Kettle fire tech question

[lightfoot16]

Hi

Had a kettle catch fire and the manufacturer says it was caused by limescale build-up on the element.

I’m trying to find out if that’s likely or not but not having much luck. Can anyone here advise about this or where I might find such advice? Thanks.

[admin]

Re: Kettle fire tech question

Hi

More likely that you over filled it or spilled water on the handle thus into the electrics.The manufacturers aren’t or cannot be held responsible for limescale build up as that is due to locality and it’s reasonable to expect that if the scale builds up the customer can descale it as there are plenty of products on the market.

Bryan

[lightfoot16]

Re: Kettle fire tech question

Hi Bryan and thank you for the reply, but you haven’t answered my question and have made some incorrect assumptions.

If anyone else can answer the question or direct me to somewhere where I could get the answer I’d appreciate it.

[kwatt]

Re: Kettle fire tech question

Without specifics and, I do mean very specific information I doubt you will get anywhere.

For a start we don’t know a make or model so no clue as to the design. We don’t know how much limescale. We don’t know if there were safety mechanisms. We don’t know if the fuse went. We don’t know if it was on an RCD or whatever supply. We don’t know the use or the condition.

Too many variables and too many unknowns.

Theoretically, what you are being told could be correct but it’s impossible to be certain without an awful lot more information.

And, I doubt that anyone will pipe up either way less they land themselves in court or in the middle of a bunfight over a kettle. 😉

K.

[lightfoot16]

Re: Kettle fire tech question

Thanks K. No bunfights planned nor any legal proceedings – just wanted to establish if a modern jug kettle in domestic use by two people in a medium water area is likely to catch fire after approximately 2 years use with no descaling.

It just seemed odd given that no such thing has ever happened to me in 50 years nor my sister in 65 years of kettle usage, nor to any members of our family or social circle (as far as I’m aware). Non of the family members have ever descaled their kettles, washing machines, coffee machines or other electrical devices containing water heating elements. Some of the social circle may descale but the few I’ve spoken to since being told of the limescale issue said that either they never have or if they have it was on one or two occasions early on with a new kettle, then they forgot about it.

After the fire I found online that two other kettles of this make had also caught fire, one after just a few months use. I was then told of an iron made by the same manufacturer catching fire.

Because of this I wrote to the manufacturer not to claim money back (it’s out of warranty now) but to alert them to a possible problem. My previous search online had been to see if there had been a product recall.

The manufacturer took the kettle for examination and then replied to say that the engineer found ‘that the element had blown through’ and that ‘lime scale build up had contributed to the failure of the kettle.’ As this sounded unlikely to me because I had never heard of such a thing, nor encountered any safety warnings advising consumers to descale their products because of the risk of fire, I was concerned that they might be avoiding their responsibility to the public whilst also trying to pull the wool over my eyes for fear that I would try to sue them, which I have no intention of doing as its too much hassle.

However, although their reply sounds unlikely to me I am aware that I don’t have the relevant technical knowledge hence the reason I’m making the enquiry. I intend to descale all such appliances in the future but would still like to know how much of a potential problem it really is. If it turns out that expert opinion considers such an outcome from lime scale to be unlikely and that the manufacturer probably is pulling a fast one then I’ll alert Trading Standards and let them deal with it. If that happens, don’t worry, I won’t mention any names.

If there’s still too many variables or legal complications for anyone to contribute further then so be it, I’ll let the matter drop.

[admin]

Re: Kettle fire tech question

Hi

It goes like this..

30yrs ago kettle costs £50 due to metal content and grades of metal used.
20yrs ago kettle costs £40 wages have risen cost of metal risen so thickness of metals used reduced to supply appliance at what a customer wants to pay.
10yrs ago kettle costs £20 same product but somewhere along the way the costs have to be reduced to counteract rise in wages,bills,material so yet again quality of materials reduced as customers won’t pay more than the chinese appliances.
2015 kettle costs £5 works same way but the elements are made of cheaper metals that attract calcium and require de scaling more,cheap plastics even though all the costs have risen,wages,fuel,tax,materials so how can it be made cheaper ? something somewhere has t give and that is the quality of the products and materials.

Who’s to blame ? most say the consumer as they want it cheap and easy to replace.Others say the manufacturers for allowing the consumer to beat the costs down. At the end of the day everyones to blame.But it’s normally the manufacturers that get blamed for making a product that the customer wants cheap but rolls royce quality. Both don’t go together which ever way you look at it.

Bryan

[iadom]

Re: Kettle fire tech question

Why not mention the manufacturer, several well known, long established ‘British’ brands are that in name only and for instance Russell Hobbs and Kenwood to name just two have been cheap, cut to the bone Chinese made for many years. To get two years out of one these is very much average to good sadly. In fact one reason you don’t hear of lots of them setting on fire after two years is due to the fact a lot of them don’t last that long in the first place. 🙁

[Andy jones]

Re: Kettle fire tech question

Tbh kettles and toasters are almost a consumable item these day, lost count of how many we’ve replaced over the last few years. It’s the way it is I’m afraid

[Justin Black]

The first safety switch will activate if the kettle gets too hot, such as when the kettle doesn’t have enough water in it or the lid isn’t on properly. In these conditions, the normal thermostat control may not work and the water will eventually boil dry, leading to overheating and risk of fire. Be careful when picking up the handle as it’s likely to be hot, use a cloth or tea towel if necessary

[Author]

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