We don’t get too worked up around here over most recalls because they tend to be relatively minor, but if you own an Emerson-branded thermostat, we want to give you a heads up because of, you know…
Fire.
It turns out the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of consumer products, is not too keen on fire.
Fire is bad, and it turns out that about 135,000 of these thermostats have the potential to make contact between the thermostat wires and household line voltage and overload the thermostat, causing a fire hazard. The firm has received in total eight reports of burn damage to the thermostat, causing minor property damage. No injuries have been reported as of this writing.
So, let’s look at what you need to check out to make sure your house doesn’t catch on fire.
The thermostats have the brand “Emerson” printed clearly on the front and a date code that ranges from 1416 to 1536 on the back. These dates represent the manufacture date from the 16th week of 2014 through the 36th week of 2015.
The thermostats are standard white plastic with an LCD screen. There are three buttons below the screen, with an up and down button and menu buttons located to the right of the screen.
The recalled thermostats have model numbers 1F86U-42WF or UP500W. A product label on the back of the thermostat should give owners the model number and date code information to know if their thermostat is at risk.
If you own one of these bad boys and you discover that your Emerson thermostat contains either the aforementioned date code or the indicative model number, you should immediately contact the firm to determine if your unit is included in the recall and get instructions for either repair or replacement.
You can contact White-Rodgers, the St. Louis-based division of Emerson Electric Company, toll-free at 888-847-8742 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday, or online at www.white-rodgers .com and click on “Emerson Branded Sensi Recall” at the lower left corner of the homepage for more information and contact instructions.
Also, just to give you a little more information that might be helpful, these thermostats were sold at Johnstone, Home Depot, and Golden State FC stores and HVAC equipment distributors nationwide from April 2014 through December 2016 for between $90 and $150. So check out your thermostat to make sure you’re not at risk.
