Consumers Air Issues With Whirlpool Dishwashers, Water Heaters

Last June Whirlpool recalled 1.7 million of its Maytag dishwashers, because of a fire hazard.

Jaret , of Florence, Miss., owned a nine year old Whirlpool dishwasher that apparently was not included in the recall. The serial number he provided to ConsumerAffairs.com does not match the list issued last year by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Nonetheless, Jaret says his dishwasher was a fire hazard, because the control panel caught fire.

"I was able to cut power to the house and save my families lives," Jaret told ConsumerAffairs.com. "We are usually in the bed when the dishwasher runs."

Faulty control panel?

Because he was able to stop the fire before anything was severely damaged, Jaret was able to salvage and inspect the dishwasher control panel that failed. He says the steam from the wash cycles is designed to escape in the same location where electrical connections within the control panel are made. He thinks the moisture build-up over the years caused an electrical short.

"I consider this a product that is designed to fail within a certain amount of time," Jaret said. "The problem is, if your homes circuit breaker does not trip, then you are done for."

Jaret said Whirpool offered him a 15 percent refund, applicable toward the purchase of a new dishwasher. In the meantime, he says he's reported the incident to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood. The model number of his dishwasher was GU1200XTKS0.

A world away

Laneta, of Pago Pago, American Samoa, is having a different sort of frustration with her Whirlpool dishwasher. Her Whirlpool-made Maytag dishwasher was included in last year's recall, but the company does not have an authorized repair person in American Samoa.

"Therefore I have agreed with Whirlpool to sign a waiver for the repair of the dishwasher, in return Whirlpool will send me the repair kit necessary for the repair as well as the waiver," Laneta told ConsumerAffairs.com. "This was five months ago. Nothing has been delivered to me."

Lanetta says she has persistently called Whirlpool's escalation department, but it she has not yet received the repair kit.

"On February 18 I again called to inquire about the part, Susan said, 'I'm sending this to my supervisor because of your special circumstance and I will call you tomorrow about the status of your repair kit.' There was no call."

Keep in mind, Laneta received the recall notice last July.

At wits end

"I am at my wits end, Whirlpool with an annual sales of approximately 17 billion in 2009 can not seem to hire someone to accurately take care of a problem they caused and which is causing many of their customers pain and anguish," she said.

And it's not just dishwashers getting consumers hot under the collar. The famous Whirlpool Therma-lock gas water heater is still drawing complaints.

Water heater

In 2008, Whirlpool settled a class-action lawsuit filed by consumers who purchased its Flame Lock or Flame Guard water heaters at Lowes. At the time, more than 1,000 consumers had filed complaints with ConsumerAffairs.Com saying the thermocouple in their Flame Lock or Flame Guard Whirlpool water heaters continuously breaks down leaving them without hot water -- sometimes for days.

And even now, we still get complaints about Whirlpool Water Heaters.  

"A representative from Whirlpool told me that I should install some kind of conversion kit that should resolve my problem," Oscar, of Lawrenceville, Ga., told ConsumerAffairs.com. "Everything was fine for two more months. I was lucky that my house did not burn down."

Oscar said the conversion kit "exploded." Apparently convinced the water heater was beyond repair, Oscar said Whirlpool made good and agreed to replace his old model with the new BF model.

"So far, I have changed the thermocouple of my new BF model many many many times and the flame continues to go off," he said.

Oscar said he has talked at length to Whirlpool representatives, but they don't seem to recognize the problem.

"I explained to them that I was a plumber, that they should not waste any time walking me through their troubleshooting chart," he said. "I could fix the problem if they knew what it was, but they don't seem to know it."

Read more consumer complaints about Whirlpool Maytag appliances.