How safe is it to run appliances overnight?

[MilkTart]

We have economy 7 and our washing machine, dishwasher and dryer have a delay setting. With the price of energy being so high I'm keen to save money where we can. I'm worried about putting them on overnight though in case of fire.

Am I being silly? Is there something can get that would alert us if there is an issue? We have smoke alarms but a fire would have to be fairly well established to set those off I imagine!

What does everyone else do?

If you do, make sure the kitchen (or whichever room the appliance is in) door is closed fully and you have working fire alarms.
I think the risk is low and the only additional risk is that obviously you're asleep,so the closed door and working smoke detectors should somewhat off-set that risk

We've always run them both at night, and charged the car. Just make sure your appliances are well ventilated and serviced, also that they are not old!
But unfortunately bloody British Gas who took over from the bankrupt company we were with wont honour the cheap night rate tariff that we had 😐

It depends on how cheap you're appliances are. If you've got bullet proof German ones then I'd risk it. If they're bargain brand Chinese made then I really wouldn't especially with the tumble dryer.

if your appliances are relatively new and reliable, i would run at night. wouldn't trust the tumble dryer though, even if it wasn't 20 years old.

I wouldn't. Grew up with dad and grandad both being firefighters. It's not that they've ever advised against it, but I was often woken by their alerters in the night and it just reminds you that fires can and do happen all the time.

Absolutely everyone does this. As long as your smoke detectors work fine so that you are alerted in the extremely unlikely event of a fire, it's fine.

We put our washing machine on a timer to finish by 5/6am.

Husband works in the energy industry and closely with National Grid, we do what we can to help out Grid by cutting energy use during peak times.

I've never understood this, friends Dad was a Fireman and his two pet hates were leaving things plugged in/running when asleep and basement nightclubs.
Yet we are always being told to run things at off peak read night time!
I compromise by putting the washing machine on a timer to come on about an hour before I get up, figure I'll be nearly awake and able to cope if something happens then.
Only run the dishwasher when I'm awake though, don't know why just have more caution with it.

Yes I do draw the line at the tumble drier though.

Do not run anything unsupervised!!! Especially at night 😴

I’ve not run a tumble dryer at night since seeing a local news report years ago. A mum had put her children’s school uniforms in the dryer before bed and was woken in the night by the smoke alarm. Her three daughters died in the fire. The poor woman was working with the fire brigade to raise awareness of the dangers. It was such an upsetting story.

What are you meant to do if your dishwasher or washing machine sets fire, presuming in the day and you see it happen?

No way! Our washing machine caught fire and it was lucky that we were home and caught the burning smell quickly. Until this I hadn’t realised how common fires from washing machines and dishwashers are (I zoned out when DP was explaining why…)!

We also have our WM in the garage (so fire door) and I still wouldn’t. Not worth it.

It was a good German make and only slightly old btw

Some really sad and horrifying stories here.

Personally I only run my washing machine on delay to come on about 5.30/6 on the basis I'm up shortly afterwards.

I've only just realised I need to change from E7 as we have no storage heaters and the vast majority of our use is through the day.....cue a call to Octopus......

Yet we all leave the fridge freezer on at night. And the only house fires I'm aware of were caused by smokers and fridge freezers.

We have a sprinkler system in our house.

But I don't put the wash on at night because our downstairs is open plan and it can be heard through the whole house.

Chip pan fires were ten a penny in the 80s. Cooking still account for almost half of domestic fires. It swamps faulty appliances that stand at 5%.

I think you have to weigh up the risk versus the convenience. Personally, I am happy to accept what I view as a very small risk for the convenience of having my dishwasher and washing machine on overnight. I have been doing it for 15 years and have no plans to stop. Others might not be comfortable with the risk so don't do it. Personal choice really.