I’ve been writing about and following cases of “exploding” door glass on washing machines since 2008. There’s been a steady trickle of reports from people with various brands. Some even claim their door glass shattered spontaneously when the washing machine was not even switched on. It’s potentially a genuine safety concern. Especially for children.
Customers who report these incidents are definitely claiming it is dangerous. I have seen reports of people being cut and injured, but nothing serious so far. As far as I can make out it’s been more to do with being cut picking up the glass. Back in 2012 there was a brief flurry of international media interest in my article. It was widely quoted and linked to. However, presumably without any reports of serious injury it was soon forgotten.
Don’t confuse two separate “exploding” washing machine issues
This article is about the door glass exploding. Another issue, which has also had national press coverage is when the washing machine’s inner drum “explodes” during spin. This is a known issue related to specific brands and is covered in my article here – washing machines exploding: What’s going on?
Shattering door glass
I’m not entirely happy using the word explode because it sounds sensational. But as most people experiencing this issue use that word it needs to be used. Some have even described it as being like “a bomb”.
The previous picture is of a Beko washing machine. Beko are one of the most common UK washing machines who so far have the highest reported cases. The consumer who sent it me wrote –
I dread to think the outcome if my son had been in front of the machine at the time! ”
Lots of people have expressed concerns over children and pets.
Peter Tyson Appliances give high quality service coupled with special offers and competitive prices on carefully chosen white goods.
Reports of spontaneous exploding glass when washer not even running
Seeing this picture on my Facebook news-feed heightened my concerns. It’s of a friend’s small child innocently looking into their washing machine. No parent could be expected to foresee the thick door glass of their washing machine shattering, either when on – or especially when it’s just standing unused. This photo is worrying when you know about all of the incidents that have happened (rare or not). Clearly it’s best to not let children get this close up just in case.
Manufacturers are saying the problem is caused by foreign obstructions such as coins or metal buckles hitting and weakening the door glass. The weakened door can then shatter under constant heating up and cooling down. Another theory is that it’s caused by people overloading the washing machine. However, it would be nice if the door glass was strong enough to cope with such inevitable stresses. I have written an article specifically covering that subject here – exploding door glass who’s fault is it?
Which washing machines are affected?
Many brands have been mentioned across the price range. Cheap, middle, and even some top-end brands have been affected. So it’s not necessarily only the cheapest brands. See the tally of reports on the right column (after the comments on mobile devices).
What’s the solution?
Until a definite cause is proved it’s difficult to know what needs to be done. The main expectation is that the door glass maybe needs to be made thicker. There’s no proof that the glass is too thin as yet. If manufacturers placed a plastic cover in front of the door glass it would definitely prevent any injuries. This would make it double-glazed. It’s likely to be difficult to fit one retrospectively. So it would probably need to be designed like this from the off. This was actually done around 20 years back by Hoover on models like the Eco Logic, Soft Wave and New Wave. However it was done for thermal protection and insulation. To my knowledge, and in my experience, the shattering door glass was not an issue back then. I didn’t come across any shattered door glass until around 2008.
What can you do to limit any danger?
Enough reports of the glass shattering whilst the washer isn’t even on have been made to be taken seriously although this still appears to be rare. Don’t let kids play around washing machines until this issue is hopefully resolved. Some door glass appears to break into relatively safe rounded chunks, but some (see photos of broken glass ) have broken into more sharp and jagged pieces, which definitely look dangerous.
Remember, there are only (presumably) a few hundred cases out of millions of washing machines and only a small percentage of them claim the washer wasn’t running at the time. So the odds of it happening at all – never mind someone being in front of it at the time – should be very low. If you are concerned enough to need to do something you could try hanging a thick towel over the door when the washer is not in use. That would prevent or limit any glass flying out. Keep children and pets away from it especially when it’s running.
Take care of your washing machine and treat it gently
Many of them aren’t built as well as they used to and can’t take much “abuse”. Don’t overload the machine by cramming it so full that the whole laundry just turns around in one big lump. Don’t under-load it either – Loading a washing machine). Also make sure you check all pockets for coins and other obstructions before washing. Don’t put laundry in with metal buckles or buttons which could hit the door glass.
