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Don’t know in all honesty as I’ve never personally dealt with a case as severe as this, I would normally but if you’ve been advised not to then I’d follow the advice given. The people you’re dealing with will have a far greater knowledge of how these things work I should imagine.
K.
Thank you for that Martin…. I am going to call them today. The Fire Brigade told me not to do anything until this report comes through.. the investigator said he would hand deliver it when it is sent to him but after 3 weeks.. it has not appeared.
Thank you for your advice.
kwatt wrote:BenoitMilner I don’t think any offence was intended by Mark, merely a suggestion.
As for temps over 700 degrees I have no idea and I doubt any service engineer would do, but most US appliances I have seen in the UK, sold on the UK market are well adapted for sale in the EU and meet the CE approval requirements, or they should do.
What I can tell you though is that normally a tumble dryer would not go to such temperatures IME as that is very high indeed. Of course this is purely an opinion, but the only thing I can think of that could cause this is the failure of the thermostats that regulate the element, of course without knowing the make/model and configuration that is just pure speculation on my part but to me it’s the only possible cause of failure within the appliance itself given the facts described.
Interjection by “Shane”We used to service American built appliances and some of those were dual voltage. We had one case of a new appliance that was sent out, set for the American supply voltage. A discussion with the importers advised us of the proceedure to convert it and this was done successfully.
If a burnout ocurred in a component close to the moulded base, the base could have provided the fuel for the subsequent blaze and the high temperatures achieved.
We have seen examples of the ability of these moulded components to be consumed by fire “inside the cabinet”. Once the fire started it would not have mattered whether the fuse had failed or not.
Shane.
shane wrote:
kwatt wrote:
BenoitMilner I don’t think any offence was intended by Mark, merely a suggestion.As for temps over 700 degrees I have no idea and I doubt any service engineer would do, but most US appliances I have seen in the UK, sold on the UK market are well adapted for sale in the EU and meet the CE approval requirements, or they should do.
What I can tell you though is that normally a tumble dryer would not go to such temperatures IME as that is very high indeed. Of course this is purely an opinion, but the only thing I can think of that could cause this is the failure of the thermostats that regulate the element, of course without knowing the make/model and configuration that is just pure speculation on my part but to me it’s the only possible cause of failure within the appliance itself given the facts described.
Interjection by “Shane”We used to service American built appliances and some of those were dual voltage. We had one case of a new appliance that was sent out, set for the American supply voltage. A discussion with the importers advised us of the proceedure to convert it and this was done successfully.
If a burnout ocurred in a component close to the moulded base, the base could have provided the fuel for the subsequent blaze and the high temperatures achieved.
We have seen examples of the ability of these moulded components to be consumed by fire “inside the cabinet”. Once the fire started it would not have mattered whether the fuse had failed or not.
Shane.
Thank you Shane, just what I wanted to hear. At least your information gives me somewhere to go with this especially as it has just been made OFFICIAL.
MY 8 DAY OLD TUMBLE DRYER CAUSED THE FIRE…. IT IS OFFICIAL AND IN WRITING. The only reason I am not going to give you the name and model yet is because I want to get a reply from my solicitor just in case the adverse publicity goes against my claim. AT LAST… at least I know they have no way out of this. Thanks again.
Update… I visited the retailer today with the written confirmation of the forensic diagnosis. They were suprisingly helpful and understanding. Manager that will deal with this was unfortunately in the states but they promise me that this will be dealt with very quickly.
I am hoping that the fear of adverse publicity will push the whole thing forward before it would have to go to court as they don’t really have a leg to stand on. Let’s hope the retailer continue to be supportive. I will keep the forum updated of the progress.
🙂
Re: HELP! TUMBLE DRYER ON FIRE! HELP! TUMBLE DRYER ON FIR
Sorry, My suggestion about the socket (I didnt really mention the plug as i assume this is brand new) is only based on my experience that nearly all “fires” I have come across have been from poor connections in the socket causing that very noticeable electrical smell. I dont know anything about your installation and for all I know the socket could be directly behind the appliance and as the fire was so severe it may not be so obvious where it originated. You hadnt pointed out that this was ruled out by the fire brigade.
But now you have mentioned the word “american” and as far as I know, all “American” tumble driers sold here need to be connected to a 30amp supply point and hence shouldnt have a plug/ socket arrangement in anycase. But then you said it did have a plug so maybe it isnt an American large capacity type after all.
Anyway, I am sure i will read the whole story in tommorrows Walthamstow Guardian.
Mark.I suppose everyone would like to know the latest in this saga.
Well, as you know from above, the forensics report has been returned stating that the fire started from inside the appliance and that there was no evidence of electrical problems from the wiring from my house nor were the clothes at fault. This is confirmed and in writing.
Following the advice given to me by members of UK Whitegoods and armed with my written evidence, I visited the retailers. They were genuinely concerned and sent the information urgently to their head office with a product report. That was 28th January and would you believe it … nothing has happened since.
My solicitor has written to the retailers, they have now referred the case to their insurers. Last Firday, the manufacturers asked to visit the house but to my horror… they sent a Domestic Appliance engineer to inspect the Tumble Dryer. Of course…. this is clear evidence of bad communication, he was unaware that Forensics had the dryer and he certainly did not expect to be walking through a bomb site. He said ‘In my forty years being an engineer… I have neve seen a tumble dryer cause this much damage.’ I do hope he read the papers this weekend about the poor family living up north.. three little girls died in a fire suspected to have been caused by a faulty TUMBLE DRYER….. I wonder what make it was?
