If you’ve got a dishwasher manufactured by GE from Sept 1997 to Dec 2001 you may want to check out their website at www.geappliances.com/recall or call the recall hotline at 1-877-607-6395 (8am-8pm Mon-Sat Eastern Time) to see if yours is on the list of recalled products. Be sure to have your model and serial number with you when you call.
I got a notice the other day, and I’ve had a client receive one before too, asking me to check the model and serial number on my dishwasher to see if it might be one of those that has had problems.
“What is the problem they are concerned with”, you ask? Well, it seems that some liquid rinse-aid products build up a residue on the wires inside the door which can degrade the insulation of the wiring. This in turn has caused electrical shorts and fires in some of their products.
My client’s dishwasher ended up not being one of those on the recall list. However, my was. The good news for me is that I don’t use any rinse-aid products so the recall won’t necessarily apply to me. It does put me on notice that I shouldn’t use the rinse-aid in the future though.
I’m wondering how people are supposed to notify purchasers of their homes about product recalls like this when they sell? The notice from GE says that if you’re the owner of one of these dishwashers and you cannot attest to whether or not the former owner used rinse-aids, then you should repair or replace the dishwasher.
Anyone else have comments on how they would do it? For my own home, I’m thinking about taping a copy of the notice inside the cabinet under my kitchen sink and making a note that I don’t use rinse-aids and then perhaps keeping a copy with all of my other appliance manuals.
If you’ve got rentals with dishwashers you should be sure to check them as well as your own home’s dishwasher.
