The KCA made corrective action recommendations for clothes dryers with self-cleaning condenser

- LG will offer free repairs for 1.45 million clothes dryers -

    LG Electronics Inc. has decided to provide free repairs for all the ‘TROMM Dual Inverter Heat Pump Dryers*’ which have been sold in the market since April 2016 (about 1.45 million dryers as of June 2019) at the corrective recommendations of the Korea Consumer Agency (KCA). Under its decision, LG will offer free repairs that replace defective components of the dryers with new, better quality ones.

    * Models of RH8 (8-kg capacity) and RH9 (9-kg capacity) fall into the category of small-capacity clothes dryers, and models of RH14 (14-kg capacity) and RH16 (16-kg capacity) are classified into large-capacity clothes dryers (The size and structure is the same in each small-capacity dryer, and the same goes for large-capacity dryers).

    The Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) (President Lee Hee-sook) conducted a fact-finding investigation on the clothes dryers at 50 households after a series of consumer complaints were registered through Consumer Injury Surveillance System (CISS)** that due to the malfunction of the ‘condenser automatic cleaning system,’ dust* was accumulated in the condenser, a part that removes humidity from laundry by circulating air inside the dryer, and the condensation water used for the condenser auto cleaning function remained inside the machine, causing a fungus and stench.

    * ‘Dust’ includes all kinds of dust, lint particles and pet hair that can be accumulated in the condenser of a clothes dryer.

    ** The Consumer Injury Surveillance System (CISS) is intended to collect, analyze and evaluate data on physical injuries or property damage that occur to consumers in the process of using a product or service from 80 consumer injury information providers, including 62 hospitals and 18 fire stations designated under the Framework Act on Consumers, and 1372 Consumer Counseling Center.

    According to the result of the investigation, the dryer’s special feature that automatically cleans the condenser was not working under certain conditions, and in the case of large-capacity dryers, a rubber-sealed component was not installed in the area where the dryer’s filter comes into contact with and joins the body of the dryer. Also, it was found that due to the malfunctioning of the water drain pump, and the U-shaped trap in the dryer’s base plate, the condensation water remained on the bottom of the dryer, causing a fungus and stench inside the machine and contributing to the likelihood of developing copper pipe corrosion (rust formation) at an accelerated rate.

【Recommendations for Corrective Actions and Measures to be Taken】

□ Based on the result of the investigation, the KCA advised LG Electronics to take corrective actions.

    Based on the above result, the KCA recommended LG Electronics to come up with measures to ▲ prevent the accumulation of dust in the condenser, ▲ minimize the amount of condensation water (condenser cleaning water) remaining inside the machine, and ▲ respond to the lowering of the dryer performance resulting from the formation of rust, and LG accepted the KCA’s recommendations and submitted their plan of correction.

□ LG has decided to improve the dryer’s cleaning program and filter performance.

    LG has, first of all, decided to take actions to prevent the accumulation of dust in the condenser, and apply the actions to all the clothes dryers which have been sold in the market. LG also said it will improve the dryer’s self-cleaning condenser system which operated only when a certain amount of condensation water was collected so that the system could be performed whenever consumers use the drying function of a clothes dryer regardless of the amount of condensation water.

    In addition, in the case of large-capacity dryers, LG has decided to replace the existing component installed in the area where the filter comes in contact with and joins the body of the dryer with a rubber-sealed one in order to block the inflow of dust through openings other than the filter.

□ LG said it will improve the base plate of the dryer and the structure of the water drain pump, minimizing the remaining amount of condensation water in the dryer.

    Second, LG has decided to apply measures to reduce the remaining amount of condensation water in the dryer to all the products. And the company also plans to remove the U-shaped trap which always retains the remaining condensation water from the existing base plate, and change the location of ‘the remaining condensation water drain hose*’ to the front side of the dryer from the back side so that users can more conveniently drain all of the remaining condensation water when necessary.

    * A short length hose which can drain all of the remaining condensation water in order to prevent freezing in the winter, and it was inconvenient to use the hose because it was located at the lower end of the backside of the dryer.

    Furthermore, LG said it plans to reduce the amount of condensation water remaining on the bottom of the dryer by improving the structure of the dryer’s drain pump in order to upgrade its water draining performance, and replacing its existing component with a new, improved one.

□ LG has decided to offer free repairs if the dryer performance decreases due to the rust of components.

    Lastly, LG also said, if the dryer’s drying performance decreases due to the rust of the condenser components, including copper pipes and end plates, it will offer replacement components for free for up to 10 years.

【Future Plan】

□ The KCA plans to perform continuous monitoring after corrective actions are complete.

    Going forward, the KCA will continue to conduct monitoring of consumer complaints about the clothes dryers in question. In particular, the KCA also plans to conduct monitoring of consumer complaints involving the dryers every three months after LG takes their corrective actions, and recommend the company to take necessary actions if there are any problems, because it is difficult to verify the effects of measures to prevent the accumulation of dust in the condenser in a short period of time, and unexpected problems may occur due to the free repairs which will be provided by the business operator in question (LG).