Beko Fridge Freezer Recall

Last week, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) issued a warning of a fire risk related to some Beko fridge freezer models. The fridge freezers have been linked to 20 fires in the capital since 2008, which have injured 15 people and killed one person. Instances outside the LFBs area of cover are at this time unknown.

London fire investigators established a link between several fires and the affected Beko fridge freezer models, and are reported to have warned Beko of this in June 2010.

Beko says that since then it has been working with LFB, trading standards and shops selling the fridge freezers to alert owners of the fridge freezer models at risk to the problem. It says it has tracked down and sent letters to 200,000 customers, and located and made modifications to 11,000 appliances so far however as it is not compulsory for customers or retailers to register the warranty of Beko appliances it makes this a very difficult task for Beko to track down the owners of affected models.

An interview on BBC Radio 4 with Andrew Mullen of Beko and Steve Turek of the LFB is available on the BBC website from this link.

A recent report from the BBC is below on the issue.

Please check the serial number of your fridge freezer and, if it is a model affected by this urgent recall please contact Beko's helpline on 0800 009 4837 between 7am and 11pm, Monday to Friday.

At the time of writing Beko are experiencing and unprecedented volume of calls and enquiries regarding this recall on the fridge freezer models listed and their lines are extremely busy, please be patient when trying to get through or leave your details on the Beko website and they will get back to you as quickly as they can. 

Official fridge freezer recall notice from Beko

It has come to our attention that in a very small number of incidents, the defrost timer on a certain production range of BEKO frost free refrigeration can fail and overheat. We are seeking to contact owners of these products to carry out a free of charge modification to the defrost timer.

Quality and customer safety and satisfaction is paramount to Beko; all its products are independently tested before being placed on the market and meet all UK and European safety standards. The number of incidents to which these products have been potentially linked is extremely small, nevertheless, as a responsible manufacturer, we have decided to proactively contact the owners of these fridge freezers as we wish to make a free in-home modification to remove any potential risk with this component.

May we take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience caused, and to thank you for your time and cooperation.

Affected fridge freezer model numbers:

• CA 5411 FFS/FFW/FFX
• CA 7014 FFX
• CA 7015 FFW/FFS/FFX
• CDA 539 FS/FW/FX
• CDA 543 FS/FW/FX
• CDA 645 FW
• CDA 647 FS/FW
• CDA 648 FS/FW
• CDA 653 FS/FW/FX
• CDA 659 FS
• CDA 751 FS/FX
• CDA 752 FS/FW/FX
• CS 460 FF/FFS/FFSD
• CS 461 FFW/FFS
• CSA 4706 FFX
• CSB 4606 FFSD/FFS/FFW

The Beko frost free fridge freezer models affected were manufactured between January 2000 and October 2006. These have a serial number that begins with either 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05 or 06. and this information can be found on a label inside the fridge. You should find the rating plate label, in most cases, stuck to the inner wall of the fridge on the left hand side once the salad or crisper drawer is removed.

An online checking facility to see if your model is affected can be found here on Beko's UK website and we have added a video from Beko that gives more information below.

Also on YouTube a video from a user showing the part that is being replaced has appeared that you will find below.

The current thinking from Beko and from ourselves is that a combination of things can cause this problem and it is related to the environment the fridge freezer is in being related to humidity, airflow around the fridge freezer and general conditions. High humidity or conditions that could allow condensation or water to spill onto the defrost timer casing would allow the component to "short".

If the fridge freezer is installed correctly and the kitchen or wherever the machine is sited is not subject to these conditions then the risk is probably relatively low but you should still have the fridge freezer checked and modified if it is an affected model.

Can your house insurance be affected?

Which? have contacted some insurers who say that, for the moment, home cover policies will not be affected by this recall and that if a problem were to occur that your would still be covered.