The short answer
Feel the door glass during a warm program. If it stays cold, the machine is washing cold - usually a failed element, a thermal protection that has opened, or a sensing fault. In hard water, scale on the element is the most likely reason it failed.
What you observe
- The door glass stays cold on a warm program — The machine is not heating.
- Cycle time much longer than usual — It may be waiting for a temperature it never reaches.
- Greasy soil and detergent residue persisting — Cold washing on a warm program.
- The breaker trips when the wash should heat — Stop and read the electrical-hazard page.
- Cold programs perfectly normal — Consistent with a heating fault only.
- Not this fault: a cold rinse — Rinses are usually cold by design.
Ranked for household washers
- Heating element failed, often after scaling — First in hard-water areas.
- Thermal protection opened — Second.
- Temperature sensor reading wrongly — Third, and the machine may think it is hot.
- Program selected without heat — Fourth, and more common than admitted.
- Control not calling for heat — Fifth.
- Supply or wiring fault to the element — Last, and it often shows as a tripping breaker.
Check in this order
- Feel the door glass midway through a warm program — The simplest available test.
- Confirm the program actually uses heat — Some do not.
- Compare a long hot program with a short cool one — It isolates the heating stage.
- Note whether the breaker trips at the heating stage — That changes the urgency entirely.
Owner checks
- Run a warm program and feel the glass partway through — Do not open the door mid-cycle to test.
About 60 min
- Check the program description before concluding anything — Cool programs are not faults.
About 10 min
- Run a hot maintenance wash with the drum empty — It also addresses residue and odour.
- Use a descaling treatment if your water is hard — Follow the product and machine guidance.
- Note whether cycles have been getting longer — A machine waiting for heat stretches its cycle.
About 15 min
- Stop before opening the cabinet to reach the element — It is a mains component sitting in water.
Heaters, water and mains
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel. A capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. A heating element is a mains component immersed in water - never test, probe or replace one with the machine connected. If the breaker trips when the machine should be heating, stop using it and have it examined.
When to call
Call when the door glass stays cold on a genuine warm program, because the element, the sensor and the wiring are all inside the cabinet. Call urgently if the breaker trips at the heating stage, as that suggests a failed element leaking to earth. Mention your water hardness: it tells the technician whether to expect scale.
Other faults on this washer
Scope of this page
Generalized across washer families under this badge; where a family-specific or model-specific page exists it is the narrower answer. Not here: element ratings, program temperatures, sensor specifications and water hardness figures.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
