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AIBU?

DANGEROUS DISWASHER , POSTING FOR TRAFFIC

33 replies

sproutsmum · 01/04/2017 16:40

Had a house fire on Wednesday , caused by a faulty HOTPOINT DWF SERIES dishwasher , check out Bosch and indesit recalls too.
There is a fault that hotpoint is aware of , the products have been recalled , however , if you are not aware of these there could be a ticking time bomb in your kitchen.
I was standing next to the dishwasher , there was no warning , just a crackling noise and then flames.
I had to get my daughter out of the shower and the kids and dog out and call the fire brigade. Within ten minutes enough damage was done that we are now facing months in temporary housing whilst our home is gutted. The smoke damage was extensive and affected every room in the house. There have been other fires caused by these machines.
I was lucky to get my kids out, if my husband had turned it on , on his way to work we'd have been sleeping in bed.
If I'd have turned it on and left for the school run , my little dog would not have been waiting for me when I got home.
Please, please check online for any product recalls on your own stuff , and if you are going to buy second hand , because lots of us do , please be aware.
Lots of these dishwashers are still out there and unaccounted for, we've spoken to the teams at eBay, pre-loved and gumtree , because just out of interest we had a look to see if they can still be bought, there was one for sale just round the corner from us for £40.
But , if you don't know it's out there , you can't protect yourself or your loved ones.

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Cocklodger · 01/04/2017 16:45

Thanks for the warning OP

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Cocklodger · 01/04/2017 16:46

Also, very sorry about your home.
Will they pay anything towards the damages etc? I'm not sure if they would.
I'm glad you all got out safely though Flowers

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RedBugMug · 01/04/2017 16:48

yanbu - looks like you were very lucky!
hope your renovation goes well and you are back home soon.
never ever run the dishwasher unattended is the lesson here as well

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aaaaargghhhhelpme · 01/04/2017 16:51

about five years ago our hotpoint dishwasher caught fire. Christmas Day (full of the Christmas dishes etc).
Luckily we heard a loud bang. Ran in and found flames everywhere.

Initially they tried to charge us £100 for an engineer to come out as it was out of warranty. But he basically said its a design fault - something to do with the heating element.
Eventually got a replacement with Newer model.

But that's also why I would never get integrated appliances. It was only because we could pull the thing out and put out the fire that saved us. Otherwise it'd have spread further.

Hotpoint were shit about the whole thing. They never admitted there was an issue so we thought it might have been a one off.
Would never buy from them again.

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ImperialBlether · 01/04/2017 16:52

Same happened to my friend's Bosch dishwasher. The whole kitchen was in flames within seconds of putting it on. Absolutely terrifying.

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sproutsmum · 01/04/2017 16:54

Thank you , I'm not after anything from them, I. Just exhausted but after seeing that they can still be bought I just wanted to give people a heads up.
Worth thinking about washing machines and tumble dryers too, it was pretty unpleasant.
I'll be happy if everyone who reads this just goes and has a little check to see if theirs is ok.

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TrollMummy · 01/04/2017 16:59

Had a similar incident a few years ago with a Hotpoint dishwasher that started smelling of burning rubber and when I opened it flames came out. Somehow, I managed to unplug it and put it out before any serious damage was done. The scary thing was I about to leave the house and only DD having a hissy fit about putting her shoes on which slowed us down. Hotpoint completely played it down and said it was a one off. It's just not OK that they can continue to sell these. So sorry to hear about this OP and well done for raising awareness Flowers

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sproutsmum · 01/04/2017 17:04

Sorry to see that so many of us have had these terrifying incidents occurring.
I'm thankful that Mumsnet is such a great tool for spreading the word .

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aaaaargghhhhelpme · 01/04/2017 17:07

Sorry op I didn't mean to make it all about me! Just your post reminded me what a nightmare it all was.

Hope you get it all sorted. And thanks for spreading the word. Flowers

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sproutsmum · 01/04/2017 17:10

Aargh please do not apologise , we need people's stories and every story may help to keep someone's babies safe tonight and it bumps the thread and keeps it in the public eye x

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PossumInAPearTree · 01/04/2017 17:15

I had this with a zanussi dishwasher. Engineer said it was a known fault and there had been a recall.

