Washing Machine Carbon Brushes

Washing Machine And Washer Dryer Carbon Motor Brushes

If you've diagnosed that your washing machine or washer dryer carbon brushes (some people mistakenly call them bushes for some reason) you will be looking to source a set replacement carbons as cheap as possible.

We will assume that you have also read our guide in the self help section on how to replace carbon brushes, if not you can find it from this link.

Cheap Washing Machine Carbon Brushes

First thing you should have a look at, obviously as we always tell people, is the rating plate on the washing machine or washer dryer to get the correct model number.

Now, have a look at the motor itself and on that there should also be a sticker or rating plate that tells you who makes it.

If you want the widest possible choice and also the lowest possible price then the make of the motor helps us massively to give you that if you need to contact us.

The common washing machine motor manufacturers are the likes of Selni, ZEM, ICE, Ceset and FHP. There are more, but those are the most common. If you search for these in our online shop you'll normally come up with one or two possibilities that are easily identifiable and can save you a few pounds as, often, they are available at a much lower price than the manufacturer will charge.

If you can tell us the make of the motor we can probably offer you a much cheaper alternative set of carbon brushes

If you don't or can't find the carbons that you are looking for or, you're struggling to find them already then please use the Contact Us page to ask for a suitable set of carbon brushes (link opens in a new window or tab) and we'll track them down for you.

But what we won't do is give you some rubbish set of brushes.

More Cheap Washing Machine Carbon Brush Copies

Now, there's a few pitfalls here that you have to be aware of when shopping on the internet for spare parts in general, not just carbon brushes. You see, it's all about the lowest possible price for most suppliers online, Ebay is famous for it and, in order to get the lowest price you have to buy in at the lowest price. Almost invariably, this also means the lowest quality as well, if it's even the right part that is actually suitable!

For example, we have seen on other retailers websites as well as sellers on Ebay offering Hoover carbon brushes as being a suitable replacement for Beko carbon brushes and, to be fair, the Hoover ones (just like ours) are as cheap as chips. The Beko ones meanwhile are a few pounds more expensive.

Some more unsavory characters might even attempt to pass off the cheap Hoover carbon brushes as being genuine Beko carbon brushes.

Now, to the untrained eye (which a lot of these sellers are, they're not technical at all) they look very similar and it's a reasonable conclusion to draw that one can replace the other.

Wrong!

Have a look at the photographs below.

As you can see there are differences in the holder, the genuine Beko ones have an extra moulding that gives more stability to the carbon brush.

You can also see that the angle of the carbon brush face where it would run on the motor commutator is set at a markedly different angle.

What does this mean?

Well, quite simply, it means that the heat generated through the carbon is not dissipated correctly as the new carbons bed in and that the carbon stresses and moves, again leading to excessive heat in the motor commutator. In our experience this has led to the need to replace the whole motor after a few months of the inferior carbon brushes being fitted.

You can save a few pounds now getting cheap carbon brushes only to have it cost over £100 a few months later.

Our advice is simple, if you're not sure, ask us as we are happy to help you.

Laminated Washing Machine Motor Brushes Or Not?

This is becoming an increasing problem in recent years with increasing spin speeds and the usual raft of cheap copy carbon brushes flooding the global markets. We see loads of cheap copy carbon brushes that are not laminated as they should be and, that gives us a problem.

Way back in the 1990's Hotpoint introduced what was called the "laminated carbon brushes", these were for the newer, higher spin speed Hotpoint motors and were distinguished from the old non-laminated carbon brushes by having white brush holders, the old carbon brushes had black brush holders. The reason was pretty simple, you needed to use these on higher spin speed motors so that the carbons would last.

The trade was a bit perplexed by this and, after having problems with these carbon brushes many of us just didn't use them.

What we didn't know, but do now, is that the "laminated" carbons have a coating on them that stops them from wearing down as fast in high spin speed machines and that this also helps with heat dissipation. You have to think that, even friction alone from spinning these relatively small bits of black carbon round in excess of 800rpm for three minutes or more is going to generate a fair old bit of heat. That heat has to be dissipated or it will eventually burn out the armature of the motor.

And, this is EXACTLY what we see all too often when cheap carbon brushes are used to replace good brushes in a high spin speed machine, which is basically anything over 1100rpm.

Use them at your peril, a new motor will cost you over £100 probably, is it worth the risk for a few pounds on a set of carbon brushes?