Warning to others - FIRE RISK

Cake4brains

Thank you for this thread. Our extractor fan makes strange noises sometimes but I never even thought about the fire risk. Stupid me eh?!

As for whoever mentioned tumble dryers, definitely get your tumble dryer checked out if its old. Ours recently started a fire and caused lots of damage, luckily it was out in the garage at the time. Thankfully

Davesnave

A lot of these fans are not easily accessible, being in the loft or some other void. The inlet you see might be some distance away from the motor and impeller.

If they stop working, they need investigating as a matter of urgency. They're not hard to replace. I did one recently at a cost of about £22, having removed it and found an identical model on t'internet.

System

Thanks for the warning scarab.

I have to add my mite re: tumble driers - anything electrical with a heating element is a potential risk for obvious reasons so include washing machine, dishwasher, breadmaker.
Friend of mine had a similar experience to stejobeth's friend but the culprit was the washing machine. 6 months until the house was habitable again. Awful. I NEVER go out now leaving mine on, the time saving isn't worth the risk.

Kynthia

Well I'm definitely going to clean my bathroom extractor fan. I had a relative wake to a house full of smoke due to a tumble dryer catching fire. Also a work dishwasher caught fire when left on after office hours. These two incidences mean we never leave appliances on when going to bed just in case, and regularly test our smoke alarm.

jackieb

I never go out or go to bed when my washer is on, even if some of the kids (they're all older) are still in the house. A neighbour once went out and left her dishwasher on. It caught fire and her kitchen was gutted.
My husband's grandmother died in a house fire, but she fell asleep in a chair, with a cigarette in her hand. And my husband had to be rescued from a hotel room after a fire started and he was asleep, so we're very wary of fire risks.

DebbieR

Thanks for highlighting this OP. My son is always the last one in the shower/out of the house on a morning and nearly always forgets to turn the Xpelair/bathroom light off. I've always nagged at him because he's wasting electricity, I never gave a thought to it being a fire hazard :eek: