PSA: B/c I nearly burned our house down!

sunshiny79

So yeah, you should probably never run the dishwasher unless you are home.

I ran it a couple of days ago then started vacuuming my living room.  I started smelling a burnt smell and finally figured out it was the dishwasher.

TWO sippy cup tops fell from the top rack and were melting on the heater coil and the spinning washer was stuck on them. 

It could have turned out really, really bad but luckily I was home to catch it.  When I opened the door a big cloud of smoke came out.

Scary stuff!

Temp159135562506975

this is no joke. there was a nestie a few years back (I think on the D&R board) who's house burned down b/c of the dishwasher being on when nobody was home.

Ever since DH and I never run the dishwasher nor dryer if nobody is here- ever.

glad you were there to catch it!!!

luckyluvr

Glad everything's alright. I did something similar on Christmas Eve. My family was over, and I was baking a take-home pizza. I've made them a million times, so I didn't read the directions and put 2 in the oven to speed things up. In minutes I smelled burning, looked in the oven, and thought a pepperoni had fallen or something...no big deal. I opened a window. The next thing I knew, my oven was on fire! I'll never live that one down.

sunshiny79

Goldie_Locks_5:

this is no joke. there was a nestie a few years back (I think on the D&R board) who's house burned down b/c of the dishwasher being on when nobody was home.

Ever since DH and I never run the dishwasher nor dryer if nobody is here- ever.

glad you were there to catch it!!!

I remember that happening!

Marce921

Yikes!! I'm so glad you were home to catch it! There was a nestie on this board a few yrs ago that did that and wasn't home! Ever since I've been very careful about it!

I've also had a problem with the washer smoking and thankfully I was home to catch that. So, I no longer turn on any appliance and then leave!

Kelly Madonna

This is my DH's big fear, I guess I really should stop running things when I'm not home.

Sarahb34743

Wow, I do this all the time. I load the morning dishes and head out the door while the dishwasher runs. I figured it was saving me time for when I get home in the evening. I think I wont be doing this any more.

Thanks for the PSA, I would have never thought of it!!

Starr_Mom

This is why I've recently started reusing the dishwasher basket for bottle stuff. I've had lids fall down and get ruined, but I never thought that it could catch the DW on fire! YIKES!

CleoKitty

Yikes.

I guess I'll just have to gamble. If I only ran the dryer/washer/dishwasher then laundry/dishes would simply never get done. I have all of those things set on timers so that they'll run when I'm at work. With my schedule I'm just not home enough hours in the day to babysit those appliances.

 

wildflower865

Wow, Cleo, I hope you house is sprinklered and you have a professional fire department.  If not, I'd rethink at least the dryer part.