Check your tumble dryer (fire-risk)

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Mr McBoatface wrote: »

Is there a working phone number to get through to this crowd, waiting over a year for an engineer

They'll probably contact you on the contact number you provided them when they have an 'engineer' available in your area. This usually happens after 1yr of waiting.

Bear in mind there is around '5 million faulty drying machines' from these folks throughout the uk & ireland, so nothing will happen quickly.

GreenFolder2

I think the way this is being handled is an absolute joke.
People should be getting replacements or refunds. I would strongly suggest if they're messing you around, the best route is the Small Claims Court!

Likewise, if you've had a fire caused by one of these machines, you should absolutely be consulting a solicitor.

enfant terrible

Lucian Unkempt Mobster wrote: »

Asked, but they can't confirm the next stage of action, guess they'll send another letter out offering a replacement, but for a replacement fee of course.

Suppose it was nice of them to send someone (looked just out of high school), for a 2min visit after only 12months waiting to get this tinderbox of junk fixed.

Whatever you do (in my opinion) would be to avoid buying a whirlpool-hotpoint-creda product ever again.

How do you know if you've a flat back model?

GreenFolder2

Seems like buying Hotpoint was a big mistake for Whirlpool.

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enfant terrible wrote: »

How do you know if you've a flat back model?

No idea, perhaps flat at the back - that's where the young fella looked 1st.

On the plus side, an a-frame roof could be stuck on the machine (if they don't take it away) to make a cat/dog house for the garden.

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GreenFolder2 wrote: »

I think the way this is being handled is an absolute joke.
People should be getting replacements or refunds. I would strongly suggest if they're messing you around, the best route is the Small Claims Court!

Likewise, if you've had a fire caused by one of these machines, you should absolutely be consulting a solicitor.

The governments should have forced an immediate compulsory recall, rather than relying on individuals to take court action. There's a few legal firms in the uk however, that are specalising in group action for the multiple house fire victims.

It will probably feature in future educational course material, as a case study in 'how not to' design, maintain and limit damage control from shoddy consumer product design.

skimpydoo

They finally rang me last week to arrange a repair after I first rang them in February this year. I knew it would take them so long to get back to me so I bought a new machine in March from a different manufacturer.

DANNY2014

Got a phone call 5 minutes ago to arrange repair I said I got rid of it ye left me too long "OK were sorry about that" that's all folks noting else won't waste money on their products again

GreenFolder2

L1011 wrote: »

Toshiba don't make dryers.

Samsung white goods are renowned for faults

Zanussi are Italian!!

Zanussi is an Electrolux brand and has been for a very long time.

L1011

GreenFolder2 wrote: »

Zanussi is an Electrolux brand and has been for a very long time.

The poster who has troubles with Italian brands doesn't seem to care about ownership nationality.

Sweden still isn't either of the much vaunted countries that apparently make reliable tumble dryers (that we mostly buy here) either, though.


Regardless of all this, design flaws and recalls impact companies from all countries.

GreenFolder2

I'm just saying that *all* the electrolux machines are more or less the same with just additional components for higher end models.

AEG = Top Tier
Electrolux = Mid Range/sometimes top.
Zanussi = Budget range

None of them are made where the original companies came from and they all share the same components and general design internally.

In general Zanussi is pretty decent and always has been, whether it was built in Italy or somewhere else.

You've two other companies making machines in Italy:

Indesit (recently bought by Whirlpool) (Indesit, Hotpoint and Ariston and regional old small brands like Creda in the UK)

and Candy which also owns the Hoover brand for use on European domestic appliances. They've had issues with quality too, mostly because they're targeting a very low price point. Any Hoover or Candy machine you buy will be identical just different badges.

Bosch/BSH appliances = Bosch, NEFF and also has rights to the Siemens brand for domestic appliances under a licensing agreement. [not all of these machines are made in Germany anymore]

and at the top end Miele is totally independent and definitely German.

Where the machine is made is usually irrelevant, it's down to the price it was made for and how good the design and components are.

brembo26

watchdog on BBC1 covering this right now

L1011

About those incredible Samsung laundry machines...


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/04/samsung_recalls_28m_washing_machines/

enfant terrible

Got the modification done yesterday by the service guy. Was waiting seven months.

He said they really don't need the modification and the fires are down to never emptying the filters.

He said any tumble dryer could go on fire without cleaning the filter and the Indesit are no different to any other brand inside the machines.

But he carried out the modifications anyway ☺

GreenFolder2

I don't buy that as other machines are not going on fire.

I was having a look at how our non-Hotpoint dryer is built. There's a fan sucking air through the drum and the element is at the back. There's no way that lint from the filter could get anywhere near it.

<Heater> ---- <Drum> --- <Filter in the door> ---- <Fan>.

The heater shouldn't be anywhere near the filter!

enfant terrible

GreenFolder2 wrote: »

I don't buy that as other machines are not going on fire.

I was having a look at how our non-Hotpoint dryer is built. There's a fan sucking air through the drum and the element is at the back. There's no way that lint from the filter could get anywhere near it.

<Heater> ---- <Drum> --- <Filter in the door> ---- <Fan>.

The heater shouldn't be anywhere near the filter!

Ya I don't really know what's the truth.

He didn't work for Indesit though was a contractor.

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enfant terrible wrote: »

Got the modification done yesterday by the service guy. Was waiting seven months.

He said they really don't need the modification and the fires are down to never emptying the filters.

He said any tumble dryer could go on fire without cleaning the filter and the Indesit are no different to any other brand inside the machines.

