3 Year old Hotpoint dishwasher, nearly caught fire. Is there anything I can do?

SRRAE

We have a Hotpoint Ultima dishwasher. Which has always worked fine, without any issues.
Today we had a load on while we went to the shops.  We returned to the smell of burning plastic which I pinpointed to the dishwasher. I unplugged the dishwasher, pulled it out and it looked like the fire retardant layer on the back had started to melt as well as a very strong smell of burning plastic.
I checked the fuse on the plug and it hadn't blown.  I suspect when the panels are removed you will see a lot of melted parts.
Is there any where I can report this to? It is a major and dangerous failure if the internals melt before any of the fuses blow.  I checked on Hotpoint's site and that reports it isn't one that required recall because of over heating issues.
I am extremely worried and disappointed a 3 year old expensive premium dishwasher has essentially melted itself to death.

EssexExile

I would guess that perhaps the thermostat failed and it's gone up to the safety cut out temperature, which is probably about 95°, and stayed there for a while. I doubt it was in danger of bursting into flame.

stevread

Try this

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shaun_from_Africa

SRRAE said:

It is a major and dangerous failure if the internals melt before any of the fuses blow.  

The fuse in the plug isn't there to protect the appliance itself, it is there to prevent the lead from melting or catching fire should too much current be drawn.
An internal fault in the dishwasher could easily allow internal damage well before the external fuse was to blow.

TELLIT01

Get an engineer to check it out and if they think it is a manufacturing fault, ask for that in writing.

daveyjp

Hotpoint isn't a premium brand, despite what the cost may have been.  The fault needs investigating and reporting to Hotpoint as it could be a faulty component which is in thousands of their products.

This experience is why you shouldn't leave the house when kitchen appliances are on.

Homer_home

shaun_from_Africa said:

SRRAE said:

It is a major and dangerous failure if the internals melt before any of the fuses blow.  

The fuse in the plug isn't there to protect the appliance itself, it is there to prevent the lead from melting or catching fire should too much current be drawn.
An internal fault in the dishwasher could easily allow internal damage well before the external fuse was to blow.

Plus fuses require around double the current before they will blow so appliances could easily catch fire before a fuse blows

Like has been said you require an engineer to find out what happened , if you're really nice Hotpoint might even bung you a new one 

Fyi Hotpoint is not a premium make , it's more like mid to low on the scale