Samsung washer trips breaker during spin

Question

I appreciate any help. I have a 5.6cf Samsung washer. Model WF56H9100ag/a2. It pops the circuit breaker mid spin cycle. It’s only 4 years old and has not moved. I have opened up everything except the drum and everything is clean and dry. the water exit filter is clean. I put it into service mode and run the quick spin test and it failed at about 850rpm and 1050rpm. There is no slip in the bearings. (I had a kenmore elite that failed that way so I’m familiar with the signs) The motor is clean and spin fine.

Only other issue and I’m not sure if it’s normal, the drum shakes a lot during spin startup. Then it spins smoothly. Not sure if that is a signal.

Thank you!!

Answer 1

Hallways have typically AFCI protection to protect from fires in the wiring in the walls.

Laundry rooms must have GFCI protection to protect humans from being electrocuted by faulty appliances.

It's likely the laundry room also has AFCI protection, since circuits that need GFCI can also have fires from wiring in the walls. So from the purple button, we know that is a dual-mode AFCI+GFCI.

So by moving the washer from the laundry room to the hallway, you removed GFCI protection.

And the problem went away!

Well, no, actually, your ability to detect the problem went away. Problem is still there.

A GFCI problem means that the appliance is leaking electricity internally due to failing insulation or perhaps a bad capacitor. If it wasn't for ground, it would be giving you a nasty shock (> 5 ma). It's repairable.