SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Overheating

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20150104-46AAA-2147437005. Matched catalog product: DeLonghi EW7707CM Safeheat 1500W ComforTemp Portable Oil-Filled. Source model text: TRD0715T Safeheat 1500W Portable Oil-Filled Radiator with Ve. Incident: I had the electric heater plugged directly into the wall and at least 3 feet away from furniture/walls of my house I had this heater set on the highest setting in order to provider some heat to an unheated room. A couple of days ago, I noticed a smell sort of a smell like plastic burning, then it went away. Yesterday I noticed the timer on the heating unit was making a humming noise which I thought odd since I didn't have the timer set. About an hour later, I heard a loud "pop", saw a spark fly out of the front of the unit (where the temperature controls are located), and smoke came out of the front top of the unit (just above the temperature controls and the smell of the smoke was a combination of burnt wires and plastic. I shut the unit off, and unplugged from the outlet (the power cord itself was not warm at all which I thought was interesting). I am thankful I was at home when this happened and that this unit was away from the furniture. I don't want to guess what the outcome would have been if I wasn't here to shut it off and unplug the unit.