SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20250115-BA995-2147333886. Severity: Injury, First Aid Received by Non-Medical Professional. Product: Westinghouse wGEN7500 (Westinghouse 7500 Generator). Incident: Hello. this is a written record of a Near Thermal Event PLEASE READ! My generator Westinghouse 7500, is kept in a temperature controlled garage year round and rolled out onto a cement pad partially enclosed out on the attached carport. The unit is well maintained. I had just recently changed oil and spark plug and cleaned air filter. I use good quality gas, stored in doors in approved containers. On this evening I move the unit out of the garage as I have done dozens of times. I connected the 30 amp cord and ground wire and with power feed switch off I turned on the gas and started the unit. It never achieved full motor rpms it only chugged and created an impenetrable cloud of smoke. I could neither get to the remote nor the off switch as the smoke was too toxic. One breath and I would have been done. This went on for about 40 seconds, it seemed longer. The machine was chugging and spewing a cloud of smoke. I had just reached for my fire extinguisher when the engine stopped running. As the smoke cleared I became aware that the unit was sitting in a puddle of oil and gas mixture. Potentially very explosive. A near thermal event as the tech person on the phone at Westinghouse described it. I suspected the carburetor needle valve had stuck open and the piston on the engine emptied the tank of gas into the crank case and flooded the mixture out through the exhaust valve. All this while the engine was still running, granted maybe only at 50 rpm but running none the less. This scenario was also confirmed by you tech department. I have since torn down the carburetor. The rubber po