Just a wee heads up.
 

In case some of you are unaware there is a problem with certain tumbledryers made between 2004 and 2015 .

There is big push to get folk to be aware that there is a possibility that some can catch fire due to fluff coming into contact with the heating elements and its very important your machine gets looked at .

It is mainly Indesit and hotpoint but other models could be affected.

A friend pointed this out to me a few weeks ago and my model is one affected .

I have used Indesits website to book an inspection soon.

Please check when your model was made and contact the makers for a free check.

There have been over 5000 cases of house fires caused by these dryers and one confirmed death.

In the meantime do not go out and leave these machines on .
And do not go to bed leaving it running.

You will be lettered but if you have moved or bought second hand you cant be contacted so be aware.

Tell your friends and nieghbours and use social media to spread the word .

Stay safe and keep your family safe.

Thanks for reading this .

You can also visit the Hotpoint website, enter model number & date of purchase to register your old machine, they will repair/ or offer a discounted new machine in either condensor or vented style.

A very good point .

Registering any electrical appliance is very important .

Most folk dont but certainly should .

I contacted Hotpoint in October still waiting for a engineer :shrug:

Cheers for the heads up George.

I wonder if that applies to Hotpoint Wash/Dryers as well?
I shall check on their website !

fire
 

Hi George
I have had two tumble drier fires to date and the aftermath is horrendous .
On both occasions the drier was in the garage next to the up and over door.
The driers were cleaned of fluff on a regular basis and i believe that on at least one occasion a sensor failed and the drier kept going causing overheat.
I didn't claim anything from the insurance as it just puts the premiums up.
we now NEVER leave the drier on when we are not at home.
It could have burnt the house down if it had been in the kitchen like most are.

regards
steve

We've had a letter for the tumble that we bought in 2005.

After about 10 months it kept smelling as though it would burst into fire at any moment. This and the massive rise in our electric bill led to us chucking it into the nearest skip vowing never to own one ever again.

Wish id contacted them to get a refund at the time :duh:

Oh well you live and learn!

Im told the combined washing machine / tumble dryer units are the most dodgy appliance you can own as regard to fire risk.

We have a bedroom i turned into a laundry room.

I looked at a how to on the Indesit website and found cleaning out the relevent part very easy .

On my model you dont need any tools as its held in by plastic clips.

I was amazed what was in there .

Hair fluff bits of paper etc.

The air intake is right at floor level and sucks powerfully so anything small enough gets sucked in there.

I have now put the dryer on a big table to stop this and it also makes using it easier and frees up storage space under the table .

We really only use our for nearly dry items as frankly they eat power .

And of course its used very little in summer.

I can see how folk with no other choice would use these machines a lot and thats even more reason to check the accumulation in them.

Of course the slide lint collecter should be cleaned more often .

I wonder if this would work??
If your drier is in a shed or garage, how about standing a plastic bucket full of water on top of it :shrug:
Might work :D
Ken.

Seeing that a few members have been affected by this and it must have been a frightening experience for them I think we need to take this a little more seriously :shrug:

And a woman died in her house a few weeks ago so maybe Ken could have a re-think.

I enjoy a laugh but some things need taking more seriously.

Registered our indesit in October 2015 got a letter last week incating an engineer may call "Sometime" .. luckily my wife keeps the fluff in hand !! err under control .. :D:D errm ! ;)

C

We have a two year old Indesit Tumble Dryer which works well - it is the vented type having previously had a condenser type that was absolutely useless .

ONE THING I WOULD RECOMMEND IS REGULAR REMOVAL OF THE FLUFF BUILD-UP IN THE FILTER.

With ours you simply pull out a basket thing that sits on the bottom of the open door hatch. Then you can peel off the "blanket" of fluff that has been caught.

From what I understand it is when this fluff filter gets overloaded and the motor overheats and then sets this fluff alight.

I am staggered at how much fluff is collected even after one use.

I sometimes wonder how i possibly have any clothes left.

(Good heads up George - just seen your post of 12:41)

i think this is the problem .

Users think the lint collector just inside the door is the only filter ..

The big one is at the bottom.

I had an engineer out to fix a related problem.

He said it's down to these stupid efficiency ratings. If the machines used a little more water to flush the system, and stop the fluff etc building up, this problem would be less likely to occur.

Obviously better that it saves 7 pence of water a day, than it is safe and reliable. :getmecoat:

I know it is a car forum...
 

...however as this thread may well save lives, please may it be made a "sticky"?

Tumble dryers don't use water, well mine doesn't! :D. :getmecoat:

I was being serious Jef.
The idea was , if you think about it.....the fire would melt the bucket and hopefully the spilled water would put out any fire.
I put the icon as it was a daft idea that might just work.
Please don`t assume I am making fun of this kind of thing, I am not at all.
A friend of mine had this happen and I would not take the p-iss out of him.
Ken.

no offence taken
 

Morning Ken
No offence taken

I think the issue is water and electricity don't mix although it would be a good idea for some kind of powder/co2 system to be introduced into the system.
regards
steve

If the fire was bad enough to melt the bucket of water there is not a cats chance in hell the volume of water would be anywhere near enough to extinguish the fire Ken.

As Steve has said, water and electricity are not great bed fellows either :eek:

Not getting into any argument jeff, I am aware of water and leccy.
maybe I`l modify the bucket and place large freezer zippy bags instead.
Don`t make this into something it`s not.
Ken.

Hi.
Actually I think Ken's suggestion isn't so silly. OK I know about water and electrics but in this scenario it could be to advantage. If the machine goes on fire we would hope the power could be removed, burning cables will hopefully short out blowing the 13a plug fuse or tripping the RCD.
There is no guarantee though this will happen. If the machine does get hot enough to melt a thin plastic container filled with water then it could get into the electrics of the machine to trip the RCD, it also could buy some time before the fire becomes disastrous.
I think Ken its a perfectly valid idea.

The top of a tumble dryer has a lid on it , the flames would have to be coming through the lid and unless you had gallons of water I don't see any chance of extinguishing the fire !

Sorry guys but I don't see this as a workable solution, not to mention the fact that most people's domestic appliances are under kitchen or utility work surfaces it's even less likely to work.

If a fire has taken hold of an appliance that badly unless you have proper extinguishers to deal with the fire my advice would be to get everyone out of the property immediately and dial 999

I agree Jeff that location and the cover material will be the problem.
We don't have one and never will. When I worked in Mastercare/Currys I was shocked by the inherent lack of safety in them, then added to the fact that most folk these days think everything is fit and forget, no wonder they are so much of a problem. Too many highly combustible plastics, items built in and other factors don't help.

In the case of a fire that is out of control, yes get out and dial 999, don't think of heroics!

EDIT: Kens idea would only be possible with a free standing machine of an older design anyway.
The advice I used to give was never use them when unattended and at night, something that now seems to be advised, like anything else common sense prevails, sadly its dying out these days!

Exactly Trevor, I understand fully where Ken was coming from and in no way trying to be argumentative but as you say, only use them when not unattended and alert .
If a fire has ignited to that extent don't try tackling the fire, get everyone out, close doors behind you on leaving and dial 999.

I think this is the golden rule to never leave them unattended.

Some people have no choice other than to use them due to circumstances and i think education about safety and regular cleaning of the filter is the way ahead.

For a bit of a hobby I play with "dead" tumble dryers and an older neighbour of mine told me that when she used hers, which was seldom, it tripped the electric and wouldn't work.

I told her not to use it at all until I'd looked and I found the capacitor had obviously overheated, burnt the adjacent wiring and it wasn't "going anywhere".

As it was Beko, I looked online and found a product recall for this serial number range so phoned them. Explained the situation, and the call recipient said "it's a vented dryer, we only had a problem with condensers, so you can still use it!" Doh!

Cleaning casings of lint is really important though the design should not allow any to build up internally - don't trust that view and open them up, especially keeping elements and pcb's clear.

Agreed George,

I would suggest that any heating appliance in your house should be used with respect and caution and if a serviceable item, make sure these are kept up to date with qualified persons doing the job!

You've only got one life, best to preserve it as best you can :}

He's not, just putting an opinion across;)

Just had an email ref our Indesit...

They estimate they will get to us around June!!! ( havin' a larf ain't they"

or if I don't want to wait I have another a reduced ??? 99 quids.. :duh:,
sure we only paid a little bit more originally. :shrug:

C.

Sorry, should have clarified. This was a washer dryer. :getmecoat:

Holy Necrothread! :eek:


I answered "Which Magazine" Whirlpool (covers quite a few makes of tumble driers) faulty tumble drier online form the other week as our 10 year old Creda tumble drier was one of the serial numbered models affected.


The government got involved and more or less told them to recall the faulty models as they are at risk of catching fire as has been the case in a few instances.



Just got an email back from them this afternoon and they will replace it free of charge with a like for like model :eek::cool:


Or you can have an engineer come out and repair your old drier or the option of an upgrade to a higher grade model for £56 or £99.



No brainer to get a free like for like drier as ours has been well used over those years.
Better than a poke in the eye wi a mucky stick. :p:

So, George continues to spread the wisdom.

Blimey! that's quick:eek: delivery confirmed for this Wednesday, hows that for service. :cool:

Weird this ..... :shrug: - my wife re-registered the fact that we have one of these “at risk” tumble dryers after the BBC covered the story again on the news a week or so ago.

Within 24 hours of her doing this we were contacted and told a new hotpoint dryer was going to be installed and the old one taken away!

It’s all booked for Thursday this week.

I hooked out the file and we originally registered that we had one of these faulty dryers in 2016!!

Amazing what a bit of publicity can do to focus people’s attention.

I'd no idea this "Safety alert" has been going on for so long :eek: I just happened to come across it last week by chance.


I paid the princely sum of 30 quid for this second hand Creda tumble drier 10 years ago :eek: one of the legs was damaged & the guy selling it on "Loot" free ads newspaper said it wobbled, I sorted the damaged leg out & it's been faultless in all this time.
It's looking a bit worse for wear now but works perfectly.

Love it!!!

Absolutely brilliant :bowdown:

This new free replacement Hotpoint tumble drier we got in place of our old Creda model two years ago that had been recalled for safety reasons has had to have the pump replaced already today after just two years :mad: Good job we took an extended warranty out on it :bowdown: Never had a moments trouble in over ten years with the old creda one.