SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20200914-63CE5-2147369803. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Honeywell Sku#: HPA204 (Honeywell True HEPA Large Room Air Purifier with Allergen Remover - White, HPA204 Model Sku#: HPA204). Incident: I was sitting in my living room when my air purifier made a weird sound, and then it started to smoke and smell like an electrical fire. I jumped up and quickly turned it off and grabbed my fire extinguisher, but it went out on its own. I ordered it in April; got it in in June; and it's now mid-September. I don't even use it all day--I always turn it off at night and when I sleep (I have a different air purifier from a different company in my bedroom), so it hasn't been used that long. Luckily I was sitting right next to it when it happened so that I was quickly able to turn it off and unplug it. I shudder to think about what could have happened had I been napping on the couch when this happened. I called the company right after it happened, Honeywell, but they said that they didn't manufacture it so I needed to call Kaz, which doesn't open 'til the morning. I bought it from Honeywell and it says Honeywell on the product, but I guess that's how things work these days. i asked to speak to a supervisor because I was concerned that they didn't have an emergency number for things like this, so that others could be warned right away. I also worry because I can't keep it for investigation. I live in an apartment building in NYC and so can't leave it outside safely or the evening to preserve for the company to test; I called my local fire department to see if maybe they could take it but they are only open for emergencies tonight. I don't feel safe keeping it in my apartment, even though the fire seems out. I just bought another one cause I thought it was great and it was recommen