SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20220616-620C8-2147355572. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Brinks 44-2020 (Small grey plug in unit with indicator lights.). Incident: Brinks model 44-2020 electrical appliance shut off timer. The model appears to be functioning normally with indicator lights, but will fail open. Failure was seen with multiple appliances well within product specifications. No tungsten devices were used. I have a second timer that doesn't have this issue. Description of Risk of Harm The device in question is designed to shut off the flow of electrical current based on a pre-set timer. Nevertheless, the relay will fail open, meaning that the electrical current will be hot, even if indicator lights appear to be working normally. There is risk of electrocution if the user incorrectly believes that the current has been turned off based on an off indicator light. Also, there is a fire risk, as cooking devices that may be attached to the timer will not turn off at preset times. There are no warnings on the packaging and/or instructions for this type of potential situation. There is only a max wattage threshold for resistive devices and a max wattage threshold for tungsten based devices.