feather duvet into domestic washer dryer = smoke. permanently damaged?

Lit_Up

So I have some guests in my flat. They're from Canada and they never saw a washer dryer before. One of them has a dust allergy, so he wanted to 'fluff' (sic) the duvet. Apparently they can put a duvet in a domestic machine, the cold air will go around and get rid of the dust, or something.

So he stuffs my double feather duvet into the standard sized home washer-dryer and we put it on wash-dry (I didn't know what he wanted to do). He says that he had never come across a feather duvet. About 20 minutes later a bit of smoke is coming out of the back of the machine. Obviously the drum was stuffed and the thing overheated. I immediately stopped the machine. We took the duvet out and it's ruined - all the feathers came out and stuck in the drum and the rubber around the door. There is also what appears to be burned rubber or plastic on the duvet itself.

So I put the machine on a cold wash just to get cold water around the machine, thinking this might cool it down. Anyway, the mechanism was still working.

What I'm concerned about is the smoke that came from the machine. Are the electrics damaged? I haven't done a wash yet, which I intend to do soon. What shall I look out for? Has this impacted the lifespan of the machine?

The_Pedant

I think it would be best to get the machine inspected to be on the safe side.
Unless you have a large load machine, then due to the amount of water a duvet can hold then there's a few areas that could be affected. So, at a guess:-
1. If the drum is belt driven then it could just be that the motor was slipping against the belt or the belt against the drum, causing the belt to overheat & start to burn/melt
2. The extra load on the motor may have caused it to draw more current & some of the wiring has become overheated.
3. As it's only 20 minutes in, I'm guessing you got nowhere near the drying cycle (the size of a duvet can affect airflow & cause the heating elements to overheat).

Those are just guesses though. You really should check to make sure there isn't a further risk (from overheated wiring etc).

I would like to hope it's just number 1 as a new belt if needed would be all that's required. The others may affect the life of the machine. You might also want to check your documentation on loading of the machine - most washer driers can only dry a fraction of the maximum wash load (overloading of the drier used to be a common issue with combination washer/driers).

Lit_Up

thank you so much. How do I get the machine inspected? Do I contact the supplier and explain the situation? Or do I hire an independent? How much would that cost, do you think?

macman

It's not the supplier's responsibility even if under warranty, you appear to have overloaded it.

Lit_Up

yeah well maybe I can tell them I didn't so I can get it fixed. hotpoint have enough money for me to not lose sleep about lying to them

macman

Well, if it's your intention to make a fraudulent warranty claim, you'd need to start with the retailer...

quietheart

Lit_Up wrote: »

yeah well maybe I can tell them I didn't so I can get it fixed. hotpoint have enough money for me to not lose sleep about lying to them

and we all pay more because of your dishonesty

sunshinetours

I would ask your Canadian friend to be replacing both personally although the fact that your stood by and watched I guess destroys that case

Double duvets cannot be washed and dried in any washer dryer that I know of due to the wight when wet. The fact that they can be crammed inside the drum doesn;t mean they are up to the job. Top loaders that a lot of North Americans use generally have a higher weight limit.

Its the heat in the drying process that can kill off dust mite eggs I believe, although maybe if your friend has a real allergy she should have brought his own duvet dust enclosure that those with a real allergy would undoubedly have

macman

And a washer/dryer can normally only dry about half the weight that it can wash.

Lit_Up

quietheart wrote: »

and we all pay more because of your dishonesty

and anybody including yourself would do exactly the same rather than fork out another 400 quid... what's this forum called again?

silvercar

Lit_Up wrote: »

and anybody including yourself would do exactly the same rather than fork out another 400 quid... what's this forum called again?

Don't judge everyone by your (lack of) standards.

The S in MSE stands for Saving not Swindling.