A FAMILY in Medstead had a lucky escape when their integrated dishwasher became welded to a plug and eventually blew a fuse.

Jason Llewellyn, of Austen Fields, said his two daughters’ bedroom is directly above the kitchen so he was relieved it did not start a “potentially horrendous” fire.

Mr Llewellyn has been trying to get Miller Homes to rectify the fault in his house – bought new just over two years ago – for around eight weeks.

He said: “The dishwasher had been installed with its heating element right next to a plug socket.

“Over time this broke down the insulation, melted the plug away and welded it to the dishwasher.

“I put photographs of the damage on the estate’s Facebook group page and five other people whose house had a similar design pulled out their dishwashers. All five had a melted plug stuck to the back of the dishwasher.”

Mr Llewellyn added the delay in fixing the problem had been inconveniencing his family during lockdown.

He said: “We’ve had no dishwasher for eight weeks, and my wife and I are both key workers, so we’ve been struggling without it.

“They have given us a date of June 7 for somebody to come and take a look at it.

“Only the people on the Facebook group know about this problem, so there could be more homes affected on the estate.”

A spokesperson for Miller Homes said: “A small number of customers at our Austen Fields development have made us aware of an issue with their integrated dishwashers. We have taken guidance from the manufacturer and been in touch with these customers to rectify the issue.

“As a precaution, we have also written to all other customers on the development and arranged to inspect the installation of their integrated dishwashers.”