Surprised to read you shouldn't leave the washing-machine on in an empty house

[aliasjoey]

AIBU to be surprised to read on another thread about a washing-machine being used when no-one was home, and so many replies were that you should not leave it on!

We work full-time, if it wasn't switched on until I got home, then I would be hanging up wet washing really late at night.

Is it so different to other electrical items left on? The slow-cooker? The boiler might switch on in the winter, that's electricity and water combined. I think

1. the fridge has to stay on or all the food is spoiled

2. it has no moving parts like the washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher do so is much less likely to go on fire.

2. it has no moving parts like the washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher do so is much less likely to go on fire.*

You say that - the backs of fridges get really, really hot, and they are generally in a confined space chucking out constant heat. I have heard of a fridge overheating and catching fire before because the fan packed up. So mine is 3 inches away from the wall to allow air to circulate. It's freestanding though, not as easy if it's fitted.

Fridges and freezers account for 300 fires a year according to this article.

My dishwasher caught fire once. Luckily I was in the dining room and smelt it, we managed to put it out.

I don't even have stuff come on in the night on the timer. I know someone who used to and woke up at 4am by the smoke detector. She got out but the house was badly burned and the cats died.

Oh and the engineer who zanussi sent out after our fire said he goes to lots of jobs where washing machines, tumble dryers or dish washers have caught fire.

I wonder how they compile the statistics to say how many fires there are? Seems very few when compared to experiences here.

Our dishwasher almost caught fire but because I was in the kitchen and it smelt funny I turned it off. Then noticed the smoke. The engineer said we had been lucky. That won't appear on stats surely.

People will report the cases here, but people who haven't had fires won't post as much.
I have never had my washing machine catch fire, for example. :)

When you call the fire brigade, they send out an assessor to establish the cause of the fire when they've put it out. This covers you for insurance purposes (so they know it's not suspicious!). It would have been very interesting if we weren't standing in the shell of our kitchen! He went through all the possible points of the fire, he analysed where it started (so he could track it from the smoke spread and where the fire was hottest - at source - there wasn't any smoke damage). Presumably these reports get logged and it's someone's job to identify patterns etc.

TheLastThneed, I'm glad you're settled in your new home. Life's never quite the same again, is it? But I'm glad you're ok.

My washing machine overheated once - the thermostat failed. I was in the house at the time but came down to find the kitchen full of steam, and the top of the washing machine was completely buckled due to the heat. If I hadn't discovered it, it would have only been a matter of time before it caught fire. I would NEVER leave a washing machine (or tumble drier or dishwasher on when out or in bed now.

Faith that's what I mean. You had a horrible full on fire :( but because I was stood next to mine it didn't properly get going. For which I am grateful. But it was a whisker away. You're included but we aren't so my point is that they don't actually know how many start to catch fire iyswim.

I guess some people report fires to companies when an item catches fire. They can get the serial numbers off some stuff (ours were too badly damaged). Obviously they saw a pattern when the Beko fridge/freezers caught fire. But yes I bet there's a lot that go unreported too.

I know fires aren't funny but I have to post this.

sorry but if my washing machine caught fire I would rather be out!
Surely in that case you shouldn't have it on at night either, and I know loads of people that have their washing machines on at night time.

My washing machine is out in the utility room which is through the kitchen, there is no smoke alarm out there, it's in the hallway. So even if I was home I wouldn't know about it anyway.

You will get more people who have experience of fires caused by domestic appliances posting than those who don't. I've never had a domestic appliance catch fire. I don't know anyone personally who has ever had a domestic fire caused by a washing machine. The data supplied by posters on here is not statistically reliable.

I realise it has no statistical validity but a lot of people like me won't have reported near misses and I was speculating that the true number may be higher.

I've only ever used the dryer while I'm in and never at night and I'm very glad as the motor went in our old one half way through a load. I only noticed something was wrong as it was quiet and when I opened it the back of the drum was bright red, we were very lucky that I noticed before it caught fire.

I used to leave the washing machine on or set the timer going to bed so it would finish as I got up so I could hang it out before the school run. I stopped after a friends machine had a fault with the motor and its pure luck that they were in and noticed the smoke coming from the machine or they could have lost everything.

It does mean I have to stop up at times till the wash has finished and rush home from school to get a load on before I have to be back to pick dd2 up at lunch time but to me its just not worth the risk.

This isn't a mn thing. I know of someone whose house burnt down due to a dish washer fire when they were out.

My old machine malfunctioned too. I came into the kitchen to find it very hot and the water inside bubbling. It may well have gone on fire if I hadn't turned it off.