Candy Safety noticea plain-English guide
A live UK fire recall covers built-in heat pump dryers under eight badges including Candy and Hoover. Machines modified before August 2025 are still at risk, and the manufacturers do not say so.
Stop — this needs an engineer
Get a qualified appliance engineer to look at your Candy tumble dryer
We do not pass enquiries to a repair firm, so there is no form here. When you book a qualified appliance engineer, tell them the make, the model and the exact code or message on the display, and ask whether they carry parts for this make — that is what turns one visit into a repair rather than a quote.
What does the rating plate say?
The right answer depends on what you can see. Pick the one that matches.
Choose the option on the left that matches what your appliance is doing, and the answer for that case appears here.
What does the rating plate say?
Your machine has had the current modification. OPSS say no further action is required, and this is the only published way to establish that for yourself.
Nothing further on the safety notice. If the dryer is showing a fault code, work through that separately.
What does the rating plate say?
OPSS treat both the same way: the machine is still affected by the safety risk and should not be used until a modification has been completed.
Stop using it, switch it off at the wall, and ring 0808 178 0516. OPSS say the companies will visit every home containing an affected dryer and make it safe.
What does the rating plate say?
This is the case the manufacturers’ own pages do not cover. OPSS warn that appliances modified before 1 August 2025 still present a fire risk. An earlier visit is not the reassurance it appears to be.
Check the rating plate for the J7 marking rather than relying on the visit. If it is not there, stop using the machine and ring the programme line.
What does the rating plate say?
Then it is not in scope. Every model in this programme is a built-in machine, and freestanding Candy and Hoover dryers are not affected.
No action needed on the notice. It is still worth checking your model against the manufacturer’s list if you want certainty.
What this means
The Office for Product Safety and Standards has a corrective action programme running on built-in heat pump tumble dryers, rated as a serious risk. Their description of the hazard is specific: "The products present a risk of fire as it is possible for an internal short circuit to occur within the tumble dryer during normal use. This can cause the tumble dryer to ignite, causing a fire. The products do not meet the requirements of the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016."
The programme originally covered 103,000 machines across eight badges — Candy, Hoover, Baumatic, Caple, Haier, Iberna, Lamona and Montpellier — all of them built-in models, and in December 2025 OPSS said around 85,000 of them still needed the repair. Freestanding dryers are not in scope.
Two things about this are not on Candy’s or Hoover’s own safety pages, and both matter more than anything else on this page. The first is that being modified is no longer proof of being safe: OPSS updated the notice on 1 August 2025 to warn that appliances modified before that date still present a fire risk and should be taken out of use. The second is that there is a way to check your own machine without phoning anyone. A dryer that has had the current modification carries a J7 marking on the rating plate. One marked HM1, or with no marking at all, has not, and OPSS say it should not be used until it has been. Neither manufacturer publishes either fact.
What causes it
| Cause | What is actually happening | How likely |
|---|---|---|
| An internal short circuit during normal use | OPSS name this as the mechanism and add that the products do not meet the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016. Candy and Hoover describe the same issue only as "manufacturing variations", which names no hazard at all. | Common |
| An earlier modification that did not resolve it | This is the part owners are most likely to miss. Machines modified before 1 August 2025 received a fix OPSS subsequently judged inadequate, so a dryer that has already had an engineer visit may still be affected. | Common |
| Never having been checked at all | A rating plate with no marking on it means the machine has not been through the current programme. OPSS treat an unmarked plate the same as an HM1 marking: still affected, and not to be used. | Common |
Can you fix it yourself?
Stop — this needs an engineer
What it costs to fix
Typical repair cost
£0
Nothing. The modification programme is free, and OPSS state that the companies will visit every home containing an affected dryer to make it safe. If anyone asks you to pay for work related to this notice, that is not the programme.
Typical UK prices including parts and labour, updated September 2026. Your quote may differ.
Own this appliance and had this code? . Nothing is published until a person has read it.
Related Candy fault codes
- F4Stop — call an engineerCandy word this one as "Abnormal heating" and give no owner check at all. On a dryer that is the code least worth ignoring.Related: same brand
- F2Get it checkedThe drain pump or the water level switch. Before you assume the worst, note that a full tank is a separate message on these machines and not this code.Related: same brand
- F7Get it checkedThe motor has faulted, and Candy narrow it usefully: the driver board has either overloaded or overheated.Related: same brand
- F32Get it checkedThe temperature sensor at the condenser outlet has failed. Worth getting right, because F33 is one digit away and is a different sensor in a different place.Related: same brand
- E7Get it checkedFilters clogged, on the Hoover-badged models that use E codes. One of only two codes in that system with an owner fix — and it names a filter most people miss.Related: same brand
- FHUsually simple to fixNot an appliance fault at all — the dryer failed to join your wi-fi. Candy tell you to ring customer service for it, which you almost certainly do not need to do.Related: same brand
Own a Candy tumble dryer? Save it and its codes come first next time.
Related guides
Common questions
Where is the rating plate?
On a dryer it is usually on the rim of the door opening, visible when the door is open, or on the back of the machine. Look for the block of small print with the model number, serial number and electrical ratings. The J7 or HM1 marking is on that plate.
An engineer already came and modified mine. Am I fine?
Not necessarily, and this is the most important thing on this page. OPSS updated the notice on 1 August 2025 to say that appliances modified before that date are still a fire risk and should be taken out of use — more than 17,000 machines had been modified under the original programme by then. Neither Candy’s nor Hoover’s safety page mentions that update. Check the plate for J7 rather than relying on the fact that someone visited.
Which brands are affected?
Eight, and several of them will not look related: Candy, Hoover, Baumatic, Caple, Haier, Iberna, Lamona and Montpellier. They are built on one platform. Lamona in particular catches people out, because it is sold through a kitchen retailer rather than as an appliance brand.
Candy’s own page says it is about "manufacturing variations". Is that the same thing?
It is the same programme described far more mildly. OPSS say an internal short circuit can cause the dryer to ignite, and that the products breach the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016. "Manufacturing variations" does not describe a hazard, and neither manufacturer page mentions the regulations.
Can I use it until the engineer comes?
OPSS say no: affected appliances "should not be used until a modification has been completed". Given the hazard is a fire starting during normal use, and given dryers are the appliance people habitually leave running while out or asleep, we would treat that as firm rather than cautious.
Technical review
Not reviewed by an engineer
No engineer has read this page. Severity follows what the manufacturer publishes, and we would rather tell you that than let a byline imply a sign-off.
Sources and how we verified this
We establish the facts from the sources below and then write the explanation ourselves. We do not copy manufacturer wording and we do not host their manuals.
- Trade body guidance
- Manufacturer support portal
This page has not been reviewed by an engineer, and we would rather tell you that than imply otherwise. The severity rating follows what the manufacturer publishes: where they say isolate the appliance and call someone, so do we.