Electric Furnaces
Twenty years of CPSC NEISS emergency-room records for this consumer product category, combined with demographic breakdowns, multi-year injury trends, and matching recall notices.
Kitchen Small Appliances & Housewares · CPSC Code 318
Down 100% over 5 years
The verdict
Electric Furnaces carry a danger score of 11/100 (very low risk), driven by roughly 32 ER-treated injuries a year that are declining by about 100% over the last five years.
- 11/100
- danger score (very low risk)
- 32
- ER visits per year (avg)
- 0.0%
- end in hospital admission
- 15-24
- most-injured age group
Every figure is rendered from the CPSC NEISS record for product code 318 - last data year 2017.
PlainSafety danger score
How this 11/100 score is built
The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for electric furnaces - no opinion, no editorializing:
- Injury volume32 ER visits/yr
- Severity (hospitalization rate)0.0%
- Fatality rate0.00%
- 5-year trend-100%
See the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.
What the CPSC Data Shows
Electric Furnaces (CPSC product code 318, in the Kitchen Small Appliances & Housewares category) generate an estimated 32 emergency-room visits every year in the United States, adding up to roughly 97 ER-treated injuries across the 13-year span from 2005 to 2017. PlainSafety derives a danger score of 11/100 for this category (very low risk), combining raw injury volume, demographic reach, severity of outcome, and multi-year trend. The five-year trajectory shows that injury counts are declining by about 100% over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2005 (67 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2017 (15 estimated visits).
The single most common ER diagnosis for electric furnaces is foreign body to the eyeball, accounting for approximately 67 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by electric shock to the all parts body (15 cases). The 15-24 age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 67 cases over the NEISS window, and males appear slightly more often than the opposite sex in that cohort. Severity outcomes from the NEISS disposition field show that 0.0% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer.
Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 5 consumer incident reports filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 2 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how electric furnaces fail in real households. Every figure on this page comes from CPSC-published data: NEISS projects national estimates from a probability sample of about 100 U.S. hospital emergency departments, while SaferProducts.gov collects voluntary reports from consumers, manufacturers, and clinicians. The danger score, trend indicators, and demographic breakdowns update automatically when CPSC releases a new yearly NEISS file, which is why this page is dated 2017-12-31. For regulatory context, consult CPSC recall notices and the SaferProducts.gov public database linked below.
Annual Injury Estimates (2005–2017)
Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only
Who Gets Injured?
| Age Group | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15-24 | 67 | 0 | |
| 45-54 | 15 | 0 | |
| 55-64 | 15 | 0 |
Most Common Injuries
| Body Part | Diagnosis | Est. Injuries |
|---|---|---|
| Eyeball | Foreign Body | |
| All Parts Body | Electric Shock | |
| Wrist | Puncture |
Severity Breakdown
ER Visit Narratives
Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.
55YOM WORKING ON A FURNACE, GOT AN ELECTRICAL CHARGE, WITHDREW HAND, IMPALED HIS DORSAL WRIST ON METAL DX-PUNCTURE WOUND LT WRIST
49YM SUSTAINED AN ELECTRICK CHARGE @ FURNACE FROM WIRE TO BACK OF HEADTRAV. DOWN TO ANT. CHEST>>ELECTRIC SHOCK
Consumer Incident Reports
Reports filed by consumers on SaferProducts.gov.
My wife uses a Lakewood Model 5600/7 Oil-Filled Radiant Electric Heater (manufactured by Lakewood Engineering & Manufacturing Company of Chicago) at night to keep her bedroom warm. She keeps the heater on the first of three power settings and the thermostat set to just a bit less than halfway around its dial between minimum and maximum. During the night while she was sleeping, the heater started emitting a strong odor of burnt plastic that filled the room, but it did not immediately awaken her. She eventually woke up with a severe headache and nausea in the morning. We immediately unplugged the heater and moved it outside, where it continued to emit this foul burned odor. It was obvious to us that something inside failed, though it was still putting out heat. We also opened windows in her room for cross-ventillation and put strong fans at the window sills to evacuate the strong odor. During the removal of the heater and placing of the fan, the smell was so strong, I got nauseous and developed a headache, and my eyes began to sting and water profusely. It took several hours of circulating fresh air into the room to make it habitable again, and many of the fabrics on my wife's bedding and clothing were saturated with the odor. There was no obvious smoke, soot or aerosols visible. This is the SECOND time a similar failure has happened with this exact brand and model of heater, but the first time (two years ago) the appliance was in use and we detected the smell immediately. In both cases, we'd already been using the appliances for at least two years.
While cleaning the blower and A coil of a ten year old Carrier furnace i noticed that the unused(vertical) drip pan had pulled away from the left wall by about 2 inches. This created a dead space where moisture and mold will accumulate. Model number 25HBC34BA300. Notified Carrier by email and asked for their advice on how to fix this. They provided no help and gave me the names of 4 recommended contractors but none of them would talk about it, not even [REDACTED] who installed it. Came up with a solution to firmly secure the unused drip pan to the wall with 2 screws and seal it with foil tape.
Trane funace and A/C inslled just over a year ago. Furnace is covered in standing and leaking water, and rusting. Concerned about electical short, CO leak and system failure.
The consumer says that last night the furnace was seton 72. She started smelling an electrical burning scent. She heard a loud "boom" and then saw that the motor to the furnace was in flames. The consumer says the unit was only on for about 15-30 minutes before the incident occurred. She used a fire extinguisher to put the fire out. The consumer contacted the manufacturer who told her the unit is out of warranty. They said they never heard of any issues with the unit before.
The board on the unit burned up in the middle of the night.
Product Recalls
Search for active and past recalls related to electric furnaces on the CPSC website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How dangerous are electric furnaces?
Based on 20 years of CPSC data, electric furnaces have a danger score of 11/100 (very low risk). An estimated 32 ER-treated injuries occur annually in the U.S. related to this product category.
What are the most common injuries from electric furnaces?
The most common injury is foreign body to the eyeball, accounting for approximately 67 injuries over 20 years.
Are injuries from electric furnaces increasing or decreasing?
Down 100% over 5 years.
Who is most at risk for electric furnaces injuries?
The 15-24 age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 67 cases recorded over 20 years. Males are more frequently injured in this age group.
What happens when someone is injured by electric furnaces?
Of all ER visits involving electric furnaces, approximately 0.0% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (100.0%) are treated and released from the emergency department.
How can I report a safety problem with electric furnaces?
You can file a consumer incident report at SaferProducts.gov, the official CPSC reporting portal. Reports help the CPSC identify emerging hazards and trigger investigations or recalls. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772.
Related Products in Kitchen Small Appliances & Housewares
Safety Guides
What this means for you
Treat the 11/100 score as relative risk between products, not your personal odds of injury.
- See where this category ranks against every other tracked product. Full rankings
- Injuries cluster in the 15-24 age group, take extra care if that describes your household.
- Check for active recalls on this product before you assume it is safe. CPSC recalls
NEISS estimates ER-treated injuries from a national probability sample of hospitals; they do not capture injuries treated elsewhere or not treated at all.
Data: CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments. This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, scored, and verified.
