Register My Appliance Day

Supporting Register My Appliance Day on the 24 January 2019, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is keen to remind local residents to take a few minutes on www.registermyappliance.org.uk to register the large appliances they rely on every day to handle essential chores, chill food and cook for their families.

With less than a third of these large white goods registered when they were purchased (average 31% ), many leading manufacturers are offering prize draws or incentives to encourage owners to get their older fridges, freezers, washing machines, dryers and cooking appliances on record, in case a safety repair is ever needed.

New research published today by the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances (AMDEA) has specifically looked at multiple-ownership asking where one, or up to four, of each type of appliance is in use in homes. As we don’t necessarily de-commission an old appliance when we buy a new one, this has permitted revised and more accurate estimates of the vast number of large white goods currently running in GB households.

We have become so reliant on our freezers, perhaps because they offer us the benefits of faster home cooking and less food waste, that over 2 million are now owned by four-freezer households. If you are wondering who has the space, nearly one third (29%) of these households keep a freezer in the garage or shed.

The Register My Appliance web portal, is a safety initiative designed by AMDEA to make it quicker and easier to register over sixty leading brands of appliances, directly with the manufacturer. Recognising the lack of ownership information on many older products, the majority of brands offer registration of products up to at least twelve years old.

However, two thirds (67%) of people have never registered an older appliance that they may have bought a couple of years ago, found in their homes when they moved in, were given by family or friends, or bought second-hand.

Group manager for prevention and protection Mike Anderson emphasised that it’s never too late for this important safety precaution, saying: “We know that appliances are kept for many years and very few people realise that they can register older models. These are the products that are most difficult to trace if a safety repair is ever needed and only their current owners can let manufacturers know that they have them.”

In a small number of cases, manufacturers may identify problems with a model once the product has been in use for some time. They then need to contact owners to get the fault corrected as quickly as possible. Normally a quick in-home fix by a qualified technician will remove any risk, but it can be very difficult to trace customers, particularly if they purchased some time ago.

When respondents considered a list of nine actions that they ever take to ensure the safety of their home, making sure appliances are registered with the manufacturer rubbed along the bottom, at number eight, second only to using security cameras.

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service hope to help the local community understand why getting their appliances on record is a New Year’s resolution worth keeping.