July 9, 2001

CPSC Announces Recall of Furnaces in California

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is announcing a recall of about 30,000 furnaces sold in California. Seven firms are offering to repair or replace certain furnaces, which were sold under their own labels, but were manufactured by Consolidated Industries Inc. The units involved are gas-fired horizontal furnaces equipped with steel "NOx" rods installed above the burners and are commonly called NOx rod furnaces. These furnaces pose a substantial risk of fire.

CPSC has received 50 reports of fires associated with the 140,000 horizontal furnaces manufactured by Consolidated Industries Inc. No injuries have been reported. All the furnaces can be identified by the steel rods installed above the burners. The firms participating in this recall are Amana Company, L.P., of Amana, Iowa; Bard Manufacturing, of Bryan, Ohio; Carrier Corporation, of Syracuse, N.Y.; Goettl Air Conditioning Inc., of Phoenix, Ariz.; Goodman Manufacturing Company L.P., of Houston, Texas; Heat Controller Inc., of Jackson, Mich.; and The Trane Company, a division of American Standard Inc., of Tyler, Texas.

Private labelers sold these furnaces in California under the following brand names and model numbers, which are written on a label on an outside panel of the furnace.

Company Name Trade Name Model

Amana Company Amana GSE50DN3X, GSE75DN3X, GSE100DN5X

Bard Manufacturing Bard ESG040D36B, ESG050D36B, ESG060D36B
ESG060D48B, ESG080D60B, ESG100D60B
ESG120D60B, ESG140D60B, ESG050D36D
ESG060D48D, ESG075D48D, ESG080D60D
ESG100D60D, ISG060D36AX, ISG080D48AX
ISG100D60AX, ISG120D60AX

Carrier Corporation Sunburst by Carrier
Southern California HAC 040N(D,E, or F)3RXC
HAC 050N(D,E, or F)5RXC
HAC 060N(D,E, or F)4RXC
HAC 075N(D,E, or F)4RXC
HAC 080N(D,E, or F)5RXC
HAC 100N(D,E, or F)5RXC

Goettl Air Conditioning Inc. American Best, Goettl HAC 040N(D,E, or F)3RCX,

HAC 050N(D,E, or F)3RCX
HAC 040N(D,E, or F)3RXD
HAC 050N(D,E, or F)3RXD
HAC 040N(D,E, or F)3RXC
HAC 050N(D,E, or F)3RXC
HAC 060N(D,E, or F)4RXC
HAC 075N(D,E, or F)4RXC
HAC 080N(D,E, or F)5RXC
HAC 100N(D,E, or F)5RXC
HCC 040N(D,E, or F)3RX
HCC 050N(D,E, or F)3RX
HCC 060N(D,E, or F)4RX
HCC 075N(D,E, or F)4RX
HCC 100N(D,E, or F)5RX
HBA 040N(D,E, or F)3RX
HBA 060N(D,E, or F)3RX
HBA 080N(D,E, or F)4RX
HBA 100N(D,E, or F)5RX
HBA 120N(D,E, or F)5RX

Goodman Manufacturing Franklin Electric HBA 040 ND 3(X, RX, XC or RXC)

Company Goodman HBA 060 ND 3(X, RX, XC or RXC)

GMC HBA 080 ND 4(X, RX, XC or RXC)
Hamilton Electric HBA 100 ND 5(X, RX, XC or RXC)
Janitrol HBA 120 ND 5(X, RX, XC or RXC)
Johnstone HCA 040 ND 3(X, RX, XC or RXC)
Liberty HCA 060 ND 3(X, RX, XC or RXC)

HCA 080 ND 4(X, RX, XC or RXC)
HCA 100 ND 5(X, RX, XC or RXC)
HCA 120 ND 5(X, RX, XC or RXC)
HCA 140 ND 5(X, RX, XC or RXC)
HCC 040 ND 3(X, RX, XC or RXC)
HCC 050 ND 3(X, RX, XC or RXC)
HCC 060 ND 4(X, RX, XC or RXC)
HCC 075 ND 4(X, RX, XC or RXC)
HCC 080 ND 5(X, RX, XC or RXC)
HCC 100 ND 5(X, RX, XC or RXC)

Heat Controller Inc. Comfort-Aire GSH40-T3N-X
GSH50-T3N-X
GSH60-T4N-X
GSH75-T4N-X
GSH80-T5N-X
GSH100-T5N-X

The Trane Company Trane
American Standard THN050A936A
THN060A948A
THN075A948A
THN100A960A

Home, hardware and specialty stores, and independent contractors sold these furnaces in California from January 1983 through December 1992 for about $2,000.

Consumers should check to see if their furnace is part of this recall immediately. If so, or for more information, consumers should call toll-free at (877) 347-6456 anytime, or contact the recall web site at www.furnaceinspect.com. Consumers should have the brand name, model number and serial number of their furnace available when they call or contact the web site. The recall program offers free inspection and repair of the furnaces. Consumers can elect to receive a new furnace, free of charge, except for installation costs.

CPSC issued a safety alert warning about these furnaces in September 2000. Consolidated Industries (formerly Premier Furnace Co.), which is being liquidated under Chapter 7 bankruptcy laws, manufactured approximately 140,000 of these furnaces for sale in California between 1983 and 1994 under many different brand names. About 110,000 of these furnaces were manufactured and distributed under the Premier/Consolidated labels. They are not covered by this recall program. However, there is on-going private litigation which could enable consumers to recover at least some of their out-of-pocket expenses for replacement or repair of the Premier/Consolidated brand furnaces. For more information about the private litigation, call (408) 808-1410 or visit the web site at www.white-macdonald.com.