The Consumer Product Safety Commission has used a legal power it hadn’t touched in almost 40 years to order an immediate stop to sales and use of Lakkzoom immersion water heaters, small $30 devices meant to heat water in a bucket or bathtub, after linking them to 235 fire reports.
In a news release, CPSC said it filed suit through the Department of Justice under Section 12 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, calling the move “the Commission’s first use of its Section 12 imminent hazard authority in nearly four decades.” Section 12 lets the agency go straight to federal court and ask a judge to declare a product an imminent hazard, rather than negotiating a voluntary recall with the manufacturer, the tool CPSC normally reaches for first.
Acting Chairman Peter Feldman explained why the agency skipped that usual step, saying in the release: “Congress enacted Section 12 to ensure that the Commission could seek swift judicial relief when products present an imminent hazard.” The suit names Cixi Miaojie Electrical Appliance Co. Ltd. and Changsha Jiayi Tianzhuo Trading Co. Ltd., both based in China, as the manufacturer and seller behind the Lakkzoom heaters.
CPSC says the devices “can overheat and catch fire within minutes when energized either completely or partially out of water” — meaning a heater left running after the water level drops, or one that’s accidentally activated before it’s fully submerged, can ignite fast enough that a homeowner may not catch it in time. The agency’s court filing, as detailed in legal industry coverage of the case, also says CPSC testing found the heaters don’t meet UL 499 safety standards despite marketing that claimed a UL listing and a “safe design.”
What Consumers Should Do
- Stop using any Lakkzoom immersion water heater immediately, even if it has worked without issue so far.
- Unplug the device and do not re-energize it, including briefly to drain or empty a container.
- Do not resell, donate, or otherwise pass the heater along to another household.
- Report any Lakkzoom-related incident, fire, or near-miss to SaferProducts.gov or by calling CPSC at 800-638-2772.
CPSC’s lawsuit is asking the court to formally declare the heaters an imminent hazard, order a mandatory recall, require direct notice to consumers, and force full refunds along with a halt to any further sales or imports. Section 12 actions are rare enough that this one is already being cited in legal and safety circles as a signal the agency is willing to bypass the slower voluntary-recall process when it believes a fire risk can’t wait, a heavier legal step than the recall notices that typically arrive for defective baby gear, kitchen tools, or the countless other products CPSC handles in a given month.