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oh.. by the way.. if you type TUMBER DRYER FIRE into google.co.uk, this forum and story is the first on the list.
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.
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.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?
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.
🙂
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.
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.
Thanks K for your comments. I know I just have to wait but the strain of the whole thing is tremendous on my family. It’s been three weeks, the court case etc will probably take months so this bit is so frustrating.
Comments made earlier regarding the whereabouts of the tumble dryer got a positive response from the London Fire brigade which was helpful so this forum has proved very useful in the short time I have posted this message.
I was told not to contact the retailer nor the manufacturers until the confirmation was in writing… was this wrong information? Do you think I should notify the retailer now?Is there and engineer out there who can answer this please?
The tumble dryer was manufacturered by a well known company. If you look up the model number on the Internet, it’s called a ***( MANUFACTURERS NAME)****(MODEL NO) AMERICAN TUMBLE DRYER.
It is not called an AMERICAN TYPE tumble dryer and it unlike most British tumble dryers did not have a glass fronted door.
If this truly was an AMERICAN tumble dryer adapted for the UK market, do you think that an internal eliment which was not converted might cause a fire in the works of the system so bad that it would cause temperatures of more than 700 degrees?
Thanks,
eastlmark wrote:mmmm, A brand new dryer catcing fire. a very rare occurance I think. Electrical burning smell? I hope the investigators have also taken the socket the appliance was plugged into. As a retailer myself, i would be interested to know which make it was though.
Surely eastlmark you would think that the PLUG would have been the FIRST THING the LONDON FIRE BRIGADE would have looked at.
The fire started from the SEAT of the appliance, THIS IS THEIR FINDINGS at the time, the FIRE BRIGADE are not stupid.. they would not have spent the time nor the money sending an appliance away to the country’s top forensic scientists without checking the USUAL SUSPECTS FIRST… plugs, sockets, FUSE BOX.
The fire pattern rose from the base of the appliance, the internal parts are so badly burned that forensics are finding it difficult to identify the exact component which caused the blaze……the plug was untouched.
Sorry if I sound a little sharp… but remarks like this are a little hard to take when you are homeless through no fault of your own.
Thank you all for your very helpful responses… it has made me feel a lot stronger.
The tumble dryer is with forensics company called Stangers… I don’t think this would be an problem to say. I have had it confirmed that the tumble dryer is still with them.
The manufacturers are a household name so I am sure bad press especially if they are prolonging the findings it not something I believe they would relish.
I truly do hope they manage to finalise the written report soon. We don’t have any insurance of our own so there’s no one to support us until the confirmation is received.
Re: HELP! TUMBLE DRYER ON FIRE! HELP! TUMBLE DRYER ON FIR
The tumble dryer is with independent forensics in Central London but everything seems to be taking so long. The court side of it I image will take an age but I can’t proceed with this until they put it in writing.
The family is so depressed about this whole nightmare.. my husband is a diabetic and is suffering so much.. my youngest has started to wet the bed… and a host of other things.
thanks for the tip about keeping knowledge of the whereabouts.. I will get in touch with the fire investigator to ascertain whether or not the manufacturers have taken it from the forensics. THANKS .. this is helpful
Incidentally how did that story of the HOOVER Washing Machine end? http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/article-267–0-0.html
Re: HELP! TUMBLE DRYER ON FIRE! HELP! TUMBLE DRYER ON FIR
Wow what a speedy response… I truly wish the manufacturers would get back to me this quickly.
The tumble dryer was 8 days old, it was not unattended persay..as my 21 year old son was there at the time. It was the evening my husband and I was on our way back when my son noticed a burning electrical smell. He investigated this smell going into the kitchen checking the cooker, new washing machine and the tumble dryer also. He checked and emptied the condenser tray after checking the clothes inside were ok. .. they were still wet. My son decided that perhaps one of our neighbours was having a bomb fire and returned to the living room.
A few minutes later, he noticed smoke coming from the kitchen and found it so dense, he rushed out the house dragging his girlfriend behind him and called up to my other son who was in one of the bedrooms. The air flow must have caused a flashback as the fire brigade arrived very promptly, possibly within just a couple of minutes but the devastation caused so quickly.. you would not believe it.As I said in my other posting… the fire brigade are convinced of the fire’s origin.. they have sent the dryer to the country’s top forensic lab who are working with the manufacturers to ascertain the exact faultyy component with a view to recall the line… this has so far taken 3 weeks.
I am afraid to list the manufacturer or retailers details in fear of legal reprisals.
