To take a hammer to my washing machine?

[PhDPepper]

It was bought in 1987 and it's the landlords. It's German and when it work it's great as it spins at 1400 rpm.

It gave me an electric shock this morning. The stupid thing hadn't drained so I turned it off with the button not the plug, and grabbed the clothes and next thing I knew I was across the other side of the room. I think I had touched the metal drum and it shocked me.

Just got back from A&E all fine. My DH shut the door of he washing machine so he didn't get shocked or something I don't quite know, and it's now holding our clothes hostage.

We've pulled it out of the cubby hole and it's a German 2 pin plug into an adapter in a three pin plug. Does this mean it's not earthed?

And WIBU to take a flipping hammer and chisel to the stupid thing to get our clothes out??? The landlord is 'aware' according to the letting agent but is in Singapore.

That is incredibly dangerous. I'd be telling the letting agency to get a new one sorted and properly installed immediately before you sue them for personal injury!

They're closed today but I going into their office first thing tomorrow morning.

• I'm not I

Done some digging and the cooker isn't chained to the wall, the fridge is on an adapter as is the dishwasher. The dishwasher plug is by the drainage pipe so water drips onto the plug. This house is a disaster

That's godawful.

I'd consider contacting environmental health and telling them what you'd found. It's not just one appliance, it's an obvious pattern of dangerous installation and you've suffered injury, so I'd not have much faith in the landlord or letting agent to fix it properly.

I'd recommend not tampering with the washing machine, otherwise the landlord might try to claim the damage caused the electric shock rather than the other way round.

I just can't believe it's so dangerous. I was doing some washing up about 30 minutes ago and the washing machine door randomly opened so I grabbed the clothes before it could shut again. I'm going to call environmental health tomorrow morning. We have our own washing machine in the garage that is huge and I miss it :(

That sounds illegal to me.

It's thirty years old so I think they should provide you with a new machine seriously though I can never get a machine to last longer than 3 yrs so it's pretty good going.

No, it's not earthed. And yes it should be. It's dangerous and should not be used.
Get it replaced ASAP.

@x2boys indeed. It has had a good innings! It's a Miele, apparently they're meant to last for ages. We have our own in the garage but the landlord was hesitant to move his as it might fall apart- the kitchen is built around it... haha! Oh well, no washing for a while..

Letting agent has been out finally and she was shocked what she saw. The water pipe for the washing machine is above a two pin socket into a travel plug into an extension leeds wired into the mains.
Also the gas cooker is chained to the gas pipe.
They've turned our electric and water off whilst it's fixed and have said we need to find a hotel