A safety warning has been issed by Hotpoint

It concerns a batch of dishwashers, manufactured between January 1999 and September 2003 and sold in the UK, with the following model numbers: DWF30, DWF31, DWF32, DWF33, DWF34, DWF35, DWM37 and DC26.

The company says it is aware of a small number of cases where an electrical component has failed. This may lead to overheating and, in rare cases, a potential fire hazard.

If you think you have one of these dishwashers, this is Hotpoint's advice:

Make sure your dishwasher is turned off and disconnected from the wall socket when you check the model and serial numbers. These can be found on a sticker on the inside of the door. The model numbers are also found on the front of the appliance.

If your dishwasher is affected, email dwf@hotpoint.co.uk or call 08442 412574. The line is open from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm on Saturdays and 9.30am to 3.30pm on Sundays.

Hotpoint will arrange to visit your home and repair the dishwasher free of charge. While you are waiting for an engineer to visit, Hotpoint recommend that you do not leave the dishwasher unattended while in use.

This information is also available on the Hotpoint website.

thats why i never go out and leave a washing machine on , or a tv , sky box etc etc
and always switch it off at the mains , not just by its switch , as i have seen a few wiring looms catch fire
and if you life in an upstairs flat , it can burn the hoses and flood the place

never ever had a problem with my dishwasher or washing and ironing, best 7/6 I ever spent mind you that was 1954 money, she would probably have wanted money in todays world.

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Its not always the biggest and the bestest, its them that make the least mistakes.

I agree with John, I will never go out and leave a washing machine churning away. Had a near miss quite a few years ago when the machine bushes wore right down to the core and it shuddered to a halt and started smoking.

Fridge and TV recorders are all that is permanently on in my house.

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Lets be careful out there !

A few weeks ago a Pioneer CD/DVD drive that was in my desktop PC burst into flames. Fortunately I was sitting by the PC when it happened, and I was able to deal with the fire before it became a serious problem. From the time I smelt the first smoke until I saw flames was about 5 seconds.

I later examined the faulty CD/DVD drive, and the fire was rooted in the plastic connector carrying the 5 volt supply through the rear panel of the drive. The cause? Probably a poorly crimped joint within the plastic connector behind the rear panel of the CD/DVD drive. I never did like crimped joints.

The 5 volt rails in PCs are usually capable of supplying a lot of current (30 amps in my PC). Which means there is a lot of heating power available to ignite the soft plastic that modern connectors are made of.

That's another thing I get slated for on another forum, shutting down and turning my PC off at the mains when I'm done.

It seems quite a few just leave them in standby mode !

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Lets be careful out there !

I've spent my whole working life working with professional electronic equipment, and I've lost count of the number of items that have burst into flames without warning, some with disastrous consequences. I don't leave anything in Standby mode. Even some battery powered items are quite capable of bursting into flames - some batteries can be quite capable of delivering enough current to generate sufficient heat to create a fire.

This is all incredible!! I've always left all my equipment on standby... eek! Mind you, back in the 70s my aunt and uncle's front room was gutted by a fire caused when their unplugged TV burst into flames after they'd gone to bed.

Jon, the last electronic fire I am aware of resulted in hundreds-of-thousands of pounds worth of damage. And caused massive disruption to a factory unit for about 3 months. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but that was only because the site was unmanned at the time of the fire. The heat from the fire was sufficient to melt quite thick aluminium panelling around the equipment. And from the large quantity of black oily plastic soot deposited all over, had anybody been present at the time of of the fire I suspect a death would have been the outcome.

In the 'old days', electronic equipment was built using discreet components. With the discreet components being mounted between substantial tag-strips consisting of brass or copper solder pins mounted in a paxolin or ceramic insulating strip. If any component failed and became carbonised, it was common for that component to burn itself out, leaving relatively little damage to surrounding components.

Modern equipment tends to be highly integrated and densely packaged, leaving very little separation between highly combustible plastic or resin encapsulated components. Because of the densely packed components and sub-assemblies now employed in order to miniaturise everything, cooling fans are extensively used in a lot of modern equipment, even portable equipment now contain cooling fans. These cooling fans provide a supply of forced air to any plastic fire.

Take a look inside a modern desktop or laptop PC; they are full of relatively soft and readily combustible plastic and resin components and wiring; a forced-air fire-bomb waiting to ignite at the first major component failure. Add to that the fact that cooling fans ensure that the innards of the equipment soon gathers a nice fluffy covering of combustible dust. How many people routinely clean out the accumulated dust from their PCs? I suspect not very many.

Even a TV set with no cooling fan, and relying on convection cooling, will fairly quickly gather a significant covering of combustible domestic dust over any heat-stressed components. Domstic washer-dryers and stand-alone dryers also readily accumulate a lot of combustible dus, as do electric fan heaters.

An unplugged telly catching alight? That's an interesting one as it's not impossible, but quite rare.

The main reason nowadays when a unplugged TV catches alight is tea lights on TVs which burn through the casing if left unattended. Have a look at this from 42 seconds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnCNW4BBUSA

Dont forget, it can be any combustible surface, not just a TV. Increasingly people take candles in the bath and then forget about them. i have seen a number of fires which originate from a romantic (and environmentally friendly) bath-time for two. The couple then get distracted ( ) and forget about the candle. I recall a very famous actresses daughter and her boyfriend standing not wearing a great deal (except a blush) outside mum's lovely listed house as it burnt in such circumstances

I am obsessive about unplugging (switching off at wall) most items and have wired my washing machine and tumble drier on spurred switches so I can isolate them without having to drag the heavy appliances out (I mean, who would??). The PCs and TV are never left on standby, except during meals etc, and anything showing a defect is isolated. We had a table lamp with a 'wobbly' switch which didnt work positively. That was unplugged until I was nagged to repair it (last weekend)!!

I spent 32 years in the fire service, including a fire investigation team. Sometimes it's a good thing to bring your work home with you!!!