Century Bath Works glass shower and bathtub doors

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. No one hurt

   Made Sep 10, 2021 · , sent to the company Sep 14, 2021 · , published by CPSC Sep 28, 2021

   The product, in the report: Century Glasstec Quickship QGW 1627

   My glass shower door spontaneously exploded.

   Report Updated 9/13/21 - If this had happened while someone had been inside the shower they would have been hit with shattered glass. Then they would have to walk out of piles of glass fragments barefooted. If my small grandson had been in the shower he is short enough that some of this glass was coming apart above his eye level. The very loud explosive sound could shock my 94 year old Mother into a cardiac episode and then leave her standing in shattered glass.

   Model

   QGW1627

   Bought from

   Supply NE Warwick 9 SNE9

   Bought

   Feb 5, 2016

   Where

   Warwick, Rhode Island: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Unspecified

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Unspecified

   As this report names them

   Brand Century Glasstec, made or sold by CENTURY BATHWORKS

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

2. No one hurt

   Made Mar 14, 2017 · , sent to the company May 9, 2017 · , published by CPSC May 23, 2017

   The product, in the report: Clear Chrome Shower Door

   The consumer indicates she was in the kitchen when she heard a loud noise. The consumer checked the bathroom and noticed that one of the two sliding glass shower doors had exploded even though nobody was in the bathroom at the time of the incident. The consumer states the last time somebody showered was the morning before.

   The consumer contacted the retailer and explained the situation. The representative she spoke to informed her that they would contact the Manufacturer. Once the retailer’s representative contacted the Manufacturer, she was informed they would replace the unit. Took full refund instead. Doesn’t know what she will do. Maybe a shower curtain.

   The consumer does not plan on keeping the shower door for the next thirty days.

   Model

   Unknown see attached

   Serial number

   Unknown see attached

   Bought from

   Central Plumbing Specialties

   Bought

   Oct 6, 2015

   Where

   Yonkers, New York: Unspecified

   Who was involved

   Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Unspecified

   As this report names them

   Brand Century Bath Works, made or sold by CENTURY BATHWORKS

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

3. Emergency room

   Made Jan 1, 2017 · , sent to the company Jan 10, 2017 · , published by CPSC Jan 26, 2017

   The product, in the report: Frameless sliding two door bath enclosure, clear 3/8 inch glass

   On May 21,2016, after exiting the shower and wrapping myself in towels, I turned to slide open the door closest to the outside of the tub, as I always did, so the doors would dry evenly. As I began to the door, it suddenly exploded and shattered glass poured down on me, cutting me in many places.

   I immediately went to the emergency room where I received approximately 25 stitches on the top of my left foot, 5 stitches on my left wrist, and numerous derma bond and steri-strips applied to close other cuts on other parts of my hands, arms, legs, and feet. In addition, I was no longer able to move three toes on my left foot, including my big toe, and had no sensation in the top of my left foot.

   On May 25th, I had an MRI and immediately after underwent surgery to repair one tendon in my left foot that had been severed in two places, and a second tendon in the same area severed in one place. In addition, a severed nerve in the same area on the top of my left foot was reattached.

   Model

   CTX 5

   Bought from

   The Bourneuf Corporation

   Bought

   May 10, 2010

   Where

   Newton, Massachusetts: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Age 64, Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Self

   As this report names them

   Brand Century Bathworks, Inc, made or sold by CENTURY BATHWORKS

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received

4. No one hurt

   Made May 27, 2015 · , sent to the company Jun 10, 2015 · , published by CPSC Jun 24, 2015

   The product, in the report: Tempered glass shower door

   We were in bed sleeping at about 11:30 pm when we heard an explosive sound. We found that the door for our shower made of approximately 1/2 inch tempered glass had shattered spreading glass as far away as the far wall, approximately 18 feet away.

   Bought

   May 1, 2005, about then

   Where

   Lebanon, Pennsylvania: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Age 63, Male

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Self

   As this report names them

   Brand I don’t know, made or sold by CENTURY BATHWORKS

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

5. No one hurt

   Made May 22, 2014 · , sent to the company Jun 23, 2014 · , published by CPSC Jul 8, 2014

