SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20130711-AC8B9-2147454267. Severity: Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received. Product: Char Broil Char Broil Patio Bistro Gas (LP) Grill, Model 126015 Series (Char-Broil Patio Bistro TRU Infrared Gas (LP) Grill). Incident: I purchased a CharBroil Patio Bistro TRU-Infrared Gas Grill (Model 126015 Series) from The Home Depot online that was delivered to my home on/about June 6, 2013. Upon opening the packing box and before assembling the unit, I noticed that the valve was not correctly positioned inside the burner tube (where the valve coming from the gas supply meets the aerated burner tube which then leads into the kettle) I carefully but firmly repositioned the two parts into the correct position. There is no hard connecting point here, just a matter of positioning the two gas lines to ensure proper gas flow. THIS IS NOT COVERED IN THE ASSEMBLY GUIDE OR THE GRILLING GUIDE THAT CAME WITH THE PRODUCT, HOWEVER, AND IS ONLY MENTIONED IN THE PRODUCT GUIDE UNDER THE SECTION ON "CLEANING THE BURNER ASSEMBLY" ON PAGE 9. THE CONSUMER SHOULD BE EXPRESSLY WARNED TO CHECK THIS PARTICULAR VALVE/BURNER TUBE ASSEMBLY EACH TIME THE GRILL IS USED AND SHOULD BE WARNED OF THE DISTINCT POSSIBILITY OF A SEVERE AND INTENSE FIRE. Problem 1: An inexperienced assembler would not necessarily notice that the valve was not positioned correctly into the burner tube while unpacking the unit from the original box which was exactly the situation I faced. I suspect the proper alignment was dislodged during routine handling and shipping. That misalignment can produce a serious fire hazard WHICH I LEARNED THE HARD WAY SHORTLY AFTERWARD (see next paragraph). After first assembling the grill per the Assembly Guide and connecting a new 20# propane tank, I used the grill on 3 or 4 occasions during the remainder of June without an