Critical Product RECALL: APC Surge Protectors

I don't know about you, but I've been trusting my computer equipment to name-brand surge protectors over the years.  When you review the sales pitch of cheap products, versus actual performance stats, you'll see that sometimes it's best to go with what works and who stands tall behind their products.  For me, that's been APC all the way for my gear.

Well, except for this particular product recall that went out in the early part of October that is.

REMEMBER, as with any recall, it behooves you to get in front of some of these situations to make sure you don't become one of the statistics that gets quoted in press releases.  And it would be a shame to have had the info available, and not have done anything about it.

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Schneider Electric recalled some of their APC SurgeArrest surge protectors due to what they say, are fire hazards, by a particular set of models numbers.

It turns out this recall involves OLDER units they've sold, where they were manufactured prior to 2003.

This recall isn't just an observation and a company being careful.  This recall has some merit to it, due to the fact that Schneider Electric has had 700 reports of overheating and melting. 

They've seen 55 claims of property damage from smoke and fire, including fire damage to a home and a medical facility.

They've received 13 reports of personal harm, which included smoke inhalation and contact burns.

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The recall impacts potentially 15 MILLION units, (this is going to be a pricey fix for them) that were sold at outlets such as Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, and other stores nationwide, between January 1993 and December 2002.

As with any recall, especially one of this nature, consumers are urged to unplug the item in question and stop using the product immediately and contact Schneider Electric IT Corp. for instructions.

They can be reached toll-free at (888) 437-4007 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or you can go online at http://recall.apc.com, or www.apc.com, find the recall link and go from there.

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The Nitty Gritty...
How can you tell if you have a recalled surge protector?

The units are APC 7 and 8 series SurgeArrest surge protectors. 

The information you need to review about the model and serial numbers are located on a label on the bottom of the device.

The two numbers that follow the first letter or letters in the serial number sequence indicate the year the device was made.

In this case, the units of concern have the numbers 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00, 01 or 02.

Also, the words Personal, Professional, Performance or Network are printed on the surge protectors.

Here's a list of model numbers involved in this recall.

7 Series model numbers
NET7
NET7T
NET7T-C
PER7
PER7C
PER7T
PER7T-CO
PER7T-U
PER7TX137
PER7-U
PER7X148
PRF7
PRF7T
PRO7
PRO7C
PRO7T
PRO7TX183

8 Series model numbers
NET8
NET8N
PER8T
PER8T R
PER8T R-CN
PER8TVR
PER8XTV
PRF8T2
PRF8TT
PRO8
PRO8T2
PRO8T2C
PRO8T2MP12
PRO8T2MP12B
PRO8TV

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Folks, check any and ALL of your extension/surge protects and make sure you don't have one in your possession and being used.  I know that you might be thinking, that if you've had it this long, there probably isn't any concern.  Why take the chance.  I've seen what happens when a house goes up in flames.  It can go from a tendril of smoke to fully engulfed in less than 10 minutes.

Check your home offices, your garage, anywhere you might use one of these.  (Yes, even work.  Hey, I wouldn't want my stuff at work to go up in flames.  That's a lot of frisbees! (I have a collection of discs that I use to practice with at lunch because my Divisional Champion disc dog, Vader, insists.)

source for recall info {.cpsc.}


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