   The product, in the report: Glass shower door

   During 2007-08 we undertook a substantial renovation of an early 19th Century House in Easton, Maryland on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. In the process, during the summer of 2008, we paid our contractor (Accent General Contracting, Inc., a reputable General Contractor) $24,000 to arrange for and supervise the installation of high quality frameless glass shower enclosures and doors in all of our main baths -- the master bath on the second floor the guest bath on that floor and the third-floor bath. Accent and/or its sub-contractor selected Century products as being the most suitable. Last Sunday, May 4, 2014, my wife and I were having coffee in the dining room downstairs when we heard of massive explosion, followed by a very loud crash. The explosion sounded much like a hand grenade going off upstairs and the crash sounded like an armoire falling over onto the floor. After a moment of surprise and extreme puzzlement, I went upstairs expecting the worst and hoping for the best. I did not immediately see anything. Somewhat to my surprise, I did not see any sign of smoke or explosion, and I did not smell anything like the residue of an explosion. After looking in the bedrooms and my study, I looked into the second floor guest bath and was shocked to see literally millions of shards of glass strewn over the floor both inside and outside the shower enclosure. My wife and I were truly thunderstruck. We wondered how a piece of glass could build up enough energy and force quite literally to blow itself to smithereens. We wondered what would happen if we or a guest or a grandchild had been in the shower when the door exploded. We did find the Century logo on the unexploded doors and panels and took a picture, a copy of which is attached. We also took the attached pictures of the second floor bath that shows the shards of glass everywhere. I also attach for your comparison some pictures of the master bath enclosure and also of the enclosure in the third-floor bath. It did not take us but a few minutes on the internet to discover that this problem has been floating around with Century products for more than a decade, since at least 2002. See this link. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/century.html. In the circumstances, we expect Century to take responsibility directly or indirectly for arranging to swap out all of the potentially exploding glass in our bathrooms for similar doors and enclosures that are not capable of potentially fatal (and in any event unbelievably dangerous) spontaneous explosion.While the second floor bathroom is used only periodically, it is used by us, our children, our grandchildren from time to time, as well as by visitors or house sitters. Given the potentially catastrophic nature of the injury that could be caused by the sort of spontaneous explosion, we have reported the entire incident to the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) in Washington, D.C, where I work as the Managing Partner of my D.C. law office. We have left the affected bathroom completely intact so that the bathroom itself and the millions of shards of glass are just as we found them shortly after the explosion. The CPSC is sufficiently interested to send a person to our property early in the upcoming week to take pictures, to interview us, and otherwise to investigate the entire situation. Let me know if you are interested in having a representative present. In any case, we will preserve the scene of the explosion for as long as might be practicable if you are interested in seeing it. We would very much like to know at your earliest convenience how you intend to proceed to repair the exploded door and also to replace any and all of the remaining doors and enclosures with glass that, perhaps like automobile windshield glass, contains a clear membrane or other protection that would prevent spontaneous explosion of the glass. We look forward to hearing from you. My contact details are set forth below.

   Response: Please accept my sincere apology on behalf of Century for this most unfortunate and upsetting experience that you had with your shower enclosure; we are thankful that no one was hurt. Century is regarded as one of the leading manufacturers in the industry and produces thousands of shower and tub doors with minimal occurrence of glass breaking without obvious cause. The complaints which are mentioned in your letter are misleading and refer to [REDACTED], a manufacturer located on the west coast with no ties to Century Bathworks . Our doors are sold primarily in the Northeast and as far west as Chicago, the majority of these complaints have taken place on the west coast. Our safety tempered glass is produced in accordance with accepted industry standards and we are confident that our products will perform as intended. Our enclosures are designed to function properly and efficiently with minimum maintenance. The enclosure that was sold to you was neither defective nor damaged and was manufactured to the specifications given. If you were to ask eight different people what causes spontaneous breakage of tempered glass you would get eight different answers. The various opinions and misconceptions about spontaneous breakage baffle many in the glass industry. The most commonly discussed is a nickel sulfide stone, this type of inclusion actually occurs very rarely. While nickel sulfide breaks are extremely rare it’s still very helpful to understand; how spontaneous breakage due to nickel sulfide can sometimes occur. When glass goes through the tempering process, it becomes four to five times stronger than standard annealed glass, making it great from a safety perspective. However, nickel sulfide stones that can form during the production of float glass due to nickel contamination, can end up in the center tension zone of tempered glass. When that piece of tempered glass is later exposed to varying temperatures in its final installed position, this tiny stone may grow in size, and cause the glass to shatter for no apparent reason. While nickel sulfide stone is one potential reason for spontaneous glass breakage, there is almost always a more common explanation, such as glass edge or surface damage from handling and glazing, building or framing system movement. Given the length of time, six years of operating properly in your home we are led to believe that the glass had been compromised in some way causing stress and subsequently causing it to shatter. Century has been in business for over 50 years and we take pride in manufacturing a quality product using only the best material in our enclosures. As seen in the attached pictures, the glass broke into hundreds of small blunt particles which by design is excellent proof of a well tempered product. This is a foolproof characteristic of tempered glass which makes it an excellent product for safety glazing applications. For those applications, such as glass in doors, tub and shower enclosures and fixed glass in close proximity to a walking surface, fully tempered safety glass is required by building codes and ordinances. In closing, the glass used in a car windshield as you suggested cannot be used in a frameless shower door application. Edges cannot be highly polished, the plastic interlayer is visible and esthetically unattractive. The glass cannot be easily fabricated, i.e. handle holes and notches will cause glass to crack due to stress factors during the operation of the doors. As a courtesy, Century has agreed to replace the door and other glass which may have been damaged as a result of the door breaking with a minimal charge. If this is acceptable to you, please contact me.

   Bought from

   Accent General Contracting, Inc.

   Bought

   Jun 1, 2008, about then

   Where

   Easton, Maryland: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Male

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Unspecified

   As this report names them

   Brand Century, made or sold by CENTURY BATHWORKS

   Reports CPSC links to it

   20140506-A8549-1401303

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources