Appliance Repair Question

Our dishwasher is shorting out our electricity when we turn it on.  Do I call an electrician or an appliance repairman.  How do I go about finding an appliance repairman?

Hi Mrs Pink

you'd call a white goods repair person - not an 'electrician'

Depending on how old the unit is, it may be worthwhile just ditching it and buying a new one.

If it is worth 'repairing' - then you could look up on Yell.com and do a search for dishwasher and/or washing machine repairs on the search engines on the web to see if there are listings from people doing these fixes in your area.

Good luck!
DtM! west London & Slough UK!

When you say it's shorting out the electricity, I assume you mean that when you turn it on it's blowing a fuse or tripping a circuit-breaker every time?    It might be something as simple and easy to fix as a wire adrift inside or a shorted capacitor, or it might be a shorted motor winding which is going to cost more to repair than an older dishwasher would be worth.

While white-goods repair would definitely cover it, you might also be able to find an electrician in your area who would be willing to pull it out and test.  It all depends upon the inidividual/company concerned.  The smaller one-man outfits are probably more likely to accommodate.

You can call a white goods engineer - or if you're on contract with British Gas - call them.  I work as a white goods engineer for them.    Most likely cause (in my experience) is either the element or possibly a problem with one of the pumps.

Good luck!

Most likely cause (in my experience) is either the element or possibly a problem with one of the pumps.

If the circuit the washer is on is fed via an RCD, then the breaker will tend to start tripping at the early signs of an earth-leakage current, the latter being very common when an element starts to go or a pump seal leaks resulting in water getting into the electrical parts that it shouldn't.