Urgent safety check required for 85,000 tumble dryers warns Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue
Households across Bedfordshire are being urged to check if their integrated heat pump tumble dryer requires urgent safety repairs due to a serious fire risk.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards has announced that around 85,000 tumble dryers manufactured by Haier remain at risk and must not be used until a safety modification has been completed.
Bedfordshire Fire & Rescue shared the warning, with affected brands including:
Baumatic
Candy
Caple
Haier
Hoover
Iberna
Lamona
Montpellier
Owners of these brands should immediately check their model number and serial number online to determine if their appliance is affected. If it is, they must contact the manufacturer to arrange a free repair.
Affected appliances must not be used until the repair has been completed. Where accessible, owners should switch off and unplug the appliance immediately.
An internal short circuit can occur during normal use, causing the tumble dryer to ignite.
Haier initially launched a corrective action programme earlier this year covering 103,000 affected machines. However, the Office for Product Safety and Standards instructed Haier to halt the initial repair programme due to concerns that the modification remained unsafe. Following an updated modification, Haier has now resumed its programme with a revised repair solution and is contacting consumers again.
Haier has prioritised arranging second repairs for machines that had previously been modified and is now reaching the remaining 85,000 owners whose appliances still present a fire risk.
What owners should do:
Check if your tumble dryer is affected by visiting the manufacturer's website
If affected, contact the manufacturer immediately to arrange a free repair
Stop using the appliance immediately
If possible, switch off and unplug the appliance
For more information and to check if your appliance is affected is available here.