SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20181101-F2B31-2147384706. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: WHIRLPOOL DUET DRYER WGD9470WW2 (WHIRIRLPOOL DUET DRYER). Incident: On October 21, 2018 at approximately 4:00pm I was at home with my wife [REDACTED] age 50 and my Son [REDACTED] age 8 when without warning my CO and Smoke alarms located in the basement where my furnace and Whirlpool Dryer are located sounded a warning. I immediately got my family out of the house to the safety of the next door neighbor and returned to investigate further why the alarms were warning audibly active. I observed smoke in the basement and immediately determined the Whirlpool Dryer which was not in use at the time was burnt on the inside of the drum. I disconnected the electricity to the dryer, proceeded to vent the house by opening the windows, but the CO and Smoke alarms continued to alarm. I exited my house and had my wife telephone and dispatch a service technician to inspect my Whirlpool Dryer. At approximately 5:00pm the technician named [REDACTED] arrived at my house. I informed him of what I had observed. The technician entered my house, went to the basement, and discovered that my Whirlpool Dryer had a catostaphic failure of the internal Gas Value and High temperature sensor. Gas was actively flowing into the Dryer although it was not in use. The gas was being consumed by the pilot light releasing CO as well as burning the inside Dryer drum at a very high temperature. The technician immediately shut the Gas line to the my Whirlpool Dryer. Upon further examination the technician observed the internal Gas Value to be stuck in the open position which caused CO and natural gas to flow unimpeded into my house. The technician stated," ITS A GOOD THING YOU CALL