The following notice has been issued by the manufacturer:
IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTICE: POTENTIAL FIRE HAZARD
Owners of the following Bosch, Neff and Siemens dishwashers please act on this safety notice
An electrical component on a limited number of Bosch, Neff and Siemens branded dishwashers may overheat and in very rare cases cause a potential fire hazard. We are committed to the highest standards of safety and quality. As a responsible manufacturer we are voluntarily undertaking a free in-home repair programme of affected dishwashers which were manufactured between 1999 and early 2005. The affected dishwashers are certain models in the batch number range from FD 7901 to FD 8504. Dishwashers which are outside the above batch number range are not affected.
The manufacturer’s web site
If you have an affected appliance go through to this Safety notice on Bosch website and follow instructions.
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My Bosch dishwasher started a fire this week, but when I called Bosch they told me since it was not under warranty … bought is August of 2010, and only parts are warranteed for two years, they couldn’t help.
Sheri: If it’s not affected by the safety notice above they may not be so interested. Unfortunately, dishwashers, like other white goods appliances have always been subject to occasionally catching fire and they may treat it just like a break down out of warranty – though they should always be concerned about any of their appliances catching fire.
It depends on what’s caused the problem and the costs involved in repairing it as to whether you have a good case for claiming it hasn’t lasted a reasonable time under the sale of goods act (against the retailer – not the manufacturer) but you may well have a case if the fire caused a lot of damage and has caused the dishwasher to be beyond economical repair.
i had the same problem with my Miele dishwasher and they denied it had caught fire and said the “burn marks” i could see when they pulled it apart weren’t burn marks they were marks from manufacturing and that my dishwasher wasn’t working becuase of another problem – yep – out of warranty so cost me $500 to get fixed!
My neff dishwasher had been installed before I bought my apartment in 2006. Model no 7 026 (7801). 02 262. Am I right in believing it is safe?
Hello Elizabeth, regarding this specific safety issue, “affected dishwashers were manufactured between 1999 and early 2005. The affected dishwashers are certain models in the batch number range from FD 7901 to FD 8504. Dishwashers which are outside the above batch number range are not affected.”
However, even if it was new in 2006 it is theoretically possible that it was manufactured in 2005 and had been in stock for a while. Therefore you need to check the FD number as shown on my article, the link at the bottom of my article shows exactly how to find the FD number, which is very easy.
I have a bosch dw009H and I have had it for quite a while, in view of recent scares is my appliance safe
Anonymous: If you’ve checked using my article and yours isn’t affected by this specific safety notice you have to assume it’s OK. Unfortunately all appliances are potentially dangerous. We can’t become paranoid about them, we just need to use them as safely as possible which means not leaving washers, dryers or dishwashers running whilst we are in bed or out of the house. Many manufacturers have specific safety problems which only affect particular models and often then only ones made between specific dates.