Defective White-Rodgers Home Thermostat may be a Fire Hazard

On April 30, 2014, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) and Health Canada published a recall for approximately 740,000 White-Rodgers digital thermostats in the United States and 403,000 in Canada. The alkaline batteries used in the thermostat can leak onto the circuit board, posing a fire hazard. The manufacturer has received seven reports of fire damage to the thermostat (three in the U.S., four in Canada), thus far, including two involving minor property damage. No injuries have been reported. The CPSC states: “Consumers should stop using this product unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.” The Canada Consumer Product Safety Act prohibits recalled products from being redistributed, sold or given away in Canada.

The recall involves four models of the White-Rodgers digital thermostat. The thermostats are white with blue lighted screens and have one of the following names printed on the front: COMFORTSENTRY, DICO, Emerson, Frigidaire, Maytag, Nutone, Partners Choice, Rheem,  Ruud, Unico, Water Furnace, Westinghouse, White-Rodgers or Zonefirst. The recalled units were sold by heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment manufacturers and distributors and hardware retailers nationwide from January 2006 through December 2013
for approximately $30 to $70. The distributor is White-Rodgers of St. Louis, Missouri, a division of Emerson Climate Technologies. The units were manufactured by Jabil Circuits in China.

The thermostats have a battery door on the top left corner. There are three or four buttons to the right and bottom of the thermostat screen.

Recalled thermostats do not show a battery icon on the left side of the blue-lighted screen.

Policyholders should check any White-Rodgers thermostat models described above for the presence of the battery icon on the left side of the blue-lighted screen. If the battery icon is not present, contact White-Rodgers to receive a free repair or a replacement thermostat (call toll-free at 1-888-624-1901 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the Emerson White Technologies’ website and click on “White-Rodgers 1F8x-04xx Thermostat Recall”).

(Source: AmWINS Group, Inc)