A new study reveals that faulty household appliances cause 38 electrical fires A DAY in England, and big name brands are responsible.
Electrical wholesaler, ElectricalDirect, analysed fire and rescue statistics collated by the Home Office and UK government between April 2019 and March 2020 to find out just how many everyday appliances were the root cause of electrical fires in the home.
The research found that household appliances caused a total of 15,000 accidental fires in homes across England. But when called out on the job which appliances, and brands, should electricians look out for the most?
Faulty appliances accounted for 15% of appliance fires
The biggest culprits were washing machines, accountable for nearly a quarter (23%) of the faulty appliance fires. Tumble dryers (20%) and cookers (9%) followed suit.
Of the accidental appliance fires in 2019/20, 2.2k (15%) of them were caused by the appliance being faulty, which is 43 a week.
The top 10 appliances that caused the most fires due to being faulty
| Rank | Appliance Type | Number of fires due to being faulty (2019/20) |
| 1 | Washing machine | 520 |
| 2 | Tumble dryer | 459 |
| 3 | Cooker incl. oven | 201 |
| 4 | Fridge/Freezer | 181 |
| 5 | Dishwasher | 171 |
| 6 | Extractor fan | 118 |
| 7 | Grill/Toaster | 116 |
| 8 | Other domestic style appliance | 96 |
| 9 | Microwave oven | 74 |
| 10 | Washer/Dryer combined | 54 |
(Number of faulty household appliances caused in England in 2019/20)
The top 10 household appliances most likely to cause an accidental fire
| Rank | Appliance | Number of fires caused in 2019/20 | % change Y-O-Y |
| 1 | Cooker incl. oven | 8,001 | -3.50% |
| 2 | Ring/ hot plate (separate appliance) | 1,581 | -2.95% |
| 3 | Grill/Toaster | 1,368 | -4.00% |
| 4 | Microwave oven | 922 | -7.80% |
| 5 | Tumble dryer | 668 | 4.70% |
| 6 | Washing machine | 624 | 6.85% |
| 7 | Fridge/ Freezer | 215 | -6.11% |
| 8 | Dishwasher | 194 | -7.62% |
| 9 | Deep fat fryer | 186 | 2.20% |
| 10 | Extractor fan | 182 | -0.55% |
(Number of household appliances that caused fires in England in 2019/20 and percentage difference in 2019/20 vs 2018/19)
The study revealed that cookers, toasters, and hobs were the most likely to cause fires. Cookers were responsible for 8,000 accidental fires in 2019/20, 53% of total appliance fires in England. Hot plates and toasters came second and third, causing 11% and 9% of fires respectively.
The most common causes for accidental appliance fires were placing household items too close to sources of heat, misuse of appliances and reported faults.
Hotpoint appliances caused the most fault-led fires in 2019/20
| Rank | Brand | Number of faulty appliance fires (2019/20) |
| 1 | Hotpoint | 311 |
| 2 | Indesit | 183 |
| 3 | Beko | 150 |
| 4 | Bosch | 100 |
| 5 | Hoover | 93 |
| 6 | Candy | 59 |
| 7 | Zanussi | 47 |
| 8 | White Knight | 39 |
| 9 | Whirlpool | 33 |
| 10 | Bush | 32 |
(Number of faulty household appliances by the brand that caused in England in 2019/20)
Hotpoint appliances were found to cause the most faulty appliance fires last year, with 311 recorded in 2019/20. The majority of which were washing machines (112) and tumble dryers (105).
Popular household name, Indesit followed with a total of 183 reported fires. The biggest offenders were tumble dryers (69) and washing machines (67).
Beko came third, whose goods caused 150 fires in 2019/20. Of these, the majority were washing machines (52) and tumble dryers (29), although dishwashers (27) and fridge/ freezers (26) weren’t far behind.
