APC 7 and 8 Series power strips from '93 to '02 recalled

[rseiler]

I first came across this in a CNN.com article from Oct 3:

Washington (CNN) -- More than 15 million surge protectors are being recalled for posing a potential fire hazard, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the manufacturer announced Thursday.

Seven hundred instances of APC SurgeArrest devices overheating or melting have been reported, according to a press release from the safety commission. Thirteen people were hurt and 55 claims were made for damage caused by smoke and fire.

The recall includes corded surge protectors manufactured before 2003 by Schneider Electric IT Corporation.

"The affected products may present a fire hazard under infrequent, abnormal building wiring and electrical conditions," the company said. "This hazard has been reported in a small percentage (less than 0.01%) of the units sold and included reports of property damage, mostly involving damaged nylon carpeting."

Thirty-two model numbers of the company's "7 series" and "8 series" devices are included in the recall and can be found on the company's website, recall.apc.com, or by calling 888 437 4007

The safety commission urges the public to stop using the surge protectors, and to contact the company for a replacement.

http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2014/Schneider-Electric-Recalls-APC-Surge-Protectors

http://recall.apc.com/en

http://recall.apc.com/us/frequently-asked-questions

After determining whether you have an affected model, the process is submitting a form with photos of the serial numbers of the units. A common replacement that they'll send out is the PRO8T2, at least based on the ones that I submitted (PRO8TV, NET8N, PER7). It appears that there's about a 12-week turnaround time for the replacements to arrive.

It's good to see APC doing the right thing here, though I can't imagine what took them so long to alert the public about this.

 

[Cerb]

I'm pretty sure my office has two of them, right now, on such carpet... Will check, and thanks for the heads-up! I had not read of this in these past few days.

 

[RiDE]

Wow... thanks for the heads up! :thumbsup: I'm currently using a PER7T from 01 since my UPS died.

EDIT: Replacement is a PRO8T2 as well.