Is my house insurance void as I have a hotpoint fire dryer

rs65

robinsharon wrote: »

If it did catch fire then how am I supposed to move a tumble dryer that is on fire out of the house.

Why would you even contemplate doing that. As has been said, call the fire brigade. Buy a fire blanket and a fire extinguisher if it makes you feel safer but only carry out children and pets, not the drier.


There is a thread about these in the consumer rights part of the forum.

pinkteapot

While it's a pain, I just wouldn't use it until after it's been repaired. Why take the risk, even if small? It's only a few months of drying clothes on airers... And if you're going to be on edge while it's running and keeping an eye on it, it seems more hassle than it's worth!

Hotpoint's advice to not leave it unattended doesn't seem that helpful. As you say, what exactly are you going to do if it catches fire?! At least you'd notice early and the fire brigade may arrive before major damage can be caused.

If you do keep using it, make sure you know where the isolator (power) switch is, so you can turn it off instantly if it starts producing any odd smells or noises.

magpiecottage

pinkteapot wrote: »

Why take the risk, even if small?

The problem with that logic is that everything has a risk.

If you try to avoid any risk of being poisoned, you will not starve to death - but only because you will die of thirst before then.

pinkteapot

Completely different situation. There's a known fault and Hotpoint are going to fix it in a few months' time.

A tumble dryer isn't a life essential. OP could just live without it in the interim, if they're worried.

magpiecottage

pinkteapot wrote: »

A tumble dryer isn't a life essential. OP could just live without it in the interim, if they're worried.

They could but look at this.

Not using the tumble drier does not eliminate risk. It just changes it.

That is how life is.

Even my attempt to live for ever may well prove fatal.

Aretnap

All electrical appliances come with a small risk of fire, yet we comtinue to use them. The faulty tumble driers have been linked to about 750 fires in the last 12 years, but, for comparison, cooking appliances cause over 6000 house fires every single year. The OP's tumble drier is probably slightly more dangerous than the average tumble drier, but it's probably still safer than, say, the average toaster. (Toasters are a horrible fire hazard; if too many crumbs build up in the tray they catch fire, and if the mechanism gets stuck and the toast doesn't pop up they catch fire. I have seen this happen.)

Refusing to use the tumble drier while continuing to use, say, a toaster and a gas cooker, would imply a rather confused set of priorities. So long as you take a few sensible precautions, eg don't leave it running when you're in bed or out, clean the filter after every load, and get a fire extinguisher and smoke alarm (a good idea tumble drier or no tumble drier) then there's no reason to panic.

Marktheshark

I would advise nobody to attempt to use a household fire extinguisher in a close room with a unit that is burning plastic and wire insulation.
PCP / PVC smoke inhalation has around a 80% fatality rate from secondary acidosis compared to 8% from standard household materials.
Just two or three lungfuls will produce blood respiratory acidosis (carboxyhemoglobinemia) which causes death from a secondary drowning in the following 72 hours.

This is not some waste paper bin on fire, this is a electrical machine that contains PVC wiring insulation, one of the most fatal types of smoke inhalation you can encounter.


Get everyone out, stay out, call 999.
Leave firefighting to the professionals.