CPSC, American Standard Companies Announce Recall of Gas-Electric Heating/Cooling Units

Recall Insight

This CPSC action (record #05104) was formally reported on February 11, 2005. It is classified under Moderate severity, with a current status of Active. Trane and American Standard, divisions of American Standard Inc., of Tyler, Texas is listed as the recalling firm. Federal records indicate About 18,200 units are affected.

The documented reason for this recall is: A gas leak can occur if there is a crack in the gas valve body near the inlet pipe connection. A build-up of gas in the burner compartment of the unit could occur, which could be ignited by an internal spark. Distribution information was not included in the agency filing, so consumers should assume broad potential exposure until the firm publishes point-of-sale details. The remedy documented by the agency is: Consumers with recalled units are being contacted by the independent dealers that installed them. Consumers who think they have recalled units and have not yet been contacted, should call their insta… — consumers holding this product should act on that instruction rather than relying on general guidance.

To put this record in context, PlainRecalls indexes 83,949 recalls across the FDA, CPSC, NHTSA and USDA FSIS going back to 1995. Within the same product category, the database holds 6 closely related recalls, of which 6 were also issued by CPSC. That clustering is a signal — repeated actions in a narrow category often indicate a systemic quality-control issue, a supplier-wide contamination, or a design defect that has propagated across product lines. This recall is roughly 21 years old; older recalls can remain relevant because many units enter resale, rental, and secondary-market channels where the original warning never reaches the end user. Always cross-check the recall number against the official agency page before relying on any summary.