchased as an additional protection item and connected to the device through a power source.
Built-in surge protector
Modern washing equipment is a rather complex device, but meanwhile it is sensitive, for example, to current surges in the network.
Therefore, it requires reliable protection and stability in the first place, because otherwise a washing machine without a surge protector, having received high or low pulses, may burn down.
Especially if it is a washing machine with touch controls. We take into account the fact of the sensitivity of such models, the manufacturer himself supplies the washing machine with a surge protector during the production process. It is located where the electrical cord begins. In the event of a breakdown, the internal filter cannot be repaired, but must be replaced. The part is replaced with an original spare part, which is not always easy to do.
Internal filters vary in degree of protection depending on the manufacturer and model of the connected equipment. The level of protection is related to:
- maximum load and maximum current;
- passable voltage threshold;
- rated current;
- response time after a power surge to trip.
External surge protector
Such a device can protect equipment from short circuits and current surges, thanks to a fuse, blocking the flow of electricity.
Manufacturers offer extension cords with different number of sockets and types of protection:
- base;
- professional;
- advanced.
Some models are improved with additional devices in the form of on/off buttons on each outlet or have protection from children.
A large number of outlets on the filter extension relevant when there are several devices standing side by side. Such a filter is quite powerful, but also more expensive.
The difference may be in extension cord length. You need to pay attention to this when buying and calculate the required length in advance.
The maximum load is an important indicator.
If we take professional protection, then the indicator of energy surges absorbed by the filter is 2500 J, while for a simple one this indicator is 960 J.
The filter can be located immediately multiple fuses, but one of them must be fusible, and the rest are divided into high-speed and thermal.
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protective mechanism some manufacturers endow LED indicator, which allows you to visually assess the performance of the device.
What can not be done using protection with an external surge protector?
- The device working through the filter should not be more than 3.5 kW.
- Do not connect an extension cord to a 380 V network.
- Simultaneous connection of such devices is dangerous.
- A prerequisite for using the filter is grounding the outlet.
How the filter works
If the surge protector is built into the washing machine, then it may skip oscillations with a frequency of 50 Hertz, and the rest of the impulses will immediately be blocked.
This is a significant moment, since if we consider network outages and surges, then significant bursts of amplitude can cause damage to automatic washing machine systems up to a complete loss of performance.
When operating the protective device it is forbidden to turn off the washing machine from the socket during operationas the filter may be damaged.
Even simple inductors with a small capacitance are fine, the only problem is they won't be able to withstand a large power surge.
Some users are convinced that a surge protector does not need to be installed.Perhaps older models of washing machines are more likely to be able to cope with the amount of current.
But, modern technology without protection will easily suffer with another instability in the network and by starting the washing process, the user may lose control panels, engine, heating element etc.
Instability can also occur in the instrument itself. When starting an induction motor, a number of peaks are generated or current dips occur, which can lead to high frequency harmonics. But, thanks to the protective filter, this process is smoothed out, because the filter catches such drops and dumps them into the ground. In this way, it protects devices and appliances connected to an external power supply (microwave ovens, computers, TVs, and others) from damage.
It should be taken into account the fact that if a malfunction occurs in the mains filter, for example, a burnout of an asynchronous motor, then the operation of the entire washing machine stops completely for safety reasons.
Filter faults
The surge protector rarely fails.
It is not always clear how to check the surge protector of a washing machine. Its performance is determined ringing the input and output terminals with a multimeter.
There are times when there is a problem with the input impedance. To solve it, it is enough to have a bite on the “crocodiles” plug. With detachable terminals, this cannot be done, they are simply undocked first and then measured in pairs. The resistance should be 680 kOhm.
With positive results, pay attention to capacitors. They are connected in parallel, and you need to sum up the values. They turn on in turn and the total value of the reciprocal is found.
If in the end the summed result does not match the indicators required during normal operation, then the condensate has burned out.
Do I need a surge protector in a washing machine? The answer is unequivocal - yes. The choice of a protective device must be taken seriously. Each user of a washing machine must protect it from surges and power surges - no doubt.
Good afternoon.Tell me, is it possible to replace the failed internal surge protector of the washing machine with an external one? Due to a power surge in my LG F12A8HD, it failed, and I don’t really want to buy a new one (it’s expensive, and the washing machine is no longer new).