It must be stressful in our household as our appliances seem to have taken up smoking! It all began on Saturday whilst Paul was enjoying a casual vape by the back door, when for no reason whatsoever his ‘Cool Fire IV’ vape suddenly took up smoking and set alight. Whilst the vape may have been dubbed as a ‘CoolFire’ there was certainly nothing ‘Cool’ about this particular fire!
Paul didn’t seem to know what to do at first and was juggling the vape between his hands much like a game of hot potato. I shouted at him to “throw it outside” and a moment or two later he did just that. Once the vape had stopped smoking Paul went to investigate what state it was in following being thrown into wet grass. The vape itself still worked which was rather impressive however it smelt horrific and there was no way that we would have ever tried using it again.
Paul boxed up the rather charred vape and on Monday I jumped in the car and drove through to the Vape Bar to return the product. I was very impressed with The Vape Bars service, they were ever so good about it all. They replaced the frazzled CoolFire IV with a new Mini Cuboid along with a new drip tip and a coil for myself all free of charge. Happy Days!
Two days later following their trip to Corfu, my parents paid us a ‘pressy visit’. We were busy catching up in the kitchen over a cuppa whilst the kids were happy soaking one and other outside with their new water pistols when all of sudden my Dad began shouting “smoke” at the top of his voice. At first I thought he must be desperate for a cigarette but soon realised that plumes of smoke were coming from the utility room, and the tumble dryer which had been making a soft whirring sound as it spun now sounded much like a machine gun.
Paul raced into the kitchen and began pulling at the plug sockets to turn the appliances off, the smoke which was billowing from the top of our Montpellier tumble dryer was quite thick at this point and the entire house smelt acrid. We opened all the doors and windows to ventilate the house and removed the tumble dryer from its space under the counter.
Whilst it was quite a shock it seemed to be over before it even began really, thanks to everyone’s quick thinking and Paul’s fast actions the utility room and kitchen is still in one piece. I dread to think what would have happened if we had decided to join the children in the garden and hadn’t noticed the smoke.
Whilst there has been a recent recall upon tumble dryer, Montpellier isn’t one of the brands listed for recall and therefore our dryer has been sent off to the manufacturers for investigation. It was just over two years old and whilst we tend to ‘hammer our appliances’ by which I mean we use them more regularly than most, I still do not deem any appliance no matter what its age setting on fire as acceptable. Let’s hope that they get to the bottom of the issue and that the matter is resolved for any other customers with the same model.
We managed to replace our tumble dryer yesterday with a ‘Hoover’ dryer which I am fairly pleased with given that the kids are getting bigger, their clothes are following suit and this particular tumble dryer model has a larger load capacity. It also has heat sensors, timers and a whole host of other random features, none of which I am particularly fussed about, so long as it doesn’t burst into flames and put my family at risk then it’ll do! We weren’t planning on shelling out £200 for a new tumble dryer just before our summer holidays, but needs must I guess and as I can’t cope with towels like sandpaper we had very little choice.
I would like to take this opportunity to state the obvious and warn you all never to do the following:
- Do not over load your tumble dryer
- Do not leave your tumble dryer on when you leave the house
- Ensure that you regularly empty the lint tray to prevent dust/ fluff causing a fire hazard
- Ensure you are aware where your tumble dryer is plugged in so that you can switch it off quickly and easily should you have any problems.
Most of the above are common sense but it’s still worth mentioning if it prevents others from the risk of fire.
We have been pretty flipping lucky this week in that we have dealt with situations quickly and calmly to avert disaster, the two ordeals have certainly made me more aware of the dangers of our everyday appliances. Stay safe folks, stick to the fags (I am kidding) and get comfortable with sandpaper sheets for bedding.
7 comments
Oh my gosh what a week! Always the way you end up shelling out on something unexpected just as you are going away.
Always
What a nightmare! Thanks for these warnings, I sometimes put the dryer on and leave it on whilst away to work, now I need to learn my lesson about this. #TuesdayTreasures
oh dear. Our washing machine is on the blink and we keep having to fix it, (it leaks) ourselves to make it last a little longer. I will make sure we don’t overload our dryer. I don’t want that going too!
Utilities – nightmare !!!
sounds like a stressful week. Good advice about the tumble dryer these things can be so dangerous and so many people leave them on over night.
Oh no sounds like a nightmare! We have a washer dryer and it’s pretty rubbish.Thanks for linking to #PicknMix