CPSC NEISS · code 388

Electric Heaters, Not Elsewhere Classified

Electric Heaters, Not Elsewhere Classified: danger rank #137 of 838 is not ER-volume rank #500 of 838 (1,242 estimated ER visits a year; roughly flat over the last five years).

Kitchen Small Appliances & Housewares CPSC NEISS through 2024

Danger score versus ER volume

Danger score versus ER volume

According to CPSC NEISS 2005-2024, Electric Heaters, Not Elsewhere Classified ranks #137 of 838 by danger score (41/100) at ER-volume #500 of 838 (1,242/yr). They are not the same ranking.

#137
danger rank of 838
#500
ER-volume rank of 838
41/100
danger score
1,242/yr
estimated ER visits (avg)

Danger score combines injury volume, hospitalization, fatality, and five-year trend. ER volume is the average annual NEISS estimate alone. Rank 1 is highest on each list.

Where this category's danger score sits nationally

Danger score (41/100) across 838 scored CPSC product categories

41 Higher than most more dangerous than 79% of 838 product categories

scored CPSC product categories, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more product categories. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source CPSC NEISS, PlainSafety danger-score model · 2024

Composite verdict

Composite Safety Score: 68/100

One verdict blending 4 independently-sourced dimensions from two separate CPSC systems, each benchmarked against all 838 scored product categories by percentile rather than raw value, so no single huge-volume category can dominate the scale.

D
Dimension Value National percentile Weight applied Source
Injury severity (hospitalization + fatality blend) 17 91st 35% CPSC NEISS 20-year severity index
Annual ER injury volume 1,242 37th 30% CPSC NEISS estimated annual ER-treated injuries
5-year injury trend -6% 57th 15% CPSC NEISS 5-year % change in ER-treated injuries
Consumer incident reports 101 82nd 20% CPSC SaferProducts.gov public incident report count

Methodology: each dimension is ranked against the full population's p10/p25/p50/p75/p90 breakpoints and interpolated to a 0-100 percentile; the composite is the weighted average of available percentiles. See methodology for the full benchmark table.

Where 24,861 estimated ER injuries land on the body

Body-part shares from the same CPSC NEISS injury_types extract for product code 388. Segments sum to 24,861 - a body-map mix, not a danger score or ER-volume rank.

Two danger lenses

Same-group peer scores and this product's dial

The bars compare PlainSafety danger scores inside the Kitchen Small Appliances & Housewares group (same CPSC NEISS extract). The dial is this product's score alone on the Low/Moderate/High bands. Do not read a peer bar as an ER-visit count.

Kitchen Small Appliances & Housewares danger scores

1. Coal Furnaces48/1002. Thermostats (for Heating …47/1003. Outdoor Patio Heaters Or …42/1004. Heaters Or Heating System…42/1005. Portable Gas Or Lp Heaters42/1006. Electric Heaters, Not Els…41/1007. Radiators (excluding Vehi…40/1008. Pipes (excluding Smoking …40/100
Higher score = higher composite danger in this group. Peer set is other scored products sharing the same CPSC group.
0/100100/10041/100
PlainSafety danger score · Electric Heaters, Not Elsewhere Classified

Source: CPSC NEISS danger-score model As of 2024

How this 41/100 score is built

The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for electric heaters, not elsewhere classified - no opinion, no editorializing:

  • Injury volume 1,242 ER visits/yr Below median volume
  • Severity (hospitalization rate) 10.6% High admission rate
  • Fatality rate 0.62% Elevated fatality rate
  • 5-year trend-6%

Band labels compare this category against the corpus of 838 scored CPSC product categories, see the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.

What the CPSC Data Shows

Across the 20-year NEISS window from 2005 to 2024, injury counts for electric heaters, not elsewhere classified are roughly flat over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2014 (2,139 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2021 (488 estimated visits). The single most common ER diagnosis is burns, thermal to the lower leg, accounting for approximately 1,955 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by burns, thermal to the hand (1,688 cases). The 0-4 age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 6,065 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 10.6% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer, and a small fraction (0.62%) result in fatality.

Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 101 consumer incident reports filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 20 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how electric heaters, not elsewhere classified 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 2024-12-31. For regulatory context, consult CPSC recall notices and the SaferProducts.gov public database linked below.

Annual Injury Estimates (2005–2024)

05001K2K2K3K 20052008201120142017202020232024 1K
Estimated annual emergency-room visits for Electric Heaters, Not Elsewhere Classified, CPSC NEISS

Source: CPSC NEISS national injury estimates As of 2024

Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only

Who Gets Injured?

Age Group Male Female Total
0-4 3,823 2,242 6,065
5-14 1,568 1,435 3,003
15-24 976 1,110 2,086
25-34 1,249 1,375 2,624
35-44 802 681 1,483
45-54 1,397 778 2,175
55-64 1,776 1,213 2,989
65-74 614 729 1,343
75+ 948 2,140 3,088

Most Common Injuries

Body Part Diagnosis Est. Injuries
Lower Leg Burns, Thermal 1,955
Hand Burns, Thermal 1,688
All Parts Body Anoxia 1,577
Head Internal Injury 1,209
Face Laceration 1,080
Lower Trunk Burns, Thermal 1,003
Upper Leg Burns, Thermal 921
Upper Trunk Contusions, Abr. 802
Foot Burns, Thermal 760
Head Laceration 687
Head Contusions, Abr. 668
Lower Arm Burns, Thermal 582
Upper Trunk Burns, Thermal 566
All Parts Body Electric Shock 541
Upper Arm Burns, Thermal 414

Severity Breakdown

Treated/examined And Released 86.7% (21,555)
Treated And Admitted/hospitalized 6.3% (1,571)
Treated And Transferred 3.8% (943)
Left Without Being Seen 1.8% (451)
Held For Observation 0.9% (219)
Fatality Incl. Doa, Died In Er 0.5% (122)

ER Visit Narratives

Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.

Age 47 · Male · Hand · Burns, Thermal · 2024

47 YOM BURNS TO HAND AND FEET FROM SPACE HEATER DX THERMAL BURNS TO HAND AND FOOT

Age 56 · Male · Upper Trunk · Contusions, Abr. · 2024

56YOM C/O RIGHT RIB PAIN, STATES HE TRIPPED OVER A SPACE HEATER AND LANDED ON HER RIGHT SIDE. DX: CHEST WALL CONTUSION, RIB FRACTURE

Age 32 · Male · Lower Leg · Burns, Thermal · 2024

32 YOM WITH HISTORY OF PARAPLEGIA PRESENTS WITH RIGHT LOWER EXTREMITY BURN 4 DAYS AGO. PATIENT REPORTS HIS LEG WAS CLOSE TO AN ELECTRIC HEATER AND AFTERWARD HE NOTICED A BURN. DX: PARTIAL THICKNESS BURN RIGHT LOWER LEG.

Age 90 · Female · Not Stated/unk · Other · 2024

90YOF PATIENT'S HOUSE WAS FLOODED A FEW DAYS AGO AND HAD HEATERS AND FANS GOING TO TRY TO DRY IT OUT, HEAT EXPOSURE DX: HEAT EXPOSURE

Age 11 · Male · Hand · Laceration · 2024

11YOM WITH LAC TO HAND FROM A METAL HEATER DX: LAC TO HAND

Age 19 · Male · Not Stated/unk · Other · 2024

19 YOM WAS AT THE SALON SITTING IN FRONT OF AN ELECTRIC HEATER AND GETTING HIS HAIR BLOW DRIED AND BECAME OVERHEATED AND SLUMPED OUT OF HIS CHAIR TO THE FLOOR. DX: VASOVAGAL SYNCOPE

Age 99 · Female · Lower Leg · Avulsion · 2024

99YOF,LOWERLEG INJURY AFTER HITTING INTO A BOX FAN SPACE HEATER,AT HOME,DX:SKIN TEAR LOWER LEG

Age 207 · Female · Head · Burns, Thermal · 2024

7 MOF WAS AT HOME SITTING NEXT TO THE WALL HEATER. DAD SAYS HE STEPPED AWAY BRIEFLY AND CAME BACK TO FIND HER WITH THE BACK OF HER HEAD AGAINST THE WALL HEATER. DX: PARTIAL THICKNESS BURN OF SCALP

