( Addendum: Since publishing this article I’ve found that the John Lewis JLDWW1201 dishwashers appears to be also affected John Lewis JLDWW1201 dishwasher safety recall )
Date: 14th March 2008
The following notice has been published in the national press regarding : AEG Electrolux Zanussi & Electrolux DISHWASHERS.
“Our quality control programme has identified that a purchased connector component presents a potential risk of fire in some series of Electrolux, AEG-Electrolux and Zanussi-Electrolux dishwashers. No product bought before June 2006 is affected
Models with this potential problem are listed below.
The Model (Mod), PNC and Serial Number (S.N.) of the dishwasher are printed on the rating plate on the right side of the dishwasher door.
The location of the rating plate is also shown in the user guide that came with the appliance. If the model number matches one in the table below and falls into the given serial number range then the dishwasher is an affected model.”
| Brand | Model | PNC |
| Electolux | ESF46010 | 911616240 |
| ESF46010S | 911616241 | |
| ESF66010 | 911916312 | |
| ESF66010S | 911916313 | |
| AEG-Electrolux | F440801D | 911925623 |
| F440801M | 911925601 | |
| F440801VV | 911925624 | |
| F50765* | 911916296 | |
| F50870 | 911916618 | |
| F50870M | 911916619 | |
| F54750 | 911615221 | |
| Zanussi-Electroluxux | ZDF601 | 911916269 |
| ZDF601K | 911916270 | |
| ZDF601M | 911916281 | |
| ZDF601S | 911916271 |
Only the following serial numbers are affected: 62400001 to 72399999 (*except AEG-Electrolux model F50765, serial numbers affected are 62400001 to 62799999 and 64100001 to 7079999 and 71700001 to 72399999)
If you are the owner of an affected model you must stop using your dishwasher and switch off the appliance.
This safety notice does not affect any other Electrolux, AEG-Electrolux or Zanussi-Electrolux appliance.
Concerned? Check your model number on the AEG-Electrolux site
Here’s a link to the AEG-Electrolux site that lets you enter your model number and PNC number to check if your dishwasher is affected. There’s also a telephone helpline number and an email address available – Dishwasher Safety notice
NOTE: The link above is the third link I’ve used after each of the previous two stopped working when someone at Electrolux removed the page breaking the link. If it breaks again please let me know. I don’t know if it’s incompetence or wilful action but there’s no excuse for breaking links to serious safety issues. If they want to move the page it should be redirected.
Purchased Zanussi ZDF601K in February 2007, on the night of the 6 December 2007 this dishwasher caught fire. Smoke alarms alerted us, we had three dogs in the kitchen, we had to leave one in as the smoke was so dense we could we could not find him, we risked our lives trying to get the dogs out. The dishwasher was purchased from John Lewis, we have had no satisfaction from them whatsoever, we are still waiting for communications.
The Insurance Company were brilliant, the damage to the house amounted to 10′s of thousands.
We have absolute proof that this dishwasher was faulty.
Nasty. Thank goodness for the smoke alarms. Your experience highlights the dangers of leaving washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers unattended whilst in use. At the very least a smoke alarm should be installed near the appliance although this can be impractical if it is in a kitchen because of being set off by cooking.
Our Zanussi ZDF 501 caught fire the other night, 2 years after we’d purchased if from John Lewis. Fortunately we were in the house at the time, and were able to stop the fire within seconds of smelling the smoke. Having said that, the flames were pretty big, and the molten plastic from the dishwasher had started a secondary fire on our lino floor. I don’t see our model mentioned among the notices, but I thought I should post this for owners of the same model as ours, as it sounds like a very similar problem to the ZDF 601.I’ve no doubt the whole house would have gone up in smoke if we’d been out.
I live in the Netherlands and I have a AEG Favorit 44460 which I purchased in July 2007. Our serial number is not in the listed numbers on the AEG document. Our dishwasher caught fire and fortunately we were in the house otherwise it could have been very nasty. AEG tell me that my dishwasher is not effected by their recall. AEG are sending a technician and we sill see what he says.
To be continued……….
Please do keep us informed Jonathan. Dishwashers and other appliances can always catch fire regardless of any specific issue. Water leaking onto electrical parts is one cause though they should be designed so that doesn’t happen of course. I like to think it’s very rare, which it probably is, but I always turn my dishwasher off if it’s running and we are going out.
The AEG engineer came around and agreed in two mins that the problem was caused due to a manufacturing defect and they are going to repair the unit for free.
Just waiting for a spare part before he can do the work next week.
So for me, in the Netherlands, the response from AEG / Electrolux was good. But what a shocking defect to have out in the field.
I live in Spain. My 2 year old dishwasher AEG Favorit F50870 caught fire and destroyed my house for a month. Insurance company takes care of us. How many cases and even deaths still waiting to come???
Was in the room next door and heard a loud bang from the kitchen. thinking the dog had dragged something off a worktop I rushed in.
I was greeted by billowing black smoke coming from the front of the dishwasher and a rather alarming red glow at the top of the door.
Alarmingly we normally put the dishwasher on timer to come on after midnight!
My wife has had a serious hip and socket replacement last week so would have been unable to move quickly or climb out of windows.
AEG are sending an engineer out tomorrow to make a report (because a fire was involved).
Unlike Alejandro I caught it in time.
Although we have a solid fire door protecting the corridor to the bedrooms our loft spans the full roof.
Firewall in loft will be going in!
These Favourit dishwasher are £650 rrp and you do not expect this sort of thing to happen to a £250 one let a machine of this price.
Is it me or are there more and more cases of faulty appliances with very dangerous faults? Fires, broken glass doors on washing machines and so on! Why does this happen so often now? Are the parts or appliances made in China or if not, just made very poorly to be sold at stupidly low prices that consumers demand?
Having read pages like this one, I would NEVER leave a dishwasher, washing machine or TV switched on when I’m away from home for any length of time or asleep. The multi-plugs to the TV, DVD player etc. get switched off at the wall when not in use. Take no chances!
here I am again. after checked the situation and fight with Electrolux – AEG Spain I could investigate by my own and the problem is that the manufacturers are using less copper for the electricity cables, switchers are not enough valid for resist electricity and connexions and plastics have bad quality: all to cut expenses but not realizing that the user are suffering the risks
WMUser: Yes I think there are more serious faults with white goods appliances than ever before. Washing machines exploding, fridges exploding, appliance catching fire – it’s totally ridiculous.
I purchased a John Lewis dishwasher in 2007. In 2008 I received a safety recall letter re the possibility of the electrical connection overheating and catching fire. A engineer called and said my machine was perfectly ok.
Now in 2011 my dishwasher blew up!! Luckily I was at home when the dishwasher was on. I heard a loud bang and when I ran in the kitchen there was smoke coming from the back of the dishwasher and the plug socket was burnt black. I am now waiting for John Lewis to come back to me to see if they will replace the dishwasher rather than fix it under my extended warantee as I no longer feel it is safe to use if it is repaired. It was a frightening experience and I am only grateful we were at home at the time. It could have been even worse, we could have been asleep when this happend!!!
Hello Sue: If the engineer said the appliance wasn’t affected by the safety notice it could simply be that an unrelated fault has now occurred. Regrettably, appliances do catch fire for various reasons, not always due to a specific design fault – Fire risks in appliances
However, I couldn’t rule out the possibility of the engineer having made a mistake (although I feel it’s unlikely) or even the possibility that there is another design flaw but if the plug socket was burned black it could even be that something went wrong inside the plug or wall socket. Please let us know what happens.