SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20220601-1886D-3759982. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: A.O. Smith NU40T61-403 (gas water heater). Incident: 2019: The water heater began to leak and the light on the plate (status light code), began blinking. She looked up the flashing code. She also experienced a loss of hot water. She called her local gas company (PG&E), who sent a technician out. The technician (name unknown), indicated that this was a fire hazard and he turned the gas off. The burner assembly also quit working. The consumer called the manufacturer and they sent the replacement part directly to one of their authorized service centers in her area. That service company arranged for technician to come out and install the replacement part. (approx..) 5/28/2022. The hot water stopped working. The same flashing (code) appeared on the water heater�s screen again. She also smelled a gas-like odor and called PG&E. They sent a technician out and he (name unknown) turned the water heater gas off. The consumer asked the technician if he smelled gas. The technician said he did not know if it was gas, but he noticed some type of chemical odor. The consumer called the manufacturer again and they agreed to provide a new replacement burner assembly, free of charge, but told her that they would not cover the cost of installation. The consumer said the firm sent her a recall notice a few years back ([REDACTED]), but the CPSC Hotline staff checked her serial number through the firm�s site (https://www.waterheaterrecall.com/), and their system indicated that her unit was not included in the recall The consumer is concerned that that this repeated issue presents a safety hazard and that [REDACTED], may need to be expanded.