CSA Cooktop Panel Reviews Unintended-Operation Incidents

Members of an ANSI/CSA panel looking at spontaneous or unintended operation of cooktop controls March 16 formed a subgroup to address potential standards provisions. This followed the group's discussion of analysis of IDIs provided by CPSC earlier.

Those 22 incidents broke down into five areas: automatically turning on (10 cases), failing to turn off (five), inability to control temperature (six), possible overheating (five), and an "other" category of incidents (two) likely uninvolved and linked to plastic degradation or a cracked control panel. The total of cases is 28, and the difference with 22 is due to some having multiple possible causes.

The group also reviewed other breakdowns such as range types, fuel types, product ages, and installation dates. It further discussed possible solutions from the ANSI Z21 series or UL 858.

The group queried a CPSC member and was satisfied that the IDIs did not represent worst, outlier events. It also briefly heard about an AHAM proposal for wet cleaning tests.