Some new washing machines do have a plastic barrier in front of the glass
I’ve seen two new AEG washing machines that both have a protective plastic see-through plate in front of the door glass (which is the solution I’ve always described). However, they were both washer dryers. So it’s more to do with thermal insulation again than protecting against shattering door glass. As AEG have only had 1 reported incident on Whitegoodshelp (so far) it seems unlikely they would have introduced this “shield” for safety. It’s likely to just be coincidental.
(More views on this subject from another engineer : Ken Watt runs UKWhitegoods and is an experienced appliance engineer. He has written an article giving his views here – Washing Machine Door Glass Failures)
Photos and tally of broken door glass
If your washing machine door glass has shattered or exploded please send (in focus) photos so I can consider putting them on this article as examples. Contact me using my contact form and you can then attach the photos to my email reply.
I have a separate page where I feature all of the best photos of shattered door glass. On this page there is also a list of all of the incidents reported to me in order of which brands are most affected. Photos are currently on photos and tally of broken glass. There are also plenty of comments on this article below to read and research if you scroll down. If you have any information or would just like to register an incident with me please add a comment or contact me
Related articles
- Exploding door glass who’s fault is it?
- For an article on actual washing machines exploding (not just the door glass) go here – Washing machines exploding: What’s going on?
lemurtail says
Thanks for publishing that warning and showing the photos. It is truly shocking. Would something like the British Standards Institute be worth contacting for advice? They used to have a testing centre in Milton Keynes where they carried out rigorous tests on consumer goods. Might still be there.
Like yourself, I am shocked by shoddiness of modern washing machines as compared to their older counterparts.
My 14 year old washing machine was capable of doing a high temperature wash without the glass door becoming a lethal weapon. The 1st time I did a similar wash on my new (July 2008) machine, the glass got red hot – enough to cause a burn. Not that I routinely finger glass doors, of course! However, It would be too dangerous to use if there was a small child in the house.
I did question this with both the retailer and the manufacturer but was told that my machine was no different than others. Please tell me that that is not true! How do these things ever get passed for sale?
Denise says
I myself am extremely dissapointed with how washing machine’s are made. At this moment I am waiting on an engineer comeing to my house to do a report on my washing machine . On Sunday night the glass exploded from the door shattering all over the floor and worktops when it was on the final spin,3mins to go. The machine is only 4 months old and luckily nobody was hurt. It was bedding and towels I had in the machine at the time.
Alex Scully says
I have recently had the experience of the glass door in my Beko washing machine exploding / shattering on a 90 degrees hot wash and the machine is less than 4 years old. Beko were not very helpful and the issue has been raised with Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire Trading Standards. The machine has since now today been repaired but should I trust it with high termperatures again?
They only seemed to be willing to come back and finish the repair after contacting Trading Standards.
Washerhelp says
Hello Alex: If they didn’t explain exactly what caused the glass to shatter and what they’ve done to prevent it happening again (for example has the new door glass has been modified to prevent it happening again?) then presumably it could happen again.
If that’s the case you might be able to claim the washing machine isn’t fit for its purpose because it isn’t safe to use though unfortunately we don’t know what caused it at this stage. Therefore you would need to be able to prove that this is a design fault and that might not be easy (see my exploding door glass – who’s fault is it? article). If you have lost confidence in it you may be able to claim compensation from the retailer under the Sale of Goods Act which gives consumers up to 6 years (5 in Scotland) to claim compensation. Under the Sale of Goods Act it’s only the retailer who is responsible despite the fact that they didn’t actually make it.
If you pursue this line you can expect resistance from virtually all retailers who generally tend to just claim there’s nothing they can do once it is out of guarantee, which is not true. If you do win compensation in the small claims court they will likely knock off about half the value of the washing machine because you’ve already had 4 years use from it.
