NEWS from CPSC

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Office of Information and Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20207

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Sunbeam Recall Line: (800) 440-4668
November 23, 1999	CPSC CONTACT: Jane Francis
	(301) 504-0580 Ext. 1187
Release # 00-020

CPSC, Sunbeam® Announce Recall of Glow-In-the-Dark Humidifiers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Sunbeam Corp., of Boca Raton, Fla., is recalling about 560,000 Sunbeam®, Hankscraft® and SunMark® humidifiers with water tanks that glow in the dark. These humidifiers can develop an electrical short, presenting a fire hazard.

Sunbeam has received 87 complaints from consumers using these humidifiers, including 42 reports of fire. Three consumers suffered smoke inhalation and another suffered minor burns to her hands.

These humidifiers were sold under the brand names Sunbeam, Hankscraft and SunMark. The Sunbeam brand has service numbers 644 through 646 written on the back of the humidifier's motor housing. The Hankscraft brand has service numbers 1260 through 1262 and the SunMark brand has service number 1260. Hankscraft and SunMark service numbers are written on the inside of the plastic housing of the motor. All the recalled humidifiers have date codes stamped on the plugs beginning with I001 through J226. The humidifiers are white with green, blue or rust colored covers. Sunbeam, Hankscraft or SunMark is written on the plastic cover. The Sunbeam humidifiers were sold with 1-gallon, 1.5-gallon and 2-gallon tank capacity. The Hankscraft humidifiers were sold with 1.2-gallon, 1.7-gallon and 2.5-gallon tank capacity. The SunMark humidifiers were sold with 1.2-gallon tank capacity.

Discount department and drug stores sold these humidifiers nationwide from March 1995 through December 1997 for $8 to $15.

Consumers should immediately stop using these humidifiers, and call Sunbeam for instructions on returning the products for a free replacement. For more information or to get instructions on returning the humidifiers, call Sunbeam at (800) 440-4668 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. Consumers also can access the company's web site at www.sunbeam.com.

Only the humidifiers with the service numbers and date codes listed are part of this recall. Also, if your humidifier has a sticker on the motor's plastic housing showing a manufactured date of 1999 or later, it is not part of the recall.

Consumers can also view a video clip about this recall (Transcript). It is about 7 megabytes long and the download time depends upon the speed of your Internet connection.

Date Code Stamped on Plug

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission protects the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death from 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury and for information on CPSC's fax-on-demand service, call CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270. To order a press release through fax-on-demand, call (301) 504-0051 from the handset of your fax machine and enter the release number. Consumers can obtain this release and recall information or report product hazards to info@cpsc.gov.

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