Thermopride oil furnaces

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. No one hurt

   Made Apr 21, 2015 · , sent to the company Jun 29, 2015 · , published by CPSC Jul 14, 2015

   The product, in the report: Oil Furnace

   The furnace was installed on 09/24/14.

   On 02/20/15, at 7:45am, all of the smoke alarms in the house went off. The consumer woke up to black smoke all over the house. The consumer opened up all of the windows and called the fire department. She ran outside to see if there was a fire. The consumer saw black smoke coming from the exhaust pipe of the furnace. The consumer ran into the house and turned off the furnace. She went back outside and saw that the smoke stopped.

   The King George Fire Department came out by then. They inspected the house along with the consumer. They informed the consumer that the furnace exhaust pipe was iced over resulting in back exhaust.

   The consumer contacted the installer on 02/20/15. The installer sent out two technicians the same day. They examined the issue and communicated their findings to the engineers at Thermopride (mfr). The consumer stated that the technicians were informed to remove the T-coupler (where the freezing took place). The technicians made some other modifications/repairs but the consumer is not aware of those.

   The consumer continued to use the furnace after that.

   The consumer stated that in early April, the same technicians were sent over to her home to perform some repair work as instructed by Thermopride. They noticed that the heat exchanger was broken. In the absence of the heat exchanger, the technicians were unable to perform any work on the unit. They informed her to ask Thermopride for a new furnace instead of having it repaired so much.

   The consumer contacted Thermopride. They put her through with the chief engineer, [REDACTED] . The consumer was informed by [REDACTED] that there were no replacement units available as of now. He stated that the company is not manufacturing these furnaces at the moment. The consumer was informed that the units would not be available until late summer/early fall 2015. The consumer asked [REDACTED] why the company stopped manufacturing the units. The consumer was informed that they have some fixes out for the ones that are installed already and they were waiting to see how the fix works. Depending on the results, the company would continue the manufacturing process.

   The consumer informed the technicians of the information provided by Thermopride. The technicians contacted their lead, [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] set up a meeting on 04/09/15 at the consumer’s house with other [REDACTED] members and the territory manager for Thermopride [REDACTED] .

   In that meeting, [REDACTED] mentioned the issues that Thermopride was having with these oil furnaces. The consumer’s understanding of the issues discussed at the meeting is as followed: In total, 62 units were manufactured. Out of the 62 units, 12 units were field tested for several years. The remaining 50 units were sold and installed in the Northeast and Southern territory. [REDACTED] indicated that around December 2014, Thermopride started receiving calls about the issue with back exhaust and ice. The manufacturing of the oil furnaces was stopped in March 2015.

   The consumer asked [REDACTED] why the owners were not notified about the issues as soon as the company was made aware of them. The consumer was told that there were a lot of miscommunications on their end. [REDACTED] indicated that the issue that occurred with her was the worst amongst the other reports the company received.

   The consumer was informed by [REDACTED] that he does not feel that the unit is safe and he would like to remove it from her home. At this point, the consumer realized that this is a larger failure that includes more than just her unit.

   The consumer spoke to the risk manager, [REDACTED] at Burnham Holdings (owner of Thermopride). She informed the consumer that she was unaware of any issues with Thermopride furnaces.

   The consumer also spoke to [REDACTED] at Thermopride [REDACTED]. He is a Safety Compliance Officer with the company. The consumer asked why notifications were not sent out to distributors/owners. The consumer was informed that they did not feel the problem was substantial enough to send out notifications. The consumer stated that [REDACTED] hung up the phone on her.

   On 04/20/15, an independent mechanical engineer ([REDACTED] ) was sent out by the consumer’s home insurance company for inspection. He found problems and violations with installation of the unit. He observed that the exhaust pipe was in violation of code. He is going to be writing up a detailed report on his inspection. The consumer does not have a copy of the report yet.

   Thermopride and [REDACTED] want to replace the consumer’s furnace with a propane furnace. The consumer is not okay with having a propane furnace installed in her house. The consumer is also not eager to have the current furnace replaced as it serves as a proof of the issues that occurred.

   The consumer stated that there are other consumers that have these units installed in their home with fixes that are being tested out on them. How the fixes will turn out will not be determined until the other consumers start their units. Thermopride tried to have her unit fixed accordingly as well in April 2015, but were unable to do so due to a broken heat exchanger.

   The consumer stated that what frustrates her most in this case is that Thermopride was aware of the issues with this furnace. If the smoke alarms in her home had not gone off, she may not have been alive. The consumer believes that someone should have at least come out and conducted an inspection to make sure that her exhaust pipe was not freezing over.

   The consumer stated that all of the carpeting from the second floor and stairwell will have to be removed. The consumer also has to have other things (electronics, furniture, clothing) professionally cleaned. The consumer got the duct cleaned on 04/06/15. The consumer will also have to have the walls and the ceilings cleaned in the whole house.

   The soot that collected was oily. The consumer has to wait on a professional to come out and properly remove and clean the electronics. The consumer was told by someone that the oil from the soot can cause problems with “all” of the electronics in her home and they may need to be cleaned professionally. The consumer has retained filters for the furnace to show the amount of soot that was deposited.

   Model

   OHCSA072DV4R

   Serial number

   DN233898

   Bought from

   Robert B. Payne Inc., Virginia

   Bought

   Sep 1, 2014, about then

   Where

   King George, Virginia: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Unspecified

   As this report names them

   Brand Thermopride, made or sold by THERMO PRIDE

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources