The grill in my oven spontaneously switched on and the manufacturer is not concerned about safety

urbaneagle

Hi. I am unsure who to report this potential fire safety matter to in case it happens to someone else. I see it as a near miss fire hazard. The dual fuel oven was not in use and spontaneously the electric grill came on and we noticed this when a heating smell filled the room.  Fortunately we were in the house. The grill had not been switched on, was super red hot and could only be turned off at the wall. As emergency electrician was called and  said it was the appliance. The manufacturer Customer Services said as the oven was out of warranty and unlikely to be a mechanical fault it was 'wear and tear'; that there was a cooling fan so it would not have caught fire and the only way to diagnose fault was an engineer at a cost of £189. Customer Services showed no interest in root cause analyis or establishing the fact of IF the model is faulty. I do not see how a spontaneously alighting electic grill can be ' wear and tear '. My concern is that there should be no circumstances where part of an oven should switch itself on and I would like advice on where to take this matter. I did write to the manufacturer via the online portal but 48 hours on no reply. Irrespective of the age of the appliance ( 2017) I believe the manufacturer has a duty of care to investigate such a serious matter and warn people of the possibility this can happen. I see this is a safety not warranty matter. Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks

powerful_Rogue

urbaneagle said:

Hi. I am unsure who to report this potential fire safety matter to in case it happens to someone else. I see it as a near miss fire hazard. The dual fuel oven was not in use and spontaneously the electric grill came on and we noticed this when a heating smell filled the room.  Fortunately we were in the house. The grill had not been switched on, was super red hot and could only be turned off at the wall. As emergency electrician was called and  said it was the appliance. The manufacturer Customer Services said as the oven was out of warranty and unlikely to be a mechanical fault it was 'wear and tear'; that there was a cooling fan so it would not have caught fire and the only way to diagnose fault was an engineer at a cost of £189. Customer Services showed no interest in root cause analyis or establishing the fact of IF the model is faulty. I do not see how a spontaneously alighting electic grill can be ' wear and tear '. My concern is that there should be no circumstances where part of an oven should switch itself on and I would like advice on where to take this matter. I did write to the manufacturer via the online portal but 48 hours on no reply. Irrespective of the age of the appliance ( 2017) I believe the manufacturer has a duty of care to investigate such a serious matter and warn people of the possibility this can happen. I see this is a safety not warranty matter. Any advice would be appreciated. Many thanks

Presuming this is the first time it's done it in the six years ownership? Did the electrician give any more information other then it was the appliance?

Could contact CAB and they could forward the information onto trading standards. Mayve even contact your local fire brigade and see what they say.

Although not ideal, any appliance of this age could become faulty and cause such an issue.

Aylesbury_Duck

After six years, it could be a number of problems not caused by an inherent design flaw. A sticking switch/knob, a blown PCB, a loose contact, etc.

How much are you after? The 'emergency' electrician wasn't needed, you said it could be turned off at the wall, so a normal electrical appointment would have sufficed. I can't see that the manufacturer is doing anything wrong. You could take them up on the paid inspection, and if that drew the conclusion that there is a genuine fire risk that might be present in all similar models or production runs, then I'd expect the manufacturer to reimburse the cost of the inspection and perhaps make a goodwill gesture towards a new appliance.

urbaneagle

Thanks for your comments. First time ever had a problem and rarely use the grill. The electrician said to 'use at own risk'. Gas elements working fine but I will not leave the oven plugged in anymore and the grill burnt itself out so is useless.

 I was terrified as it was so hot and called the electrician as I thought it may have been a power surge not thinking the appliance would independently switch itself on.  As it's a gas and electric oven and having 'popped' and crackled whilst being red hot I guess I was just scared.
Thanks both above for helpful replies. Will follow up as advised and  then purchase a different brand of oven. Many thanks

Appliance_engineer

A fairly common occurrence.  The barrel in the switch fails and allows the contacts to contact.  

There was a notorious range of cookers made by a company beginning with "B" and also "S"  that had this fault so often, that I used to carry the switch on the van.  Usually though it would just about come on at a low level and the customer would report a slight warmth coming from the grill when it was off.  Yours really went properly on!  

I haven't seen that for a while though.

It's an easy fix, just needs a new switch/regulator.

urbaneagle

Most helpful Appliance_engineer. I have decided to junk the oven as I wouldnt sleep for fear of the same (albeit repaired) oven doing it again. I noticed the same manufacturer do a recall on another model when I was researching what happened to mine. Will just avoid them. The £189 they quoted to come out diagnose and fix with only a 3m warranty is dead money I would rather put towards a new stove. 
I appreciate your input. Thanks