Another one exploads again, BOOOM!!

[3beltwesty]

The issue is not one of materials, it is the seam/weld fails

RE

"I think the problem is that their really enormous load machines are just pushing beyond the laws of physics. They are using relatively cheap materials and thin drums in huge capacity machines with 1600rpm spins.

They either need to reduce the capacity, the spin speed or improve the quality."

The issue is not one of materials, it is the seam/weld fails.

It really is NOT a high tech issue at all.

The issue is basic. ie it is like a many thousands of years old issue. ie somebody welds/bonds two pieces of metal together, and the darn joint fails.

Issues with the joint failing are thousands of years old.

When poor workmanship is done the joint can fail, whether a Roman piece of iron, a medieval suite of armour, an 1800's steam engines boiler, or a 2011 washing machine.

The problem is one of practical engineering, not physics which has zero legal standing with product liability.

What one has is some poor/bad/sloppy/slacker/crummy seams are in the joint of the 201 stainless steel drum, and a tiny few fail.

**** The base metal does not fail, the seam does.

This points to sloppy quality control, often a way corners are cut to get costs down. Or is is an oversight.

ISSUES like this often have no magical way to ferret out the few bad/poor actual devices in the field, without a total super costly recall.

 

[3beltwesty]

If this "Bad Seam" issue was Greek or Roman swords and a few broke in the field, the sword maker probably would worry about his head.

Most damage from Washers in the USA here is with flooding, the hose breaks, solenoid jams, the whole house floods.

Most damage from Dryers in the USA here is with fire, the exit hose is never cleaned, one gets a lint fire. The hose in many places can no longer be plastic, but often older houses or older localities allow plastic vents. One has roaring air passing through a plastic hose which is on fire.

 

[pierreandreply4]

dryer Hose

here in canada for newer dryer installation the dryer hose must eather be metal or aluminun the white plastic hose thats use for dryer today is no longer recommended and i am pretty sure the norm must be the same for us dryers electric or gas

 

[3beltwesty]

I *think* that in the USA; white/plastic/vinyl dryer hoses are made illegal for NEW installations via state, city and county codes; IN SOME LOCATIONS,

thus one has no blanket ban.

- Google Shopping

www.google.com

 

[3beltwesty]

"Note that white vinyl vent hoses are not UL-Approved and are a great way to start fires in your house. The American Household Appliance Manufacturers Association (AHAM) recommends the use of either rigid aluminum or steel duct or spiral-wound aluminum flex hose--NOT the white vinyl hose. For any dryer, but especially gas dryers, white vinyl vent hose should never be used. "

Here I had a white dryer vinyl dryer hose from 1971 to 2005 and replaced it with a metal on after Katrina. This is with an electric dryer. The odd thing is the old hose from 1971 still had its UL approval tag; thus this subject might be murky!

Here we always cleaned out the vent every few years and never had any issues.

When I was in California back in the 1990's they had plastic hoses banned there; then I moved here and all building stores still carried them.

In fact after Katrina when materials were in shortage, often the only hoses where white vinyl hoses, maybe dumped from other banned areas. I ordered my metal flex hose off of ebay in the fall of 2005; no local store had any.

The Ultimate Dryer Venting Guide

This Appliantology article explains how to safely vent your dryer without burning your house down.

fixitnow.com

 

[haxisfan]

@3beltsy "The issue is not one of materials, it is the s

I am convinced of that otherwise the innumerable examples of machines distributed over Europe and UK would be affected in the exact same way but they are not! Likewise other models produced before and after that given period of time are exempt from this kind of failure. If this scenario stands, it would make sense to issue a safety warning and check those potentially affected machines… as someone stocking Candy appliances stated in an older thread that the faulty drum weld could be easily detected just by pushing down with one’s finger! I also included a link below of a review where a customer was delivered a model with a broken drum (by reading the review it seems it had a broken tub too)… that was the same model as the one featured in the Which? Article.

According to various sources the company said that only a few samples produced during that particular given period were affected as they happened to mount the drums with the faulty drum weld before correction could occur, and it's not a case of recalling a particular model or version as only a few instances were affected: they wouldn't necessarily have to be 1600rpm models either as a Candy themselves stated.

