Is your Whirlpool tumble dryer a fire-risk?

John, what part has the EU played in making tumble dryers unsafe?

The EU requires many products to conform to EU regulations, usually including EU (ENs) and international safety standards, before being legally put on the EU market. Such products should be tested to show conformity, which at least should be indicated by a CE Mark. The testing that supports this mark should be fully documented in a technical construction file and available for examination. It is the distributors’ responsibility to ensure this CE Mark is properly supported. Some, maybe many, products will also carry a mark and certificate number when they have been fully tested for compliance with a standard by a recognised national laboratory (such as BSI’s). The Kite Mark is an example of this.

One problem is that rogue or incompetent distributors will not check the CE Mark documentation properly, or at all, so they will distribute non-compliant products as we see from Which? tests (smoke alarms, CO alarms, children’s “slime” recently). Another problem, certainly in the UK, is that the authority appointed to protect consumers by policing the market, Trading Standards, is inadequately resourced and funded so cannot do its job properly. Still another problem is we appear not to penalise these distributors adequately when they are discovered – perhaps if the fine was like that for the BA data breach we might feel more comfortable.

Reputable companies generally behave well. It is the delinquent companies who exploit this system.

As for Indesit tumble dryers I have asked Which? a number of times whether these have been tested for compliance with the safety standard EN 60335-2-11 but they have not replied. It may well be that the dryers did meet the standard but longer-term use revealed a design defect that allowed a gradual accumulation of lint/fluff near the heater. There is an international working group examining the safety of certain domestic electrical appliances, including tumble dryers. I expect this is on their agenda.

A new (2019) tumble dryer standard has been issued by the IEC, (from which standards ENs are usually derived for use in Europe). I presume at some point this will appear as an EN, but we do not have to simply take it as it is; the EU can add it’s own requirements and modify the document if felt necessary for local use. Bear in mind the EU standards organisations, including BSI, will have contributed to the preparation of the IEC standard. Which? are on the BSI committee and may know what changes this standard brings with it.

The EU sets the regulations. These are delegated to each member state to apply, by their Market Surveillance Authorities – UK Trading Standards in our case. If we want proper consumer protection we need to pay for it by resourcing Trading Standards to do a proper job for us.

Thanks for posting the photo, John.

You are right to be concerned because if lint and fluff accumulate in the vent of the dryer this restricts air flow and fire can occur if it comes in contact with the heater, which operates at a high temperature. I expect that your duct/hose is plastic or light-weight corrugated aluminium tube, neither of which would contain a fire.

In the US and Canada it is a requirement (UL standard introduced around 2006) to have metal duct/ or flexible hose on ‘clothes dryers’ as tumble dryers are generally referred to. UL also require dryers and washing machines to be able to contain a fire. We are well behind in our safety standards.

As far as I know – but you may know differently – the US uses the international standard IEC 60335-2-11 but UL requirements may also be used in some states. I do not know if a fire-containing enclosure, such as UL reported on a few years ago, is mandatory throughout the US.

UL sit on the international committee that draws up the safety standard. If they have evidence of a significant improvement in safety then I expect that to be part of the deliberations.

I’d question the statement “we are well behind in our safety standards“, with due respect to your motives, without getting expert input. Which? could perhaps contribute? “We” is all of the EU and much (most maybe) of the rest of the world.

Dryer fires still seem to be a problem in the US – “Facts about home clothes dryer fires
2,900 home clothes dryer fires are reported each year and cause an estimated 5 deaths, 100 injuries, and $35 million in property loss.
Failure to clean the dryer (34 percent) is the leading cause of home clothes dryer fires. “!.

I’ll be interested to see the latest international standard.

The last time I checked, a third version of the UL 2158 standard had been proposed and that contained an additional test related to fire containment. I do not know which US states use which standards.

Duncan Lucas drew our attention to this website: https://www.electrical-forensics.com/Dryer/ElectricClothesDryers.html It refers to UL 2158 being harmonised with a Canadian standard and goes into detail about the problem of lint accumulation. From this and other sites it appears that vented dryers are most popular in the US and Canada. I recall posting a link that indicated that dryers must have metal ducting/vent hose to meet insurance requirements.

Even if improved safety standards are introduced people can carry on using existing equipment. It would be very interesting to know if requirements for fire containment are effective.