A Tumble Drier Worry!

Yesterday I had an engineer out to repair my washing machine, which ironically I had fixed myself by emptying the filter but it is good to check these things.

He did however, look concerned when he spotted my Tumble Drier and advised me to check safety.hotpoint.eu to see if it was one of the models that had been affected by a product recall for Hotpoint / Indesit and Creda Tumble Driers.

Sadly on imputing the model number and serial number I discovered it was, but, they advised it was still safe to use and I would receive a repair within 5 weeks.

Of course, being a parent this sent me into panic mode – how can it be safe to use a Tumble Drier that has been recalled with safety concerns.  The washing machine engineer was fantastic and gave me this advise which I feel I should share on my blog.

The issue is that excess fluff could catch the heating element in the machine and cause a fire, so follow the maintenance instructions that came with the machine:

  • Empty the Filters after each use and pop your hoover in the the gap to catch any missed fluff
  • Clean the condenser once a month. This can be done by hosing it off in the garden or in the shower
  • Install a fire alarm near to where your Tumble Drier is installed (ours is in our ultility room)
  • Don’t leave it on when you are not at home
  • Keep a fire extinguisher close to the machine (which thankfully we have anyway)

Tumble Drier

I have to admit that I do clean the filter regularly but had not though to use the hoover and had no idea where the condenser was, but sent hubby out to the garden to give it a good hose down. It was scary how much muck came out of it!

Full  instructions of how to clean your machine are available here,

21 thoughts on “A Tumble Drier Worry!”

  1. Good tips here – we don’t have tumble drier any more, but mum does, so I’m going to get her to check her model, as it’s likely she won’t have seen the notification on this. It’s crazy to think that machine models as far back as 2004 could be affected…

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  2. I think people are a bit too complacent around tumble driers especially, they are really powerful and dangerous. Around 15 years ago my friend’s caught fire. Luckily no-one was hurt and her husband actually pushed it out through the back door into the garden. I’ve always been a bit more respectful and wary since then!

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  3. I’ve seen a lot of these warnings around lately but I’ve always thought that it was common knowledge that tumble dryers where a fire hazard. I guess I was wrong. I always clean my filters every time I use mine. It’s not a condensor one but I make sure it’s always clean and lint/dust free. To me it makes sense, tumble dryers get very hot. I never leave it on while I go on or out.

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  4. I am paranoid about my tumble dryer after a friends setting on fire when I was growing up, so I hoover mine every couple of uses! 5 weeks before they can even arrange a visit

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  5. This looks like my tumble dryer. I suspect that I may have a problem. It definitely needs cleaning out sooner rather than later. Something else for the to do list

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  6. This is so scary, we had a convo on Twitter and I told you about my black smoke incident. Thank goodness for the fire extinguisher. Amazing post and have just popped a good clean out of my tumble dryer on my to do list for tomorrow!

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  7. We don’t have a tumble drier – we have a heated rail. This all makes it much harder in winter when I dream of having one but summer is easy as it just goes out on the line. I know they can be really dangerous which would definitely be a worry – I imagine it’s easy to become complacent and leave them on when you go out.

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