SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20190315-8B35A-2147382181. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Mr Coffee IDS77-RB (Mr. Coffee 12 Cup Electric Coffee Grinder with Multi Settings, IDS77-RB). Incident: About 4 years we purchased a Mr Coffee brand electric coffee grinder from Target. We used it regularly to grind coffee and never had any problems until February 25. It was left plugged in on our kitchen counter. At about 10pm I was in bed when my wife heard a grinding noise from the kitchen and went to investigate. The coffee grinder was on fire, emitting thick black smoke and flames which had just caught the cabinet above it on fire. Fortunately, I was able to put it out with a fire extinguisher, and pulled the plug on the coffee grinder and it stopped. It must have switched on by itself and ground until it overheated and caught fire. There was minimal damage, considering, only about $1000 worth of materials, and about $3000 worth of labor from a contractor to repair it. If we had not caught it when we did, it certainly would have caught the house and burned down as we slept. I saved the coffee grinder, and took many pictures from every angle. I emailed the Mr Coffee company through their contact us form, but have not heard anything back from them for a week. Looking online, it did not seem like this was a common problem, but at least two other people reported the same thing happening on various websites.