I have just
seen a BBC report on tumble drier fire and it says
Fire safety advice
- Do not overload plug sockets - keep an eye out for any scorching or burn marks, including checking any visible electrical wires
- Do not leave appliances unattended – do not turn the tumble dryer on before you leave the house or go to bed
- Keep your dryer well ventilated, make sure the vent pipe is kink free and not blocked or crushed in any way
- Always clean out the filter after using your tumble dryer
- Always allow each drying programme, including the "cool down cycle", to complete fully before emptying the machine
- Do not ignore the warning signs – if you can smell burning or clothes feel hotter at the end of the cycle, stop using your appliance and have it checked out by a professional
I looked at the pictures, and one seemed to show a weight, so it would seem a washer drier, but some of the advice does not seem to make sense.
1) Should be impossible to overload a plug or sockets, they are protected with a fuse.
2) What is the point of a delay time start being built into the drier, if not used unattended, that is why the delay start function is built into the machine, so it can run using off-peak power.
3) This clearly depends on type, only the very old type has a vent pipe, but my cheap drier had a temperature switch and if the vent was blocked in any way it would trip, and the only way to reset was to drag the whole machine out, so there would need to be a design fault for a kinked pipe to cause a danger.
4) Yes, of course, I must admit easy not to clean them all out, my drier has 3, and two are easy to clean at the end of each cycle, but one is easy to miss.
5) I am not sure mine has a cool down cycle, clothes are quite hot when it has finished, it seems there are two temperatures 55ºC and 65ºC depending on the cycle selected, so not that hot to start with, using an energy meter it is clear it uses a mark/space ratio to maintain the temperatures, but some driers do work hotter, and it seems work clothes in driers have caught fire due to contaminates on the clothes, I would think it is referring to that, but not drying unwashed clothes would be better advice.
6) Yes, of course if you sense something wrong, needs to be looked at. But as an electrician, not sure what I could test?
I must admit the heat pump drier is not much cheaper to run as the old vented drier running at 1 kW setting, the old one took around 90 minutes, the new one around 2.5 hours, so looking at 1.5 kWh v 1.5 kWh but sometimes needed to restart the old vented drier, the new one has a built-in sensor, also when looking at the energy monitor the new one is using a mark/space ratio, so not using 600 watt for whole of the cycle, so it is cheaper to run, but not a lot.
However, it means the window can be closed, and the clothes are not as hot, so less creasing, and it has a delayed start function so can be set to use off-peak or solar power. The water removed goes straight into the drain, the other type of condenser drier, either wastes water, or heats the room it is in, since our utility room is so small, a drier using the room's air to cool it would not really work, the room would get hot far too quickly.
The driers seem to be:-
1) Vented which suck in air from the room, so humidity of the room will have an impact on performance.
2) Condensing using water, downside is it wastes water.
3) Condensing using air, downside is it heats the room it is in.
4) Condensing using a heat pump, downside is it takes longer.
The fire risk for the 4 is not the same, to not say which type is like lumping an air frier, a microwave, and a fan oven as all being ovens, they are clearly all ovens, but the safety requirements are not the same.
Ah it has just occurred to me, I don't think this is about single or double sockets.
That is also very true, I have two kettles on a 4 way socket bar, it should not be done, and I have blown a fuse once, but that's all, it blows the fuse, it does not set fire to the house. But a kettle, I am standing in front of it while it fills the cup, the washing machine, dishwasher and tumble drier I set to run then walk away.