Most people tend to think it’s not worth the hassle and stress pursuing a claim, but if you do want to pursue it further you need to read this article and its comments EU 2 year guarantee. Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives us 6 years to claim for faulty appliances
Steve Seburn says
We had just bought a Samsung washing machine never again we were doin laundry as normal towels ect, when we heard a bang went to investigate and the the glass inside the machine broke right in half and glass everywere.We have been waiting for 2 weeks for a Samsung tec to look at it.Be carefull with theses machines the glass could have really hurt someone if they were standing there.Theses washers are dangerous and can cause serious damage to someone.
Anika says
I am currently waiting for an engineer to come and fix the glass in my Zanussi washer dryer. I was doing a 40 wash not overly full and when I went to open the door I cut my hands on some glass.
The inner door had exploded all over my clothes…
I have never heard of this until it happened to me and I looked on the web abd saw your comments. I am really disappointed with how they are made, especially knowing that my mum has had many washing machines over the years and she has never come across this happening.
PAMELA ODELL says
I have had a BEKO WASHING MACHINE, for 10 days.
Last evening around 4pm, we were sitting in the living room, when we heard this loud bang, we found the cause, the DOOR ON THE WASHING MACHINE HAD JUST EXPLODED, the machine was not in use at the time.
There was no know reason for this, as the machine, was quite empty, and still, with not a soul any were near it.
On phoning BEKO, we were told, WE WOULD GET A PHONE CALL WITHIN THE NEXT 48 HOURS FROM A ENGINEER, mind you I know really don’t trust any machine, as he will be only fitting a new door.
Washerhelp says
Pamela: Yours is the most bizarre case so far. It’s hard to imagine a cause for a door glass shattering whilst not in use – do you have a poltergeist? ;-)
Please keep us informed.
PAMELA ODELL says
BEKO has informed us they will be here some time on the 1st. SEPT.
To fit a new door, I must say, they didn’t sound a bit surprised, so I will let you know just what takes place.
Julia Davies says
With reference to the above comments, I am so glad that the exploding washer/dryer glass door has not only happened to me. I am currently pursuing the dangerousness of this matter as two weeks ago, with 3 items in the machine on a dry cycle, a loud bang occurred, similar to a pipe bomb going off. Following investigation, the glass of the door and its surround had been blown out at such a force, it had dented my fridge freezer door and also a sweeping brush handle which was approx 5 feet away from the machine. The 3 items inside the drum had also caught on fire.
I perish the thought that if any one had been in front of the machine when it exploded, they would have either been severely maimed, or, if it was my youngest child who is only seven, he would not have stood a chance and could have been killed. So far, a senior engineer has been out from the company who made this deadly machine to supposedly do a full diagnostic check, yet, all he did was a fire check and alienate me and my husband because of his rudeness and obstructiveness. He made us feel that it was our fault that this product had blown up and was not interested in how it has affected us. I even asked him whether he had any suspicions as to why it had happened and his reply was that he did not wish to speculate.Some senior engineer hey!
Yesterday, we were offered a replacement washer/dryer because they want the killer machine back for further testing yet, I am more annoyed that there has not been a mention of the word ‘SORRY’, for the stress this has caused and the numerous phone calls I have had to make to both parties who were involved with making and selling me this deadly machine. My advice to all consumers is that if they encounter safety issues with any items they may purchase, at first contact Consumer Direct about their worries and if they think that there is a safety issue they will pass the information on to the local Trading Standards Authority like they did in this particular case. Also, make sure you report the incident by writing to head office and send it by recorded delivery so that you can prove that it got there. Don’t forget to make a duplicate of the letter too so you can always refer back to it.
At present, I do not know whether I will have an explanation as to why the door exploded and by giving me a replacement in turn for the collection of the machine is a way of shutting me up and keeping me sweet. However, I am still very upset about the whole thing and now I have seen, by reading these comments that other people have gone through similar experiences has made me more determined to get to the bottom of it. If anyone has any suggestions or advice about this topic, please leave your comments as I feel, that at the moment, I will not be at ease until I have been given a reasonable explanation as to why this happened!