Do you leave your washing machine unsupervised?

neilmcl

chrisw said:

Hmm. I've always left mine unattended but this is in our local news this morning. Maybe time for a rethink.

'THREE fire crews were called out during the early hours of this morning following reports of a washing machine fire at a property.... On arrival, the crew found that the fire involving towels in a washing machine.'

Towels are one thing I don't leave my washing machine unattended for. It's very easy to either overload a washing machine with towels putting a strain on the motor, or to use too much detergent which will overflow the machine.

neilmcl

Section62 said:

unforeseen said:

TBH I have never yet come across an extension lead with a 10A fuse in it. 

It doesn't take much looking for if you go shopping for an extension lead online....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/240V-Splitter-Mains-Extension-house/dp/B00OZJO4BS

That one helpfully has 10A on the throwaway cardboard labels, but 13A printed prominently alongside the BS number on the reel itself. (I'm not suggesting there is anything unlawful with that though)

Quite a lot of cable reels are 10A as they're not really designed for more permanent indoor use such as a standard extension leads.

Rosa_Damascena

neilmcl said:

Section62 said:

unforeseen said:

TBH I have never yet come across an extension lead with a 10A fuse in it. 

It doesn't take much looking for if you go shopping for an extension lead online....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/240V-Splitter-Mains-Extension-house/dp/B00OZJO4BS

That one helpfully has 10A on the throwaway cardboard labels, but 13A printed prominently alongside the BS number on the reel itself. (I'm not suggesting there is anything unlawful with that though)

Quite a lot of cable reels are 10A as they're not really designed for more permanent indoor use such as a standard extension leads.

I have bought a lot of extension leads in my life (in response to my ever-growing collection of Christmas lights) and never once have I bothered to look. I think the one I am using for my kettle and microwave must be 13A as I can use them both concurrently without anything tripping. I am a simple creature but would be cross if my system tripped on account of my afternoon latte

EssexExile

mumf said:

A friend of mine has an industrial washing machine company .He installs Miele brand washers and driers into old folks homes and the likes. His advice? NEVER leave a washer or tumble unattended.He deals with at least one burnt out one a week he tells me,as they can often jam.

Crikey, what is he doing to them when he installs them?

unforeseen

mumf said:

A friend of mine has an industrial washing machine company .He installs Miele brand washers and driers into old folks homes and the likes. His advice? NEVER leave a washer or tumble unattended.He deals with at least one burnt out one a week he tells me,as they can often jam.

Which goes to prove that price is no indication of quality. If he has one a week he needs to look at the quality and capability of his product and whether it is suitable for the use it is being put to.

The fault appears to be due to the supplier not supplying a product that is capable of doing the job it is being asked to do. 

unforeseen

Section62 said:

unforeseen said:

TBH I have never yet come across an extension lead with a 10A fuse in it. 

It doesn't take much looking for if you go shopping for an extension lead online....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/240V-Splitter-Mains-Extension-house/dp/B00OZJO4BS

That one helpfully has 10A on the throwaway cardboard labels, but 13A printed prominently alongside the BS number on the reel itself. (I'm not suggesting there is anything unlawful with that though)

It's clearly marked so not a problem. Reel is probably marked as 13A because that is its capability under the BS.
The plugs on power leads for PCs that we have delivered at work are marked 13A but contain 6A fuses as that is the correct fuse for the kit. 

ripplyuk

Zandoni said:

I'd never leave a washing machine machine or tumble drier unattended, not worth the risk of the insurance company not paying out.

@Zandoni I never even thought of that! I guess the insurance could refuse since the manufacturers advise not leaving these machines unattended. I might ask my insurer what their stance on it is. It’d be bad enough to have a house fire without having to worry about the insurance payout. 

@mumf That’s not a good advert for Miele. I almost bought one but ended up choosing a Bosch, which is being delivered next week. I know no brand guarantees safety, but I had assumed the high-end stuff would be a bit more reliable. Obviously not. I think I’ll stick to babysitting the machine while I’m using it. 

Alanp

mumf said:

A friend of mine has an industrial washing machine company .He installs Miele brand washers and driers into old folks homes and the likes. His advice? NEVER leave a washer or tumble unattended.He deals with at least one burnt out one a week he tells me,as they can often jam.

As an ex commercial laundry engineer I can’t understand how a Miele would burn out once a week, I can only assume he means the elements burning out on the washers, , in theory you aren’t supposed to leave them unattended especially gas dryers , but in practice it’s rarely done, 

Section62

unforeseen said:

It's clearly marked so not a problem.

Clearly marked as what though? 10A or 13A?  That's part of the problem.

The other part of the problem is as I said in a previous post, the relatively poor availability of 10A fuses.

Many folks have not encountered a 10A extension lead, I wonder how many are unaware that BS1362 includes 10A rated fuses. (Colour coded black, which everyone knows is the right colour for 5A fuses).

unforeseen said:

Reel is probably marked as 13A because that is its capability under the BS.

I can't quite make out the BS EN number, so can't say for certain what the "13A" refers to.  However, BS1363 does relate to a system of standard plugs and sockets for use up to 13A / 250v~  - which are colloquially known as "13A plugs", regardless of the cord and appliance they are attached to.

The reel is also marked with "1.0mm2".  Assuming this is the conductor size then the regs say the cable is suitable for 10A max.  Which makes sense of the "10 Amp rated cable" and "10 Amp rated plugtop" claims on the cardboard label. (but as an aside, the choice of brown for that part of the label is unwise because everyone knows brown is the colour code for 13A)

Section62

Rosa_Damascena said:

I have bought a lot of extension leads in my life (in response to my ever-growing collection of Christmas lights) and never once have I bothered to look. I think the one I am using for my kettle and microwave must be 13A as I can use them both concurrently without anything tripping. I am a simple creature but would be cross if my system tripped on account of my afternoon latte

13A fuses in plugs (the BS1362 type) can pass more than 13A.  They should be able to pass 20A continuously, and can pass much higher currents for shorter durations.

So, depending on the actual power consumption of the kettle and microwave, it is possible that both can be running and not blow the 13A fuse in the plug for (say) the 3 minutes it takes to boil the kettle, but if you had both running continuously for (say) 5 minutes then the fuse would blow.

What that overload might be doing to the cable (cord) when repeated over a longer period of time is something else - if heat makes the insulation brittle then there could eventually be some spectacular/frightening results.  This is why the advice so often is not to run appliances on extension leads - the appliance might work today, but there are also long-term implications.