Age 50 · Female · Foot · Burns, Thermal · 2024

50YOF C/O PARTIAL THICKNESS BURN ON LEFT FOOT AND TOES S/P PT FELL ASLEEP AT HOME WITH HER FOOT TOO CLOSE TO A SPACE HEATER. DX: PARTIAL THICKNESS BURNS ON LEFT FOOT AND TOES

Age 80 · Female · Head · Internal Injury · 2024

80YOF WITH BEING HIT BY A SMALL ELECTRIC HEATER DX: CHI AND NECK PAIN

Age 80 · Female · Lower Trunk · Dislocation · 2024

80 YOF TRIPPED OVER ELECTRIC PLUG IN HEATER FELL HIT HIP ON FLOOR DX DISLOCATION HIP

Age 62 · Male · Knee · Other · 2024

62 YOM TRIPPED OVER HEATER CORD HURT KNEE DX ACUTE KNEE PAIN

Consumer Incident Reports

Reports filed by consumers on SaferProducts.gov.

9/17/2025 · Incident, No Injury · THE BURMAX COMPANY, INC. · Texas

When testing a hot lather machine commonly sold in the USA by barber supply shops and online retailers I received an electric shock upon touching the metal components on top of the machine. The machine was turned on and part of my body was touching a counter which is connected to the utility ground via earthing. The shock was felt at the point of contact at the machine and at point of contact of the grounding point.

9/15/2014 · Incident, No Injury · TWIN STAR INTERNATIONAL INC · Michigan

I was getting ready for work and I looked over at the heater. It looked lopsided. I walked over to it and I turned it off once I could see that it had melted around the frame.

8/9/2016 · Incident, No Injury · Heat Surge, LLC · Texas

Heat Surge Heater creates excessive amount of heat within the product. Plugged heater into outlet in item heat melted plug so that prongs were dislodged. Heat also damaged outlet - had electrician replace outlet and check wiring to make sure wiring not damaged. Googled product to discover sites containing of 280 complaints regarding over heating including some instances of smoking and causing a fire.

8/30/2013 · Incident, No Injury · Broan - NuTone, LLC · Illinois

Had a wall mounted electric heater in the bathroom (installed 20 years ago). The unit had been running for about 10 minutes and it started glowing red inside. Turning it off via the thermostat dial did not shut it off. Smoke started coming out of the unit. We called 911 and the fire department came and shut it off at the circuit breaker. The unit had gotten so hot, it started to char the studs in the wall and they had started to smoke. The fire department said that if they had gotten there 5 minutes later flames would have developed in the wall. It appears that none of the protection devices inside the heater (thermal overload, etc.) worked.

8/24/2023 · Incident, No Injury · Energywise Solutions, LLC · California

Heat Storm Deluxe Mounted Space Infrared Wall Heater poses fire risk. The back of the heater melts and can start smoking. I have been lucky to have been home when this occurred and prevented building from burning down. Also- heater is supposed to have overheat protection but it does not work. This has caused me a few thousand in damage. The back of the heater often melts to the wall. I have purchased over 10 of these heaters and this has occurred with 5 of the wall mounted models (slightly different versions of the same model).

