A washing and/or drying appliance comprising: - an electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177); - a driving apparatus for driving the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177), the driving apparatus comprising: - a TRIAC comprising a first anode terminal coupled with a first terminal of an AC electric power supply and a second anode terminal coupled with a first terminal of the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177), the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177) comprising a second terminal coupled with a second terminal of the AC electric power supply; - a microcontroller configured to generate a driving signal, and - a triggering circuit for activating the TRIAC by providing triggering pulse signals to a gate terminal of the TRIAC based on the driving signal; - a monitoring circuit ( 230; 215; 235) comprising: - the microcontroller, and - a feedback circuit branch connected between the gate terminal of the TRIAC and an input terminal of the microcontroller for providing the voltage at the gate terminal of the TRIAC to the microcontroller, characterized in that: - the monitoring circuit ( 230; 215; 235) is configured to monitor the driving signal and the voltage at the gate terminal of the TRIAC to obtain monitored values of the driving signal and of the voltage at the gate terminal of the TRIAC, and; - the microcontroller is configured to compare the monitored values of the driving signal and of the voltage at the gate terminal of the TRIAC with a plurality of pairs of reference values, each pair of reference values corresponding to a respective operating condition of the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177), the TRIAC and the triggering circuit, the microcontroller being further configured to assess an operating condition of the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177), the TRIAC and the triggering circuit based on said comparison. - an electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177); - a driving apparatus for driving the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177), the driving apparatus comprising: - a TRIAC comprising a first anode terminal coupled with a first terminal of an AC electric power supply and a second anode terminal coupled with a first terminal of the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177), the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177) comprising a second terminal coupled with a second terminal of the AC electric power supply; - a microcontroller configured to generate a driving signal, and - a triggering circuit for activating the TRIAC by providing triggering pulse signals to a gate terminal of the TRIAC based on the driving signal; - a TRIAC comprising a first anode terminal coupled with a first terminal of an AC electric power supply and a second anode terminal coupled with a first terminal of the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177), the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177) comprising a second terminal coupled with a second terminal of the AC electric power supply; - a microcontroller configured to generate a driving signal, and - a triggering circuit for activating the TRIAC by providing triggering pulse signals to a gate terminal of the TRIAC based on the driving signal; - a monitoring circuit ( 230; 215; 235) comprising: - the microcontroller, and - a feedback circuit branch connected between the gate terminal of the TRIAC and an input terminal of the microcontroller for providing the voltage at the gate terminal of the TRIAC to the microcontroller, - the microcontroller, and - a feedback circuit branch connected between the gate terminal of the TRIAC and an input terminal of the microcontroller for providing the voltage at the gate terminal of the TRIAC to the microcontroller, - the monitoring circuit ( 230; 215; 235) is configured to monitor the driving signal and the voltage at the gate terminal of the TRIAC to obtain monitored values of the driving signal and of the voltage at the gate terminal of the TRIAC, and; - the microcontroller is configured to compare the monitored values of the driving signal and of the voltage at the gate terminal of the TRIAC with a plurality of pairs of reference values, each pair of reference values corresponding to a respective operating condition of the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177), the TRIAC and the triggering circuit, the microcontroller being further configured to assess an operating condition of the electric load ( 115; 144; 170; 177), the TRIAC and the triggering circuit based on said comparison.