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ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe · 01/04/2017 17:16

I tried for years to get them to fix or refund the tumble dryer, they kept kept delaying and ignoring. Got a voicemail a couple a days ago they would come to re fit it.

I got rid of it more than a year ago.
I'm still pissed off.

Debating whether to ring them up and say I don't need a visit from them, or just to ignore them, just the way they did.

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Westfacing · 01/04/2017 17:24

How frightening, I'm glad that your family are all OK.

A friend and her husband narrowly escaped death when their dishwasher caught fire - I don't know the make. After their dinner guests had gone home they cleared up, put the dishwasher on, closed kitchen door and went to bed - something I used to do. They were woken by a motion detector alarming (not smoke alarm) when he went to the kitchen to investigate a huge backdraught or whatever it's called flashed over him - the whole kitchen was in flames. They managed to get out the house safely.

Ever since then, I never put any appliance on unless I'll be at home for the duration of the cycle, and definitely not on going to bed.

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MaryQuant · 01/04/2017 17:24

We need more details of the models involved here.

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Snowflakes1122 · 01/04/2017 17:27

Glad you were present and not in bed asleep OP Flowers

Hotpoint are the ones who had to fix our dryer (along with thousands of others) as they also posed a risk of fire.

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froofroomcgoo · 01/04/2017 17:29

Hotpoint have a number of products on recall. Unfortunately not our washer/dryer. I'm terrified to use it to be honest, but we can't afford to replace it.

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Dontjudgeme1 · 01/04/2017 17:33

Sorry to hear this. I am glad that you are all safe and sound.

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sproutsmum · 01/04/2017 17:34

That is terrifying westface ,but exactly the sort of thing that could have happened to us.
It happens incredibly quickly.
Our dishwasher was a hot point dwf 32 it was unidentifiable afterwards but the fire service seemed really interested in the make ( and were able to do a perfect impression of the noise it made as it burst into flames ) so I went back through my family photos and kids silly selfies and daft videos and there it was in the background and very identifiable.

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JaneEyre70 · 01/04/2017 17:47

We had the Hotpoint dryer that was under recall - so we bit the bullet and paid £69 for a replacement. Within 6 months, there was a terrible smell of burning and the filter keep being pulled out and into the machine. Turns out our vent hose was completely blocked from the outside, it had blown the filter back into the dryer from the back pressure and there were clothes (kid socks) and fluff directly on the heating element. How it hadn't caught fire we don't know. We honestly had never checked the outside vent opening, and have now replaced with a condenser as I'd never take that risk again. The engineer was amazing, think even he was shocked we hadn't had a fire from it.
But if you've got a vented dryer of any make, check your whole vent from machine to outside wall regularly. It could save your life.
Sorry to hijack your thread OP, we now don't leave anything running if we go out/go to bed and have a big note on the back door saying switch kitchen appliances off! Very scary. So relieved you are all ok.

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JaniceBattersby · 01/04/2017 17:52

Our local fire brigade has now been told to record the make and model of any appliance fire they go to now. Here are several 'usual suspects.' My husband is a firefighter and in 20'years he estimatesmbout a third of the fires he's attended have been caused by appliances.

His best tip is don't ever put clothes on top of a tumble dryer. It's the worst kind of fire loading possible. If a tumble dryer bursts into flames there's a chance it might go out alone, but if here are clothes on top and they catch fire, there's a huge danger of the fire spreading.

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sproutsmum · 01/04/2017 17:53

Jane it's a really good point and well made , it'd be interesting to see how many of us get off the sofa and go and check our tumble dryer vents because of it , we need these reminders it keeps us all safe 👍

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Happyandhungry · 01/04/2017 18:09

On the hotpoint website it tells you the current recalls, tumble dryers and washing machines are recent but the dishwasher issue is from years ago, recalls started in 2012! And its for dishwashers older than 2013. Such a shame it happened to you OP but honestly I'm surprised your dishwasher had been around that long anyway! I never get more than about 4 years from appliances. I had triplets of hotpoint dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer. My dryer was recalled, repaired then broke again so i paid £50 to replace it with a new one as I'd lost trust. I will never buy hotpoint anything ever again when next purchasing, i will probably bite the bullet and buy all Miele even if it costs a fortune. Flowers for you OP.

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MrsTwix · 01/04/2017 18:30
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MrsTwix · 01/04/2017 18:32
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