SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Explosion / rupture

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20130102-E3F02-2147460344. Severity: Injury, First Aid Received by Non-Medical Professional. Product: Shark S3501 (Shark Steam Pocket Mop. Purple and gray unit with telescoping gray handle leading into a purple water canister leading into a detachable head. Head is a variety of choices made of gray plastic material and covered by a white fabric cover.). Incident: I filled my Shark Steam Mop with tap water and plugged it in to warm up so I could steam clean my floors. I noticed that the unit wasn't making the usual periodic gurgle or steam sound as it usually did as it heated up. It was plugged in for several minutes by this time and the power light on the unit was illuminated blue to indicate there was power to the unit. I pumped the handle to try to produce steam and nothing happened. I pumped the handle several more times and there was no steam produced by the unit. At this point, I had gently felt the cleaning head attachment with my fingers and it was cool and dry. I do not think that any steam was making its way to the cleaning pad. I sat on the couch and picked the unit up, placing the unit parallel to the floor across my lap with the cleaning head hanging a few inches to the right of my legs to take a look at it. I leaned forward a bit while I was looking at the unit and in my hands and on my legs I felt that the unit was warm to the touch as I believe it usually was prior to the incident. While I was examining the unit in my lap, there was an unexpected, sudden very loud popping/exploding sound and steam burst out powerfully from all the seams of the body of the unit in a hot and quick release. I am not sure what happened internally, but to me it seemed like a large amount of pressure built inside the unit and it caused a mass steam exit from the body of the unit's seams rather than down the unit shaft and out through the cleaning head attachment. The hot steam exiting through the seams of the unit body caused mild