I've got a Zanussi combined Washer Dryer that works, but is no longer drying the clothes efficiently - indeed it takes absolutely ages to dry them. It was never great, compared to my dedicated Bosch drier, but since I replaced the drain pump, it has got unusable. The drain pump has quite a bit of work to do as the tube goes almost up to the top of the machine before ending in the sink drain. I'm guessing this is why the old one caved in. Got the replacement off amazon, but not convinced it's as good as it squeals a lot when in use - it DOES however spin, and drains the machine. Anyway - back to the non-working drier - I included the above because I wondered if drying ability was connected to the drain pump efficiency? All the guides I've read on fixing, say check the filters, but there aren't any! Fluff collects inside the door seal - that's it! Any thoughts anyone before I take the machine to pieces?
Just a guess, assuming this is a condensing dryer, that there is a load of fluff and cr@p in the condensing heat exchanger thingy. This will stop the air flow and mean nothing dries.
Just realised I said Zanussi - it's actually a Samsung. Having dismantled other dryers in the past, I looked for a condenser, but can't find one! I looked through the diagrams on here.
Hmm - this may be responsible It certainly does squeal on drying! - I thought it was the pump, but if it's connected to the cold water supply - no cold water and I guess it won't condense! I'll check the solenoids on the inlet valve - think there's 3
If it is steamy when you open the door it will be a blockage in whatever condenser unit it has. Trace the tube from the inlet valve that doesn't go to the detergent drawer and it should connect to the condenser. This will be what is blocked and not circulating the water/air and heat properly to condense.
Hmm - the water goes into a plastic thing around the back of the drum - taken the top off, where the heater blows the air through and there was a bit of ****, but not a huge amount - can't see without taking much more apart to get the plastic thing out whether there's blockage further down, but seems unlikely as it's a very large tube! What I have checked is the 3 solenoids on the water inlet valve. 2 give me 30M Ohm resistance - the one that deals with the condenser is reading too high for my meter to show. If that's buggered, then cold water isn't getting into the condenser - impossible to tell currently as it's closed unit. What do you reckon?
The condenser will get thinner in places and that is where you get the blockages occur. If the solenoid has gone open circuit then that will be a cause of not drying properly. Most appliances will show a fault code if that has failed but still a possibility. Some condensers can be easy to remove for cleaning, others a little trickier.
Correction I took the reading with the wires still attached - removed, the solenoid dealing with the condenser still reads infinite resistance. The other two read 4000 ohms which I believe is about normal. No fault code though which I agree is odd. I took the condenser off - it's just wide piece of ducting, with I think a second skin and cold water is fed in between the two skins. Removed a handful of matted fluff, but it was nowhere near blocked. Started the dry cycle with the water pipe leading to the condenser removed - the water made it's usual sound, but nothing came out of this pipe - sounded like a dash of water went into the soap dispenser?? It was only for a fraction of a second, and pretty sure the machine had always made that sound. So, all things considered, I think I'm safe in blaming the solenoid for the problem.
I guess a final test would be to swap it out with one of the others(assuming they are similar/same0 and see if makes a difference!
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