Now the CPSC wants you to look at the model numbers of several winter heating appliances to make sure you’re not (out of ignorance or stubbornness) using a recalled product. Consider yourself duly warned.

Life is short

Photo by CPSC

Speaking of short, that’s what has happened to some of the 13,000 Touch Point Oscillating Ceramic Heaters imported by Meijer Inc. After two home fires were reported and 6,700 recalls, retailers apparently kept selling them. Now that’s tenacity. Consumer tip: if your room fills with smoke, open up or break out a window. I know there’s a related window replacement cost, but I guarantee it will  be less expensive than rebuilding your house.

HVAC villainy

Photo by CPSC

Do you need help in understanding the finer points of home ventilation? Put simply, when your Zoneline Air Conditioner and Heater caches flame and belches fumes, open a door or window and unplug the appliance. GE and Sharp have recalled 90,600 units after manufacturers discovered an electrical component in the units may fail.

Lasko buy a new one

Photo by CPSC

The CPSC reminds consumers to stop using The Lasko Model 5540 and Air King Model 8540 portable heaters. More than 107,000 have been recalled in response to fire hazards. Consumers reported that electrical connections in the bases melt. Contact the manufacturer for a refund.

Since we apparently need  reminders from the CPSC, here are a few facts about continuing to use recalled products:

• You do so under our own peril
• You’re refusing refunds or replacements for recalled items
• While there may be good excuses for burning down your home, fire inspectors may frown upon consumer negligence.

Doors of perception

Photo by Consumer Product Safety Commission

Liebherr, Austrian makers of high-end refrigerators are recalling three models with doors that can come off in your hand.  (Oh, that’s an ugly scar!) Is this the quality you expect  in a fridge that sells for $3,800? It’s the perfect Yuletide gift for people who like to stand in front of the open door, surveying leftovers.

Stewed to the grills

Photo by Consumer Product Safety Commission

Unsure how to personalize your kitchen renovation?  Try burning ugly scorch marks on your cabinets. It’s easy if you own one of the 27,000 Wolfgang Puck Electric Reversible Tri-Grill/Griddles imported from China by W.P. Appliances Inc. The recalled units in question tend to overheat and, if that’s not enough, they pose an electrical shock hazard.

Get toasted for the holidays

Photo by Consumer Product Safety Commission

Hamilton Beach is recalling 14,000 of its classic chrome, 2-slice toasters after consumers reported that the heating element fires up when the toaster is plugged into the wall. No need to push down the lever! Get yourself a replacement before your toaster initiates its own cabinet refacing project.

Now look what you’ve done

Photo by Consumer Product Safety Commission

Sure, we love great designs. But if you’re bent on reflecting on your self-image in one of the PAX AURLAND wardrobe mirror doors,  buy supplemental health insurance. The CPSC has encouraged IKEA to recall the product since “the mirror glass can detach unexpectedly from the wardrobe door, fall and shatter, posing a laceration hazard to consumers.” Who’s the fairest of them all?

Feliz caveat emptor!

Powered by bonehead

Photo from No Solo Gadgets

According to Weird News, 27 people have died over the last decade by testing batteries on their tongue. A suggestion: Put the battery INTO the appliance and see if it powers up that way.

Window on folly

Photo from Book of Odds

Left to their own, Christmas trees do not start fires. More than two dozen people have died since 1997 trying to water a Christmas tree draped with electric lights. Nothing like adding a little sizzle to dull home interiors. The thing about Christmas fires is that they burn hot and spread like, well, wildfire. I don’t know if you’ve checked out new window prices and drywall installation costs, but I’m sure you’d rather spend your money on X-Box accessories.

Having a holiday blowout

Photo from Michaels & Smolak

You probably would not be surprised at the number of people who throw safety to the wind. The odds of hurrying to the ER as a result of a Christmas gun accident, Weird News says, is one in 12,610. Please unwrap new firearms outdoors while aiming the muzzle away from Aunt Veronica.

Pin it on the donkey

Photo from Gordana Zikic

OK, I only pass on what I read on the Web. Apparently, more than 200 featherbrains are admitted to ERs after failing to remove all the pins before trying on gift shirts. I tell you, it’s a conspiracy of devil haberdashery.

Happiest holidays, dear readers!

Not all the new homes and commercial buildings are boiler-plated, functional post-Mao boxes. Have a look at what’s going on in unique Chinese architecture.

Green designs for 45 million passengers

Photo by Arup

Shaped like an airliner, the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport Terminal 3 was designed to cut traditional energy costs by a fourth. It will be the first National Green Building Star Label certified airport terminal in China, according to sustainable architect-engineering firm Arup.

