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SaferProducts incident

Official U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission consumer incident report from the SaferProducts.gov public database. Use the verification links below to confirm the record on SaferProducts.gov or via the public database export.

Product

Rheem XE50M12EC55U1

Category

Home & Garden

Report number

20190902-E866D-2147377936

Ownership age

About 13 months to failure (from purchase date when reported)

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20190902-E866D-2147377936. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Matched catalog product: Rheem XE50M12EC55U1. Incident: On August 18, 2019 my Rheem XE50M12EC55U1 electric water heater purchased in July 2018 at Home Depot tripped the circuit breaker. On inspection, the wires inside had completely melted and caught fire. I have spent the past two weeks trimming and re-connecting the wiring, but after about a week of use the wires melt again. I have a 30 di-pole breaker installed with 10 gauge wire, which should provide enough capacity to power the 5500 amp unit. It is simply unsafe, and it appears Rheem has not corrected the issues that caused the XE50M12EC55U0 recall on May 26, 2016.

This is a consumer incident report published on SaferProducts.gov. CPSC does not guarantee the accuracy of information submitted by people outside of CPSC. It is not automatically an official recall or manufacturer admission.
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Official report number: 20190902-E866D-2147377936. Search that ID on SaferProducts.gov or match it in the CPSC public database export to verify this record.