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If you have one of those dryers subject to Whirlpool’s safety notice (that includes Hotpoint, Indesit etc) then please tell us of your experience in contacting Whirlpool and getting your machine modified.
It is interesting to note that certain ‘inconsistencies’ have been reported on various other websites. That safety modifications to affected appliances hasn’t exactly been carried out to the manufacturers specification. And that ‘contractors’ may be under pressure to complete the work required.
Have you had your dryer safety modified? What was carried out? Did it break down shortly afterwards or did they refuse to repair it due to other issues within the appliance?
Re: Whirlpool/Hotpoint/Indesit dryer safety issue
Andy Slaughter MP has started a petition to get the Government to insist the Whirlpool Company issues a full safety recall on their faulty Hotpoint and Indesit tumble dryers. If you wish to partake simply click the link below: –
Re: Whirlpool/Hotpoint/Indesit dryer safety issue
I had mine fixed. I registered my Hotpoint TVF770 tumble drier on the Hotpoint website repair page just after the recall was announced, and it took over 15 months to have someone come and visit to repair the machine.
Unfortunately I was out when he came and my wife didn’t take note of what he did, so I am not sure what was replaced. I received an email a week in advance advising that they were coming on a specific day, and then a couple of days before, I got a more detailed email giving me a half-day time slot. He came within the time slot and left everything tidy.
My only complaint is that I keep the machine pulled out from under the worktop because I can’t get the vent hose not to kink behind the machine if I push it all the way back (I can’t believe there isn’t a technological solution for this these days!) and when I got home he had pushed it all the way in which had kinked the vent hose, and in fact made it separate from the back of the machine. I would have expected that someone working with tumble driers would have had enough awareness not to do that.
Otherwise, the experience was fine, but took a very long time to get to the front of the queue.
Re: Whirlpool/Hotpoint/Indesit dryer safety issue
Camperdownfamily wrote:I can’t get the vent hose not to kink behind the machine if I push it all the way back (I can’t believe there isn’t a technological solution for this these days!) and when I got home he had pushed it all the way in which had kinked the vent hose,
The ‘high tech’ solution : Short offcut of 4X2 wood placed against the skirting board that prevents the machine being pushed back against the vent hose. Also, cut off any excess vent hose making it as short as possible allowing the exhaust air a shorter run as practical. Finally check the airflow outside (whilst it’s working) ensuring the vent grills are clear and free moving.
Camperdownfamily wrote:Otherwise, the experience was fine, but took a very long time to get to the front of the queue.
May I ask you, not knowing what was done to modify your appliance are you now more confident the safety issue is fully resolved? What reassurance was given by the manufacturers agent of this?
Re: Whirlpool/Hotpoint/Indesit dryer safety issue
We weren’t given any information about what was done, whether there was anything we should look out for or anything. The man just came, did his thing and went. I am generally very safety conscious and have been concerned about the fire risk from a tumble drier of any sort, never mind this specific one so I have always kept a close eye on it.
I find the design of the lint trap very poor because it does not seal tightly (I have replaced it but the replacement from new was as bad) so a lot of lint builds up in the plastic receptacle under the lint trap and every few weeks I have to vacuum a couple of large handfuls of lint out (and usually a couple of coins and other dross someone has left in their pockets).
I have also had the back off the machine a couple of times – once when I had to replace the heating element and once when the drive belt broke – and both times I have been shocked and the amount of lint that had collected inside the machine around the electronics, the motor, etc.
I would love to get rid of the machine but with four teenage children living in Scotland it’s just not practical to keep clothes clean and dry without it. As a result, fix or no fix I will be routinely taking the side off and cleaning out the machine as well as vacuuming out the lint from under the filter. I just can’t believe that in this day and age of safety consciousness there aren’t stricter regulations to require these machines to be designed with seals that can’t leak lint into the machine, with filters that seal tight to prevent lint loss into exhaust pipes etc. and inherently safe heating elements that don’t get hot enough to ignite the lint.Re: Whirlpool/Hotpoint/Indesit dryer safety issue
Camperdownfamily wrote:I just can’t believe that in this day and age of safety consciousness there aren’t stricter regulations to require these machines to be designed with seals that can’t leak lint into the machine, with filters that seal tight to prevent lint loss into exhaust pipes etc. and inherently safe heating elements that don’t get hot enough to ignite the lint.
You could but then air wouldn’t get though either and, airflow is paramount to how a tumble dryer works.
Not helped by fancy fabrics that shed lint like there’s no tomorrow, along with plastic polymer fibres that if you Google, you’ll see clogging up oceans as well as tumble dryers across the world. Many calls for them to be outlawed.
All that stuff in any dryer is highly flammable, hence the importance of keeping them clean as if the filters don’t get it, into the dryer it goes and it turns into a potential fire hazard. The brand of dryer is wholly irrelevant for the most part, they can all suffer the same way.
And, if it doesn’t go on fire, it chokes the air, makes it run longer and be less efficient so costs more in energy use.
What may seem a simple thing to do, isn’t.
So long as you need to blow air through it and, there’s clothing in it that produces lint then this issue cannot be solved by manufacturers in any way. They can improve it for sure, use different heater designs and so forth, put in more safety elements but all that costs money and would push up the price of dryers and, how effective it’d all be, who knows.
K.
Re: Whirlpool/Hotpoint/Indesit dryer safety issue
I agree with what your saying about pushing up costs, but having a drum rotate against a felt strip and expecting lint not to escape into the body of the machine is asking for trouble. Of you take the same basic design as a washing machine and put the rotating drum inside a static drum, then you can have a seal between the static drum and the door, and that way the air intake can also be completely isolated from the exhaust ensuring there is no way for lint to escape and get back round into the heating element or the motor.
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