Unique house at heaven’s door

Photo by Dornob

Lixiaodong Atelier designed this reflection-pond home that sits at foot of the Yulong Snow Mountain in southwestern China. The house has a breath-taking traditional simplicity about it. Every room is oriented to view the mountain. Read more about it at Dornob.

He said, she said

Photo by Inman

Designs for the $125 million Comics and Animation Museum planned for 111 miles southwest of Shanghai incorporate playful interlocking “word balloons” in keeping with the comic theme.  The designer is MVRDV of the Netherlands. You can view an animation of the proposed structure at You Bent My Wookie.

They’re playing our song

Photo by Inman

The Piano House completed in 2007 in Anhui province has gotten a lot of press, but deserves another look. The Huainan Fangkai Decoration Project worked with Hefey University of Technology to build the black piano and clear violin that rests against it. The house serves as a practice facility and doubles as a concert hall. See additional photos at the Homedit blog.

Avert ugly kinder-kindling

Photo by Care2

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warns that “candlelit jack-o’-lanterns should be kept away from landings and doorsteps where costumes could brush against the flame.”  Poor porch and step lighting can contribute to injurious falls by unsuspecting, excited kids. The CPSC recommends you use battery-operated flameless candles in jack-o’-lanterns.

Kids and cutlery don’t mix

Photo by Cohesive Pieces

Sure, it’s fun to get the kids armed to the teeth with serrated blades and carving knives and let them butcher the pumpkins. But it’s much less fun to take a child (along with their severed thumb in a towel) to the emergency room. Let the little ones draw a face on the squash and then YOU handle the carving.

Halloween designs that kill

Photo by Flickriver

Sure, this crunch-o-witch looks fabulous by day. By night, imagine a wind-aided falling broomstick that impales itself into a crowd of children on your lawn. Break out the attorney retainer. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) strongly suggests that for safety’s sake, you roll up your garden hoses, sweep wet leaves from your walks and driveways, and put all your barking and biting pets indoors for the night.

Photo by Leon County

Furniture that eats people

Photo by CPSC

The CPSC and Big Lots, of Columbus, Ohio, have agreed that 375,000 microfiber and leather glider recliners with ottomans posed sufficient “finger pinching and crushing hazards to older children and adults” to warrant a recall. Manufactured in China, the recliners were sold at Big Lots from January 2005 through December 2009 for $170. For recall information, contact Big Lots.

Fire commotion over Electric Motion

Photo by CPSC

Let’s say you bought one of Electric Motion Systems’ rechargeable lithium-poly battery packs. They’re used to power modified bicycles. Sad enough, they have a propensity to catch fire — not exactly what you’d like to happen while you’re riding to work in the morning. Hence, they’re being voluntarily withdrawn. Contact E+ Electric Bike for recall information if you own what the manufacturer calls “The World’s Most Advanced Electronic Bike.”

Your face, grilled to perfection

Photo by CPSC

Hope you haven’t purchased one of the GE Monogram® Pro Rangetop with Grill models recalled this month. Seems there’s a problem with the igniters, which sometimes fail to ignite the liquefied petroleum gas or, worse, delay ignition so that when the stove lights, you’ll certainly know it by the tell-tale explosion. Oops. The units were sold through August of this year. Check with the CPSC Recall Page to see the model numbers in question.

Life, my friends, is never boring.

Let’s begin with a real doozy.

Uncivil tools and a settlement

Photo by CPSC

The CPSC reports that Black & Decker has agreed to a $960,000 settlement for allegedly failing “to report several safety defects and hazards with the Grasshog XP” electric trimmer. Under federal law, Black & Decker was required to file with the CPSC as soon as “obtaining information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product contains a defect which could create a substantial product hazard, creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death.”

Ouch! There were 700 consumer complaints against the trimmer, including 58 injuries from defective parts that turned into projectiles. Read the Black and Decker settlement.

Furniture to avoid in a pinch

Photo by CPSC

Office Depot has agreed to a voluntary recall of some 34,000 Realspace™ PRO 3000 Series Desk Chairs that can seriously pinch your fingers. Apparently injured fingers don’t work quite as well as healthy ones in a company or home office. To learn if your chair (retailed for $170) is in the recall, visit the Office Depot Recall Notices page.

Martha, Martha

Photo by CPSC

Speaking of projectiles…. Some 960,000 Martha Stewart Collection™ Enamel Cast Iron Casseroles sold by Macy’s are prone to cracking, with the chance of launching pieces and parts into the air. A voluntary recall involves in 7 quart, 5.5 quart and 2.75 quart size casserole combos that sold for between $25 and $170. Read the full CPSC report.

Talk about a mystery casserole for supper!

Like the brontosaurus, Hummers are destined for extinction, although narcissists may remain a little longer. When international architect Ted Hyman sent me the news item that a Los Angeles-based design firm had created a reuse prototype for houses built from wrecked Hummers, my spirits soared.