Nobody really knows what’s behind these incidents and how many more affected units are going to crop up (if any), yet, this thread is full of assumptions, negative at that. Well… let me make my assumptions now… does anyone really know what response the owners of those exploded machines had from Candy? It seems that at the moment it’s all about getting the manufacturer to recall these products… however, if what Candy says is true, it might not be necessary to take such a huge step as it might prove very costly. As you've probably gathered I'm not ready to condemn this firm yet, but things might change... even though I am absolutely satisfied with my Candy/Hoover products.

3belt you mentioning dryers' hoses is making me think that I never ever cleaned or even inspected mine... I hope I'm not going to get a fire anytime soon!
Having said that, if a modern dryer (mine having been built in this millenium) can't vent properly, would detect a higher temperature which triggers a safety switch. Happy ever after aye ;-)

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/Candy_GO_1682__6703161

 

[solsburian]

I think Candy needs to think about saving costs of not recalling Vs the potential PR fallout if any more machines do this, potentially causing serious injury or worse.

There were still lingering aftershocks over Hoover's Free Flights promotion, as the was still legal action been taken in the last decade, and Hoover did loose the Royal Warrant.

 

[reversomatic]

There are worse potetntial dangers out there.

Ive only been called out to 1 failed drum weld Candy Go1682 ,It was about 11 months old and was a complete mess.It was stood in the the middle of the customers kitchen held together with gaffer tape to keep all the bits in 1 place,thankfuly no one was hurt.Perhaps Candy are doing what i beleive an Amercan car manufacturer did some years ago.There accountants worked out it would be cheaper to settle claims than do a recall.I think it was something to do with the petrol tank rupturing in the event of a rear end shunt.What worries me at the moment is that certain manufacturers are having issues with moulded on 13a plugs.Yet not one word in the press or anywhere.The scenario is that the customer complains that the appliance trips electrics but in fact its the moulded on 13a plug that has shorted internaly between the earth and live pin before the fuse.In the worst cases where its an old instalatrion with no breaker and just a 30a fuse at the distrbution board the plug tops explode.I have had loads of call outs to appliances with this fault now, its only going to be a mater of time before someones socket has a bad earth and the appliance becomes live.Perhaps these problems dont make the press because they don,t sound as dramatic as EXPLODING ,DESTRUCTION,BOMB etc.Regards Nige.

http://i

 

[fl1012]

USA Dryers.......

.....i never knew dryer fires had been a (fairly) common occurance in the USA.

Why is it that the UK doesn't seem to suffer from this issue? Do USA dryers not have lint filters like ours in the UK, or is it purely down to tumble drying being more widely used in the USA than here, where many still 'peg out' the washing on the line in the garden?

Regarding Candy, it'd be interesting an affected owner spoke up and said what Candy's response was to them as the owner of the machine. This might have already been said but it could be possible that Candy have acted well towards the owners of affected machines & thus prevented any further action from them to claim compensation etc. There's alot of unanswered questions at present.

 

[3beltwesty]

Your unbroken machines have good seams!

RE "The issue is not one of materials, it is the seam/weld fails"

and RE "I am convinced of that otherwise the innumerable examples of machines distributed over Europe and UK would be affected in the exact same way but they are not! Likewise other models produced before and after that given period of time are exempt from this kind of failure."

After the isolated incidents the raw drum stamping is the same piece. It is like a can of beans with a vertical seam that is broken, the unrolled piece of sheet metal is the same. ie the seam broke; ie the weld or joint failed.

After the event the raw piece of rectangular stainless steel metal is still there.

It is all just distorted like if one places a firecracker in a cab of beans; the can splits at the seams

What failed is the joints/seam/crimps/welds..

The tensile strength of 201 stainless is very high

The weak seam failed; thus the whole drum splits apart.

Just because so many others do not fail is no reason to support shoddy seams.

In fact a cocky they never fail attitude is why quality control gets quashed; until the low bidders luck fails. ie one gets field failures due to shoddy poor quality control.

This failure is really a human one, releasing a shoddy poor joint on a rotating component thus one has field failures. If this was a Roman cart wheel, the wheel maker could too say that other cart wheels do to fail; thus his slacker shoddy work is ok too?

 

[fl1012]

reversomatic.....

