SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20210422-C8DF5-2147364566. Severity: No Incident, No Injury. Product: GE GFDR270EHWW (GE Electric Dryer, Model No. GFDR270EHWW, Serial No. RF178370 The web site for the model is here: https://www.geappliances.com/appliance/GE-8-1-cu-ft-capacity-RightHeight-Design-Front-Load-electric-dryer-with-steam-GFDR270EHWW). Incident: On April 22, 2021, our GE electric clothing dryer, model no. GFDR270EHWW, serial no. RF178370, was operating on a low heat, manual time cycle. It began to make what sounded like a loud "buzz" sound, so we immediately turned it off. When we did, a significant amount of black smoke was emitted from the space between the top right of the dryer and the control panel. We immediately unplugged it and grabbed a fire extinguisher. Fortunately, while there was a lot of smoke, there was no visible flame. After giving the machine time to stop smoking and cool, we removed it from the laundry room and, eventually, to the garage due to the noxious smell it continued to emit. After watching a YouTube video, we removed the control panel to make sure whatever happened stopped. When we did so, we discovered that one of the harnesses apparently failed, but incredibly, the plug to the harness was held together or secured with what appeared to be masking tape. We do not know, but strongly suspect, that this haphazard installation or build caused a short, which had we not discovered it so quickly, could have resulted in flame and burned down our house and caused bodily harm or death to any one or all of us. We purchased the dryer in May or June of 2016. It had been serviced once, while it was still under warranty, for failing/failed rollers on the drum by a GE authorized or certified technician. (The warranty claim was made to GE.) We never serviced the dryer ourselves, as we had no need to. However, we regularly cleaned the lint trap and the exhaust hose to the exterior of the house.