8/17/2015 · Incident, No Injury · ECO-heater, Inc. · Alaska

Initially purchased 3 of these units for the bedrooms in our newly purchased home. Noticed a wisp of smoke staining the wall from one of the units. Assumed it was a defect so replaced with a 4th unit. These units were less than 18 months old when a second one failed. Fortunately there was someone home to unplug the unit before our home burned down. I contacted Eco-Heater along with pictures and spoke with an "I don't give a damn" rep, [REDACTED]. All they wanted was: 1. Please provide the serial number of your heater. The serial number is located on the carton and on the rear of the switch junction box. 2. Please provide a copy of your proof of purchase. 3. Please let us know which model you have I could not provide a complete serial number since part of it was burned off. I could not immediately provide a proof of purchase as I was out of state for 4.5 months. And the model was an easy one. Within the first 3 emails, all they asked for were those 3 things above and they tried to take possession of the burnt heater in an attempt to take away the only evidence. I told them I would not be sending them the unit unless they repaired my wall. After 17 emails, they refused to repair the damage to my wall and offered to replace the 3 units instead. Why would I want to replace the units when 2 out of 4 caught on fire (1 was in the master bedroom and the other in my infants bedroom)? They gave me the run around and I can only assume they were hoping I could not provide a proof of purchase (the accountant at the business I purchased them from was kind enough to go back into their database and provide the original receipt and purchase order). They have stopped replying to my emails and my numerous requests to repair the damage to my wall (not even both, just the one that is burnt in the picture). I'm sure their customer service is great for little things. But when it comes to accountability and the well being of others, they could care less. I brought up the reques

7/13/2012 · Incident, No Injury · CULLIGAN INTERNATIONAL COMPANY · Pennsylvania

The Culligan Waterbed heater was no longer heating our waterbed so we drained the mattress to replace the heating unit. We immediately noticed that the heater pad had overheated, melting/burning into the wooden base of the bed.

6/13/2017 · Incident, No Injury · eheat, Inc. · Oregon

On Saturday, June 10, 2017 my husband went into the bathroom on the ground floor of our home around 9pm and found it filled with smoke. Even though the Envi wall heater appeared to be on fire, the unit was still on, as evidenced by the light on the on/off button. My husband unplugged the heater, removed it from the wall and took it outside. I came downstairs and entered the bathroom to find it filled with smoke, and black soot covering the wall near the location where the Envi heater had been installed prior to my husband removing it moments before. We opened windows and doors to air out the bathroom and monitored the bathroom and adjacent rooms to make sure the interior of the adjacent walls had not been ignited.

Showing 8 of 101 reports.

Product Recalls

Search for active and past recalls related to electric heaters, not elsewhere classified on the CPSC website.

Compare beyond Kitchen Small Appliances & Housewares

Nationwide peers by danger score, ER volume & hospitalization

Three PlainSafety-derived comparison paths for Electric Heaters, Not Elsewhere Classified: cross-group products nearest on danger score (41/100), estimated annual ER visits (1,242/yr), and hospitalization share (10.6%). Same-group neighbours stay in Related Products above.

Read with this product

About this data

CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports form the basis of this page. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments.

According to PlainSafety's CPSC NEISS corpus ranking, Electric Heaters, Not Elsewhere Classified ranks #137 of 838 scored CPSC product categories by PlainSafety danger score and #500 of 838 by 20-year estimated ER injury volume.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does electric heaters, not elsewhere classified rank on danger score versus ER volume?

Among 838 scored CPSC product categories, electric heaters, not elsewhere classified ranks #137 by PlainSafety danger score (41/100) and #500 by 20-year estimated ER injury volume (1,242/yr). The two rankings come from the same NEISS extract and are not the same order.

What are the most common injuries from electric heaters, not elsewhere classified?

The most common injury is burns, thermal to the lower leg, accounting for approximately 1,955 injuries over 20 years.

Are injuries from electric heaters, not elsewhere classified increasing or decreasing?

Stable over 5 years.

Who is most at risk for electric heaters, not elsewhere classified injuries?

The 0-4 age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 6,065 cases recorded over 20 years. Males are more frequently injured in this age group.

What happens when someone is injured by electric heaters, not elsewhere classified?

Of all ER visits involving electric heaters, not elsewhere classified, approximately 10.6% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (89.5%) are treated and released from the emergency department.

How can I report a safety problem with electric heaters, not elsewhere classified?

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.

Data on Electric Heaters, Not Elsewhere Classified is compiled directly from CPSC NEISS and SaferProducts.gov records, current through 2024. See our methodology for details.

Disclaimer: This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.

PlainSafety is rendered directly from U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recall and incident records, no number is typed in by an editor. Product recall timelines and hazard labels are drawn from CPSC recall records for this product. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.