...i was writing my response as you submitted yours hence we raise the same theory towards Candy settling claims.

What interested me most was which manufacturers/appliances have been worst affected by the 13amp plug problem? Cheers.

Liam

 

[pierreandreply4]

me i mostly tumble dry

1) because i live in a condo

2) the canadian city i live in it is not allowed to have a drying clothe line du to city regulation and also say so in the condo rules of the condo where i live

 

[fl1012]

Clothes Line's not Allowed!

Blimey, we're told that in some flats in the UK we can't hang out laundry to dry, but never seen a blanket ban on them across a city before! That goes a long way to answering my question. Thanks

 

[3beltwesty]

If it is not the SEAM; what else is IT?

Here is a failed machine; the image from this site of "fredriksam";

where I purposely added text and notes to show the failed seam/joint.

It just split apart and opened up like a can of beans. The can's metal is all still there; the seam failed. ie poor crimps; or poor welds or poor pins or poor whatever holds side A to side B.

An engineer two thousand years ago could spot this. It is like a steel rim /hoop around a wooden wheel. The wheel fails. The General sees the twisted steel rim broken at the weld/joint. The slacker blacksmith can confess and fix or say it never happens thus is beheaded.

One can do the marketing dance and say other washers, other cars; other jets never fail too. That is why the Comet might be the top jet in a FRINGE TV alternate universe in 1960; folks said who cares if they drop out of the sky?

 

[MrX]

@reversomatic Re: 13A plug

Hi,

Could you please cut off and keep it and contact the Trading Standards Institute in the UK, or if you're in Ireland, the NCA (National Consumer Agency).

Tell them that you have noticed that there is an on-going problem and give the manufactuer's name, the plug manufacturer's name (if any is visible) and the model numbers etc and tell them that you have retained the plug for analysis.

Plugs sold in the UK or Ireland must legally conform to BS1363 or BS1363/A in the UK or, IS401 in Ireland (Same standard). It's a very specific standard and it's enforced pretty seriously and compliance is absolutely required by law.

If a plug's shorting out, then it's likely that it does not comply with the above standards and should be reported.

I've included a link below for contacting Trading Standards in the UK.

http://https//ssl.datamotion.com/form.aspx?co=893&frm=complainform&ri=NW&to=advice

 

[MrX]

@reversomatic Re: 13A plug

Do you know which plug brand / appliance maker is involved?

The same plug/cord assembly is likely to be used on lots of devices from lots of manufactures!

 

[MrX]

Trading standards link again

Sorry that link didn't quite work as planned!

Use the one below and select: General Consumer Issues

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/contact?action=complain

 

[aeg03]

As consumers we should all be careful and never leave appliances unattended.

A few days ago I came home and went into the kitchen and saw my AEG Oko Lavamat 72640 which is 8 n half years old mis-aligned and facing slightly to the right. I was baffled but thought that someone had been cleaning and maybe pulled the machine out and didnt position it properly. I asked and no one had moved it so I wondered why the machine had moved. Anyway, I positioned it back.

Today I put in a load and had the machine on for around 25 mins. I was in the kitchen making some food and I heard an almighty bang, so I looked around and saw the machine jump forward and to the left whilst it was on its 50 degree cotton wash! It scared the s***t out of me. If I had been standing in front of the machine prepering food on the work top and it did this and didn't stop then the machine could have potentially jumped on my bare feet or something. I am now scared to leave the machine unattended and don't feel safe in front of it now.

This has shown me that no matter how reliable a product may be, you just don't know when it could malfunction and cause damage. I am urging others in the household not to use this machine and go out after what I saw today.

I think that there is a problem with the Microprocessor board getting confused as the machine was supposed to do a tumble and instead it jumped into a spin. I do not think its anything to do with the tacho, but then again, after 8 and half years, it could be. Who knows.

 

[newwave1]

Your suspension is going then. That happened to my AEG 76740 everytime it span. Combined with bad bearings and a perishing door seal sadly saw it make way for my zanussi essential.

Darren

 

[pierreandreply4]

me i never leave the house when an appliance is on as it might be very dangerous if you have an appliance on its best to pause the cycle or push in the timer knob and restart the washer when you return from running errands.