Conversions that hum in the dark

Photo by Design Launches

The founding architects of HPlusF, Craig Hodgetts and HsinMing Fung, discovered that the sheet metal body shells of wrecked Hummers were still strong enough to use in the construction of … the HummerHaus!

Reuse architecture with an attitude

Photo by Motor Trend

The HummerHaus is comprised of eight ex-Hummer body shells. Writers at Mother Nature Network report that the HummerHaus sleeps eight, features innovative soy-based insulation, roof-top solar power arrays, geothermal HVAC, and gray water recycling. In short, HPlusF took the most obvious symbol of waste and extravagance and converted it into the ultimate green home. Revenge is ours!

The monster walks among us

Unfortunately, you can still order yourself a Hummer (and when gas finally runs out, you can park it and make your own HummerHaus where it stands.) I found that the Hummer II is still available at Hummer.com. The sales pitch is exceptionally underwhelming:

“IN A WORLD WHERE SUVS HAVE BEGUN TO LOOK LIKE THEIR OWNERS, complete with love handles and mushy seats, the H2 SUV proves that there is still one out there that can drop and give you 20. And with a more spacious, comfortable interior and a host of standard features, the H2 strikes a perfect balance between interior comfort, on-road capability and off-road capability. $64,964.”

No doubt, someone will consider this a suitable HummerHaus:

Photo by Bleakday Blog

There are plenty of shabby home appliances and home improvement tools put on the market that go bang or fly to pieces under heavy use. Some may be the end-product of haphazard designs, or slipshod inspection protocols. But I’m more concerned that we get them off the shelves than assign blame.

Human-hand grinder and fire starter

Photo courtesy of the CPSC

How nice to discover that The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has secured the voluntary appliance recall from Wallmart of the 255,000 GE Food Processors prone to cause fire and laceration hazards. Consumers have complained that these digital, 14-cup food processors caused 21 injuries to fingertips, 34 reports of smoke, and three reports of actual fires. If you bought one of these dandies between September 2009 and February 2011, visit Walmart’s Recall Center.

Get toasted!

Photo courtesy of the CPSC

Meanwhile, the CPSC has arranged for a recall of some 300,000 Hamilton Beach® classic chrome 2-slice toasters that, according to consumers, remain “energized indefinitely”. Translation: they won’t pop up your toast when done and just continue to cook them a la flambé until they overheat, damaging nearby kitchen cabinets. These little monsters were sold February 2008 through June 2011, for $30 to $40. Get information about the recall at the CPSC.

Not for the kitchen, or elsewhere

Photo courtesy of the CPSC

The Changzhou Globe Tool Group has voluntarily recalled its Task Force 5-ton electric log splitters sold exclusively at Lowe’s Stores from January 2008 through March 2011. Consumers calling in their concerns included an 18-year-old man who suffered a fingertip amputation and a 60-year-old man with a lacerated finger. Both accidents occurred in normal use, when the men had their hands securely on the on the splitter handle.

The remedy, according to the CPSC alert: “Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled log splitters and contact Changzhou Globe Tool Group Co. Ltd. to receive a free set of warning labels including placement instruction.”

Yeah. Lovely. The two men who lost body parts can paste the warning labels directly on their scars.

The Long Beach Press Telegram reported that Fahey was ordered jailed for refusing a previous court order to cut electricity to the house and to keep visitors out of the funky structure. The story has gotten widespread press coverage, in part caused by his rebel-celebrity status on Facebook, where he has 29,000 supporters.

Southern California’s unique architecture

Photo by Home Desgn

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daviann Mitchell temporarily delayed sentencing since Fahey, 59, said he lacked the means of tearing the structure down with a crane. He’ll face the music in court on July 22.

Fahey’s supporters point out that in L.A., improvised architecture has historical precedent, citing the Watts Towers –  a model of materials recycling from 1959, when like-minded supporters helped overturn county efforts to tear the structure down.

Fahey was previously charged with 12 code violations at his home in Acton. Fahey named his multi-story Viking fantasy home “Phonehenge” because, as a three-decade telephone company employee, he modified the structure with recycled poles. He also used leftover building supplies from nearby projects, parts from piers, and sections of unused Hollywood movie sets.

Photo by Long Beach Press Telegram

Fahey told Judge Mitchell that he had already torn out a tower and some 70 doors and windows from the improvised home.

He can rebuild his home providing he obtains the required permits, and the judge may reduce the sentence to community service and a fine, according to Fahey’s attorney.

I’m all about complying with the law in home improvements. On the other hand, it saddens me when mavericks get the stuffing pounded out of them by bureaucrats. It must be the old rebel in me!