Broken coil windings

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Sorry, first time poster, long time reader. I think pic was uploaded. Do broken coppper windings on a stator motor necessarily mean it is a bad stator? This is from a motor stator assembly on a Samsung front load washing machine (WF350ANP/X001). Thank you so much for help. Don't want to spend $150 if not needed, but don't want to falsely assume the issue is something else. Background info if helpful: Upon start up, the machine appears to attempt a wash load test by a few short "wiggles" then after a period of about 5 minutes of nothing, produces a 3E error code. I believe my Hall Sensor or RPS is also bad (visibly has a nick in one probe) so I have that on order. I may have created this breach in the windings myself as I left the motor assembly on the floor while researching (kid stepped on it?).

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    You should have it evaluated by a motor rewind shop. Most small motors are too cheap to be worth rewinding. But they may be able to beat $150. – ArchonOSX Oct 14 '17 at 15:36
  • Okay, thank you for the response! You reassure me that it's not something I can just leave alone and assume it won't be a problem. That was my main confusion (does it need to be dealt with or is it really not a problem). – CommanderUSN Oct 14 '17 at 15:40

A broken wire means that electrical current will not be able to pass through the winding. Many of the newer washers use these large diameter stators with multiple pole pieces (the one in my Kenmore washer is ~12" dia with 36 separate magnetic poles). They often have three windings that are organized so that the same wire is wound around every third pole. Just one wire broken means that one third of the poles will not get energized by the motor drive controller.

The broken wire would have to be repaired or replaced if there is any hope of salvaging the stator. In addition your pictures seem to show multiple damage locations including parts of the enamel wire insulation being knocked or scraped off. This is not a good sign as adjacent turns can short out. Shorted turns on one pole piece can imbalance the motor as the rotor part of the motor turns in operation.

I just had to replace the bearings in my top loader washer and this required removing the motor assembly that is pictured below. There is a good solid reason that the service instructions said to carefully remove the stator and place it on a soft towel out of the way while working on the rest of the bearing replacement.

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  • Michael, I cannot thank you enough for this response. I searched and searched and couldn't find a definitive answer as to whether the broken winding is a definite repair item. It seemed to me, just applying common sense, that it may cause remaining whole circuits to overload and heat up. Thank you again very much for this great explanation. New motor stator ordered with confidence! – CommanderUSN Oct 14 '17 at 22:41

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