Today's recalls: Faulty smoke alarms and tea kettles

The Consumer Product Safety Commission today announced recalls of two products found in many homes because they can pose burn or fire hazards. Recalled were 94,000 Kidde smoke alarms because they may fail to sound an alert and 142,000 Copco tea kettles with ill-fitting lids. A number of second-degree burn injuries have been associated with the tea kettles.

Copco Harmony tea kettles
Wilton, the distributor of the Copco kettles, has gotten reports of  25 incidents of lids coming loose, some which resulted in burns to hands and fingers. The recall includes stainless steel kettles with both brushed and polished finishes and enamel kettles in red, white, black, turquoise, orange, yellow and blue. The kettles were sold by retailers nationwide from March 2006 through June 2009 for about $30.

The company is offering two different remedies depending on which type of kettle a consumer has. Owners of the stainless kettles should contact Wilton for a free replacement lid that fits more snugly. Wilton is offering owners of the enamel tea kettles a free replacement tea kettle or a refund.

For more information, contact Wilton Industries at (800) 794-5866 or visit the firm’s Web site at www.copco.com.

Kidde dual sensor smoke alarms
Kidde is recalling its PI 2000 alarms because an electrostatic discharge can damage the unit, causing it to fail. Kidde has received two reports of smoke alarm malfunctions involving electrostatic discharge during installation. No injuries have been reported.

The recalled alarms can be identified by two buttons: “Hush” and “Push and hold to test weekly”  located on the front/center of the alarm. The model number and date code are on the back of the smoke alarm. Only date codes 2008 Aug. 01 through 2009 May 04 are included in this recall. The alarms were sold at retail, department, and hardware stores and through electrical distributors nationwide from August 2008 through May 2009 for between $30 and $40.

The CPSC is advising consumers to contact Kidde to receive a free replacement smoke alarm. For more information, contact Kidde at (877) 524-2086 or visit the firm’s Web site at www.kidde.com.

Comments

[wayne]

This PI2000 cannot be purchased anymore in any stores or even online. So I guess Kidde pulled it from the market. They haven't responded to any emails i've sent them about the unit. The dual sensor model PI9000 that is battery operated is still being sold.

[going deaf]

While this product may not detect fires (not good!), the real problem is false alarms. Google on this product, and you will find hundreds of complaints of false alarms...most of which tend to go off in the middle of the night. Of course, it then trigers the other smoke alarms. It happened to us last night. I'm also deaf. It's not the batteries, they are fresh. Do not buy this product.

[Gloria Thomas]

I purchased four of these alarms because of Kidde's good reputation, the fact that they are dual-sensor, and because they could be wired together to alert anyone, anywhere in our home. They have gone off for no reason in the past. Our electrician checked them after this occurred, finding no electrical problem - the problem seemed with the alarms.

I'm not at all sure they've ever worked properly. (They never detected smoke from the kitchen as my old one did) Now, with this recall, Kidde is offering an ionization-only alarm as replacement. That seems unacceptable to me, because a smoldering fire, which as I understand would be detected by a photoelectric sensor, is the most common in a home.

I am surprised at how this is being handled at this time. It is also concerning that these are manufactured in China. I hope we can bring some manufacturing back to the U.S. - not that we're perfect, but at least oversight could be closer at hand.