Do you leave your washing machine unsupervised?

JGB1955

Our tumble dryer is in the garage  at the bottom of our garden. I often put it on a 60 minute programme.....then forget about it for a couple of days. Which reminds me....too cold to go out there now...it can wait until the morning.

Grabs39

coffeehound said:

Grabs39 said:

The dishwasher goes on at night when we go to bed.  It's a newer one so defaults to "eco" which takes hours by using just a little bit of warm water but sloshing it around for a longer time.  I suppose it shouldn't really go on at bedtime, but I'm not sure there's that much risk of a fire and I don't know when else it could really go on. 

In that situation I'd want a smoke alarm near the machine that is linked to another alarm in or near the bedroom so that you would reliably be awoken.  

Something troubling I heard recently is that one's nose swiches off while you are asleep, so you would not necessarily be woken by the smell of smoke

The kitchen is in an extension off the back of the house, whereas my bedroom is at the front of the house.  Even awake by the time you could smell smoke it would probably be far too late!

And the smoke alarm is just outside the kitchen, but we always keep the door shut - it goes off all the time otherwise.  Interesting thought on linked detectors - we have several smoke alarms in the house, but they're all the cheap £10-type that just make a noise.  I'll have a think about a linked system.

markin

ripplyuk said:

lisyloo said:

Was the advice you were given some time ago?

My parents taught me that when I was young but also our local fire and rescue service repeated the same advice a few years ago when they were doing door to door visits after my neighbour died in a house fire. They said washing machines are one of the main causes they find. 

Not sure I've ever even heard of a washer fire, its almost always the dryer in the news, but no i would never leave one alone, but more concerned about flooding.

Slinky

Somebody I knew his daughter had a fire started in a dishwasher. I seem to recall it finished a cycle and then there was a fault with the little on/off light. They were out at the time.

markin

travis-powers said:

Section62 said:

travis-powers said:

SuzieSue said:

travis-powers said:

We had a small fire start at a socket (our fault) but since then we have never left them running unattended.
 God knows what would of happened if I didn’t smell the smoke!

Why was it your fault?

We had a washing machine and tumble dryer plugged into one socket with a short lead, this was drawing more power than the socket could cope with, ohms law apparently so the plug caught fire!

The 13A (or lower) fuse in the plug should have blown before anything got hot enough to melt or catch on fire.

This is why it is a MUST to have the proper protection with correctly rated fuses and/or trips. Surprisingly, not everyone agrees with what should be a fundamental and obvious safety requirement.

There's a particular problem with cheap extension leads only rated and fused at 10A.  Most people have some 13A fuses laying around, and few people have spare 10A ones.  So when the 10A fuse inevitably blows, the quick fix people do is to fit a 13A one instead. And then..... (this is a general comment, not saying it is what happened in your case)

IMV the 10A extension leads should be banned from sale, because there are so many appliances in the home (washing machines, tumble dryers, kettles etc) that can easily overload a 10A lead on their own.

Plugging a high current device into a shoddy extension lead and then leaving it unattended would be asking for trouble, and the average punter just doesn't understand the risks. Hence appliances get a reputation for causing fires which isn't always deserved (as per EssexExile's post).

Cannot agree more, big lesson learned big lecture off sparky! 
 Of course it was the cheap Chinese lead that was the problem not the plug.
What scares me is so many people do diy electrics, I’ve been shot down on here for saying leave it to a professional.

Was it actually the Extension or the fact they were on a a double socket, From memory Double sockets are Only Rated to 20A not the 26A of 2, 13A plugs

CheeseDreams

casper_gutman said:

What does "unsupervised" mean? I usually put the machine on when I'm upstairs working. Even if I put one of the quicker ~1 hour washes on, I'm hardly going to sit on the floor in the utility room and "supervise" am I?

I think supervised means close enough to hear the smoke alarm!

My nephew was home alone when the dishwasher went up in flames. He called the fire brigade but it was still months of living elsewhere while repairs were done.

Incidentally, I was supposed to be tutoring him in chemistry that evening. In typical, deadpan teenager he texted me, "There's no point you coming round tonight. The house is a bit on fire."

Suzycoll

ripplyuk said:

A lot of washing machines cycles these days seem to take around 3hrs. I know there are some quick wash options but those can often only take a very small load and they aren’t suitable for everything. I was always taught never to leave the machine running when I’m not home because washing machines are one of the most common domestic appliances to catch fire. 

However, I’m really fed up with spending full days at home babysitting the washing machine. It was different with the old machines that did a wash in about 40 mins. Do most people leave them unsupervised and go out? What about at night? Are you happy to leave the machine running overnight using the time delay? 

3 hour cycle! Most clothing only needs 30 degrees. A quick cycle will do for most things  (unless heavily soiled).

I am happy to go our & leave washing machine on 

Slinky

Necro post alert. Dug up from 2 years ago.

sparrer

My machine has a 34 min quick wash/spin/drain which is ample for all my needs. 30deg for clothes, 40deg for bed linen/towels. I do put it on an extra 1200 spin afterwards if it's heavy fabric. Can't remember ever leaving it, it's hardly enough time to get ready to go out anyway!