Blown appliance fuse, burning smell and crackling sound

[Harlen1422]

Hi,

My tumble dryer had a burnt fuse today (13 amp) I have replaced this ( Fuse holder was slightly broken after) and now I can hear a crackling sound when I insert the plug and turn the switch on. It is a double socket but the second appliance that is connected doesn't make this sound when I turn it on. I am not sure if it a fault with the tumble dryer, plug or the socket?

I am reading about a possible arc fault, but as stated above I'm unsure where the fault could lay.

[Someone-Else]

You should get it checked by an appliance repair engineer, there will be a reason why the fuse is "burnt"

[aeromech3]

Agree with S-E, but for a minor investigation a burnt plug and cracked fuse holder is not a good way to start.
If the machine is not ancient +7 years and as long as power cable is not damaged and you use it in warm or hot water mode, then likely the water heater has gone, do you ?
If it is a wash dry machine and the machine did not empty before the fuse blew then it is the water heater and if After wash cycle the drier heater?

Though my own has a condensing drier mode, I don't also use it as this is major electricity, in-fact I saucepan hot water from the tap before loading cotton clothes to avoid the machine water heating element from consuming kW's?
But water heaters even when not being used can corrode over time and cause machine malfunction.

[Someone-Else]

Just saying

tumble dryer

Tumble dryers do not have a "water heater" They do however have a heating element, which to keep costs down look like a very long spring, these are not designed to get wet, just very hot.

[aeromech3]

I went off at a tangent, thought it would be useful info from my own experience and not exactly answering the Op, thanks S-E.

[ericmark]

It seems there are three types of tumble drier, vented, condensing, and heat pump, so there is no one answer fits all, however fuses don't blow without a reason, some times we know the reason, the last one that ruptured with me, was due to two kettles being plugged into same extension lead, causing an overload, so since I knew why, it was safe enough to replace.

One would hope with a heat pump there will be a built in overload, as with refrigeration motors if turned off and back on again before the pressure has dropped, they will overload.

However with a vented model likely it is a simple heating element, I would expect to find a mineral insulated element, but does not have to be, but although a RCD may trip with no real problem, for a fuse to rupture some thing must have gone wrong to cause it, and replacing without investigation is not really a good idea.

As to condensing drier, not sure how they all work, the one built into washing machine uses the cold water to condense the water, some use a refrigeration process, so a heat pump drier is a condenser drier, but a condenser drier may not be a heat pump drier, in the main heat pump driers use the refrigeration pump to both heat and cool, but some condenser driers only use heat pump to cool, and still use a heating element to heat.

The efficiency seems to be variable. It is hard with a condenser drier to work out if better or worse to a vented, as we have no idea what is inside, but typically a heat pump drier uses a third of the power to a vented, and since it is not pumping central heated air outside, there is also a reduction in central heating costs.

My old vented drier had two elements, seem to remember 1 kW or 2 kW we always used the 1 kW option, and the new heat pump drier takes about the same time to dry the cloths, however had we been using the 2 kW setting, and one element had failed, it would still dry the cloths, however depending on type of element there could be a loose end of an element floating around which could make the casing live, with my house that would trip the RCBO, and in many houses we do have RCD protection, but not all homes are fitted with them on all circuits, so there is a risk that it can make the drier live, or/and some other device plugged into the same circuit live.

So in conclusion you need some one to test the machine, I would be very worried when a fuse blows if I don't know why, as it may mean the RCD is not working, or an earth wire has become open circuit, it really does need both the machine and socket testing, you can buy socket testers, the better ones say with loop test, and likely also a RCD test built in, they cost around £50 for a reasonable one, with loop and RCD testing.

[Razor]

It seems there are three types of tumble drier, vented, condensing, and heat pump,

Don't forget gas

Based on the evidence posted | would firstly plug something else into the socket and eliminate that from enquiries. Next if the crackling is from the plug I would open it up (or more likely cut it off if premoulded) and check thatthe wires are terminated correctly

[Scotty001]

Out of curiosity where was the crackling sound coming from? The appliance or the plug socket, is there a posability that the back of the socket has also burnt up and damaged the wiring which is where the burning and crackling sound is coming from?

[OnlyMe]

Out of curiosity where was the crackling sound coming from? The appliance or the plug socket, is there a posability that the back of the socket has also burnt up and damaged the wiring which is where the burning and crackling sound is coming from?

That would be my first investigation.