But he carried out the modifications anyway ☺

Service guy sounds very misinformed, the whole issue was due to the location of the heating element in close proximity below the fluff collectors. Thus in certain models of these machines - it can cause fires, even in the hours after use.

Emptying the filters regularly is a just given normal operating procedure.

The vast majority of other manufactures outside of the Whirlpool group, aren't issuing 'safety notices', nor being featured across the tv & press.

GreenFolder2

If you look at the design of my machine, the fluff filter is literally at the opposite end of the machine from the heater.

It's clearly a fairly fundamental design flaw.

L1011

When I had mine apart to do a bearing replacement (a design flaw also), there was burnt fluff in the element. I empty the filter every time.

Machines are built as cheaply as possible and a corner too many was cut.

GreenFolder2

The notion that they're all the same inside is also just not true. There are quite a few ways of doing things and the quality and design of the components is very different in different machines at different price points.

If you take Miele, they're just built like a some kind of industrial machine - stainless steel, very robust everything inside and probably very few components that are flammable. The same was true of older and more expensive dryers built 20+ years ago.

The cheaper down the prices you go, the more likely you're going to have plastic components housing high temperature stuff.

We are expecting quite complicated machines to be built for next to nothing these days. The pricing is just getting unrealistic and the manufacturers who are in that area of the market are in a race to the bottom in terms of who can cut the most costs.

You've a few potentially dangerous appliances - in your house and they're not something I'd skimp on in terms of using bargain basement components.

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A safety notice, is still a safety notice: https://safety.hotpoint.eu

In some rare cases, excess fluff can come into contact with the heating element and present a risk of fire.

Anyone affected would probably prefer an immediate recall (and replace) notice, than wait around 1yr for a remedy.

The affected brands are: Hotpoint, Indesit, Creda. Worth mentioning that Whirlpool branded tumble dryers are not affected by this safety notice. They are just the holding/parent/operating group.

GreenFolder2

Indesit was only recently acquired by Whirlpool so, the designs would be completely different.

Indesit group was : Indesit, Hotpoint, Ariston / Hotpoint-Ariston and then local brands like Creda in the UK/IRL which it picked up too.

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If your model is listed here https://safety.hotpoint.eu then it will need fixing.
The model number is usually on the inside of the door.

There are x113 of them (listed on this external site): http://www.which.co.uk/news/2015/12/113-hotpoint-indesit-and-creda-tumble-dryer-models-pose-fire-risk-426557/ Best to verify via the official safety page though.

Likely to include:

Indesit IDC75 Indesit IDC85 Indesit IDC8T3B Indesit IDCA735 Indesit IDCA7H35BTM Indesit IDCA835 Indesit IDCA8350 Indesit IDCA835BS Indesit IDCA835EU Indesit IDCA835S Indesit IDCE7H35BTM Indesit IDCE845 Indesit IDCE8450K Indesit IDCL75BHEU Indesit IDCL85BH Indesit IDCLG5BH(EU) Indesit IDV65 Indesit IDV75 Indesit IDVA735 Indesit IDVL75BFR Indesit IDVL75BR Indesit IDVL85 Indesit IS60V Indesit IS60VU Indesit IS70C Indesit ISA60V Indesit ISL60V Indesit ISL70C

My parents told me that they had a callout a couple of weeks ago to carry out the modifications. So it took Hotpoint 8 months to do it!

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Karsini wrote: »

My parents told me that they had a callout a couple of weeks ago to carry out the modifications. So it took Hotpoint 8 months to do it!

That's not bad, I'm waiting 14 months now, it's almost comical.

An Engineer was due to call today but never showed up. The last time he called sure he 'didn't have the right parts' so spent just 120 seconds here.

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Ah so after (just) 16 months they managed to send round what appears to have been their star Engineer, he had a laptop and everything.
Actually spent 40mins replacing the heating element, the drum and the entire back with new parts for free, so did a very good job.

Good timing as within the last hour there was some news, apparently from either Whirlpool or the Trading Standards (inc. Which) folks in the UK via the (bbc), and in the press also. Saying 'any affected machines should now be unplugged and not used until the modification has taken place'.

But the official Whirlpool website and eu safety notice is however still to the contrary, that it may be used under supervision?
https://safety.hotpoint.eu/index.jsp

Kayly

Our dryer is an Indesit, and when I entered the model and serial number on the hotpoint safety notice , it confirmed that it is one of the machines affected. I filled in my contact details on the website form this week. Roughly how long will it be before I am even contacted re modification, could anyone tell me? I'm really afraid to use it now that I know. Have had it for about 7 or 8 years at this point. We had a dishwasher which went on fire many years ago , due to an electrical fault in the door panel. A scary experience, which makes me very wary of tempting fate by continuing to use this appliance.

brembo26

Seems to be over a year before anything is done by reading the other posts.

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Kayly wrote: »

Our dryer is an Indesit, and when I entered the model and serial number on the hotpoint safety notice , it confirmed that it is one of the machines affected. I filled in my contact details on the website form this week. Roughly how long will it be before I am even contacted re modification, could anyone tell me? I'm really afraid to use it now that I know. Have had it for about 7 or 8 years at this point. We had a dishwasher which went on fire many years ago , due to an electrical fault in the door panel. A scary experience, which makes me very wary of tempting fate by continuing to use this appliance.

Anywhere from 6mths to 1.5yrs.

If there's a full proper safety 'recall notice' that will be much shorter.

Needless to say only operate under supervision, don't put it on last thing at night. Have a few fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, co2 detectors etc on standby.

embraer170

If you pay the €136 for a replacement, any idea what model they give you instead? They talk of an RRP of €399.99.