A washing machine includes a brushless motor, a position sensing element for sensing a rotational position of a rotor of the motor, a motor drive control circuit composed of an inverter main circuit for driving the motor and an inverter control circuit for controlling the inverter main circuit based on a signal generated by the position sensing element, a current detector for detecting a current flowing in the inverter main circuit, an overcurrent determining circuit generating an overcurrent detection signal when the current detected by the current detector exceeds a reference value, and an abnormal condition detector for generating an abnormal condition detection signal when the number of times of output of the overcurrent detection signal generated by the overcurrent determining circuit reaches a predetermined value.