So today, 20th February was the deadline for the retailers and manufacturers to come us with the goods. They have been asking for Fire reports, fire photographs, foresic reports, forensic photograhs all of which we have produced and all which indicates the Tumble Dryer being the fault….. armed with all this information… they still insist on sending in their own engineers to test the dryer.
In my last post, I said that a domestic appliance engineer turned up to examine the dryer at my house. That was the 6th February yet another 2 weeks on.. they still have not examined the dryer.
We are still homeless… the only thing the manufacturers could suggest is that I go to the council. With respect… after 20 years of owning my house, I never had a fire. On the 5th January.. I had a home… until this fire my family and I had somewhere to live, the least you would expect is that they re-house us while they further their investigations.
Tomorrow… I am going to stage a peaceful protest outside the retailers store with the hope that the retailer will move things along.
I don’t want to go to the papers.. but I will if I have to.Thank you for your support Martin.
Yesterday, I staged my peaceful protest with relative success. Within half an hour of me standing outside the retailers store, the manager armed with two security guys came out to look me over. By the way.. this is the manager who 2 weeks ago told me I could do what ever I liked, even go public on this. When they saw I was alone and posed no danger to anyone, they took photographs of me and the placards I had made. The manager then told me that two of my placards were on their land.. (this I will check out next week) but I removed them from that area immediately. I took photographs on my camera phone of him taking photographs of me.
Loads of people stopped to give me their support… they were appauled at how a MEMBER of this big AMERICAN WHOLESALE organisation was being treated. I met a builder who gave me his card and said he is willing to give me a quotation for the work needed on the property. The builder also said that my solicitor and I should be focusing on the manufacturer because while my contract is with the retailer, this is obviously a manufacturers fault…. is this right? I also got the card of a letting agent.Another hour later and I had a call from the retailers Head Office. The woman told me that that I was within my rights to stage a protest but there was nothing they can do. That they are aware that the manufacturers have been in touch with my solicitor who have advised that they should make a decision early next week. I did not tell her what they actually said to my solicitor but what I did say is that if the retailer or manfacturers do not make a decision next week.. I will be back next weekend protesting again.
A great Photo Coping company in Walthamstow kindly duplicated photo’s of my kitchen and the forensics photos onto A3 paper for my placards for FREE. If necessary, the will print them in colour on A1 and A0’s ready for next weekend. I informed the retailer that I intend to stand outside their store with 6 ft versions of my photographs. Sadly.. there are double yellow lines outside the store so I do not want to encourage a petition as it would bound to be against the law… but I will publish a website if this has to go public with a petition on it.. all the photos, reports etc.I stood outside their gate for 5 hours yesterday in the freezing cold. I will be back again at 10am this morning till around 4pm
My husband has been onto our friends in the press. They have advised that we warn both the retailers and the manufacturers that we are about to go National with this story. If it comes to this.. is http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk ready for some publicity? I would like to let the world know how supportive you have been.
Thanks guys.
oh.. by the way.. if you type TUMBER DRYER FIRE into google.co.uk, this forum and story is the first on the list.
Benoit,
Whilst we can offer you advice as far as we can we have to be careful of prejudicing your case against the manufacturer. Whilst I would have no issue with writing up a story for the front page I’d far rather that the matter was dealt with and a comprehensive response was given by the manufacturer and/or the retailer before doing that.
However, that does not exclude some of us from asking a few questions of the right people in the right places in an attempt to help you, but that is a considered a favour from the people we ask and we can’t make any guarantees at all that it will produce a result. Obviously though that has to be done in the background and it’s not official in any way.
We’ll see what shakes out.
K.
kwatt wrote:Benoit,
Whilst we can offer you advice as far as we can we have to be careful of prejudicing your case against the manufacturer. Whilst I would have no issue with writing up a story for the front page I’d far rather that the matter was dealt with and a comprehensive response was given by the manufacturer and/or the retailer before doing that.
However, that does not exclude some of us from asking a few questions of the right people in the right places in an attempt to help you, but that is a considered a favour from the people we ask and we can’t make any guarantees at all that it will produce a result. Obviously though that has to be done in the background and it’s not official in any way.
We’ll see what shakes out.
K.
I think you may have misunderstood… I meant I am just gathering the evidence needed to go to the National Newspapers with this story for example.. in spite of this being such a catastrophic fire.. the retailer is still selling this model of tumble dryers today. My comments about publicity was not for UKWG to make it public.. but for my family and I to go public with the papers. My comments were meant to ask how UKWG would feel about me telling everyone in the UK what a great way to get white goods information and how supportive you all are of the community you have built. 🙂
Thanks Benoit I have no issue with publicity for the site and I’m quite sure no-one else will either and thanks also for the kind comments.
You may have noticed a story I posted this morning on the front page (http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/article-527–0-0.html) about a Hoover washer that went on fire in 1999. That’s the case just been dropped after 5 years and, had it not been dropped, I suspect it had some way to go. 😕
In other words, don’t expect a quick resolution to your plight based on others I’ve seen in the past or this example, as these things have a tendency to drag on a bit. 🙁
Sorry if that seems like bad news but at least you can be aware of it.
K.
COME ON KEVIN.. don’t pull me down like this with this bad information… allow me to give you the report from the FORENSIC LAB who investigated my dryer and then tell me that our case bare any resemblence to the one you posted. I will send it to you privately so as not to predjudice my case and please post your true opinion of the report to the forum for all to see.
thanks
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