A HOME APPLIANCES company has launched a ‘voluntary repair action’ across Ireland on a number of Bosch, Neff and Siemans dishwashers manufactured between 1999 and 2005.
BSH Home Appliances said that the affected dishwashers can, “in rare occasions”, pose a small risk of fire due to a fault in the control panel. The failure only appears to happen when in combination with age, usage and prolonged elevated voltage levels.
The fault is a single solder point which, when subjected to permanent, sustained voltage peaks, can overheat and in rare cases, cause a potential for fire.
In 2011 there was a pattern of failure with these appliances in Britain and they were withdrawn. However the company said that it “didn’t observe any anomalies in Ireland that are not consistent with failures in appliances of this age and model” as part of its assessment process in 2011.
BSH said that there was now a pattern of failures in the Republic of Ireland and that is the reason it has “reviewed the situation and take action as appropriate”.
Commenting yesterday, Brian McMenamin, Director of BSH in Ireland said that although these appliances are between eight and 15 years old, it is important for consumers to check their dishwashers and register their information so the company can arrange a free repair.
A dedicated website will be put in place over the next few days where customers can check if they have an affected model and book a free in-home repair. In the meantime, customers can call the freephone number 1800 322 222 to register their details.
The company said that, while the risk is small, it would urge all customers who bought a Bosch, Siemans or Neff dishwasher before 2006 to contact them.
Over the coming weeks, BSH will be be working to raise awareness of the voluntary repair action which will include advertising in national print titles as well as on-line, search engine optimisation and direct customer contact.
“The best advice I can give our customers is to give us a call if you have any concerns,” McMenamin said. “If you have an affected model, an engineer will come and carry out a free repair to the machine. If a customer is advised that they have an affected model then we will advise them not to use the machine unattended until the repair has been carried out.”
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