Tumble dryer almost set alight

[Whathefisgoingon]

This morning my condenser tumble dryer was making an odd sound, opened it up and the belt wasn’t turning and there was smoke and the smell of an electrical fire! No flames. I emptied it and turned it back on and it was rotating fine, but I’m freaked out. It wasn’t overloaded.

It’s a Candy, and it’s about 3 years old.

My initial thought was “get this damn thing out of the house” but am I being hasty just buying a new one? Anyone had this before?

I'd be worried too. Presumably you clean filters etc regularly per the instructions?

You could get it checked by an engineer

Yep, in fact I’d cleaned out the filters last night.

Tumble dryers are a known fire hazard - it's why you're advised never to run them overnight. You definitely need to get out an accredited Candy engineer OP. Do not use it again until you've had it checked and any broken parts replaced.

Do NOT use that machine again until you get it serviced.

@Aquamarine1029

Do NOT use that machine again until you get it serviced.

This.

@Aquamarine1029

Do NOT use that machine again until you get it serviced.

Definitely this.

You can't use it again until it's been looked at.

This is why you can't leave tumble dryers unattended.

And make sure you have a smoke alarm in the same room too, whether you decide to try to get this one fixed or get a new one.

I have had similar before, also a Candy. I can't remember the problem precisely but it was fixable. Defo don't use it until they have been out!

I was surprised it happened but am also very cautious with not using it overnight or whilst we're out of the house, for this reason

If you buy a new one, I'd avoid another Candy. They don't have a good reputation.

See how much an accredited Candy engineer will cost & how much a new one is, then take into account a second visit & parts etc...

Make sure, if you get rid of this one, it gets disposed of properly, not sold/given away to anyone.

Don’t worry, I have no intention of using it again right now. I even unplugged it for fear of it somehow turning itself on

Having looked over the different brands, none of them seem to have a good rep! Beko, Hoover, Indesit - all known to have had fire issues!

Cant afford £1k on a Miele tumble dryer!

Mine also started smelling burny this morning I have unplugged it and will call engineer to come look at it tomorrow

I had an Indesit which was one of the models involved in their extensive recall - it needed a modification by the manufacturer. The original date given involved an 11 month wait! Managed to get someone out after 8 weeks, they did the modification but apparently some were still catching fire. So we got rid of it and replaced it with a Bosch - no problems with that one after 5 years. Maybe check on the Candy website or Google the model number and see if there's a problem with that particular model?

Cant afford £1k on a Miele tumble dryer!

We have a Miele, I don't think it was quite that expensive. But I wouldn't recommend because if something does go wrong its extortionately expensive to get fixed.

There seems to be a stock issue with tumble dryers! All of the big retailers are out of stock on the majority and so are my local shops!

There's probably stock problems with a lot of bulky household goods at the moment, with the various supply chain and transport problems, unfortunately.