UV caught Fire

[kybreos]

Hi all,
Just need to say that I got very lucky last night that my house didnt burn down. Came home from work and went into the fish room to feed my fish and noticed a burnt plastic smell. Sure enough the top of my Lifegard Aquatics 40watt UV filter was vaporized. Lucky that it was a self standing unit and that i had it just far enough away that nothing else caught. My ac adapter for my top off got a little warped from the fire but that's it. Also the entire fish room is covered in black soot and the ac unit filter is completely black. The tank so far is ok, but man was that scary. My initial thought was did water get to it from atop some how? But I looked and didnt see water anywhere. Then I went online to marinedepot.com and saw 2 other peoples' reviews that had the same issue. Needless to say I called the manufacturer and let them know that i just want a refund as i no longer trust this product- the guy asked me to send a pic so i did, but not before he mentioned user error which steamed me. So i brought up the fact of the two reviews on marinedepot and also the fact that its been running for 6 months no issue. If i installed it wrong it shouldve leaked instantly not 6 months later-right? That sounds like a defective unit that fails especially with the fact that it has happend before as per the reviews. Anyhow just wanted to vent and sorry for the long read. I'll let you know if they refund me or not. I purchased the unit at FAOIS as a special order I tried to get a hold of John today but couldnt, just incase they need more "proof" as i no longer have the reciept but i sent them a copy of my statement when i purchased it.

 

[JR719]

Sounds like you got lucky, or unlucky however you look at it. Any ideas why it torched?

 

[kybreos]

I think I got lucky it didn't crash the tank or worse yet burn my house down. Apparently from what I read the cap is defective and shorts out. Its definitely not leaking since the tube is still hooked up to the tank with water passing through. This weekend I'll unhook it from the plumbing, I would of done it immediately had water been leaking out.

 

[Orlandomedic]

WOW! WAIT... I don't know much about UV sterilizers. But is that a Pentair or pentac unit? I have. Friend with the exact same incident in Connecticut about a year ago that he bought from Amazon!

 

[kybreos]

Yeah, Pentair is the parent company.

 

[fraggleRocks]

Thats crazy. I'm glad the house didn't catch on fire. That would have really made me mad had I called the company to complain and they try to feed me some bs about user error.

I would go as far as taking pictures of anything damaged as a result of it and demand they reimburse me for it. That's crap.

 

[Orlandomedic]

Wow. Like everyone else said. Thank god your house didn't burn down. My friends basement did catch on fire but was put out quickly. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[kybreos]

Youre not going to believe what the D-bag tried to pull on me today. He told me he's going to give me an RMA number and for me to ship it to them. I asked if he was going to send the prepaid postage. His response "well our customers usually pay to ship it to us but we pay to ship the replacement back". LOL of course i bit my tongue and assertively explained to him that this equipment nearly burned my house down and he doesnt want to go that route with tit for tat with me, i explained to him dont make it worse cause as of right now it's only 200bucks that im out but they will have a lot more to lose. Since I can call one of those fire damage restoration companies to clean the mess and send them the bill. He put me on hold and came back on and said okay FedEx will be at your house tomorrow. Thanks John from FAOIS for getting my receipt for me.

 

[kybreos]

Well, I jus got a vmail from the guy at Lifegard- he said he will be emailing me the details of my check!! I hope they plan to refund the whole amount, I should know by tomorrow...

 

[fraggleRocks]

Youre not going to believe what the D-bag tried to pull on me today. He told me he's going to give me an RMA number and for me to ship it to them. I asked if he was going to send the prepaid postage. His response "well our customers usually pay to ship it to us but we pay to ship the replacement back". LOL of course i bit my tongue and assertively explained to him that this equipment nearly burned my house down and he doesnt want to go that route with tit for tat with me, i explained to him dont make it worse cause as of right now it's only 200bucks that im out but they will have a lot more to lose. Since I can call one of those fire damage restoration companies to clean the mess and send them the bill. He put me on hold and came back on and said okay FedEx will be at your house tomorrow. Thanks John from FAOIS for getting my receipt for me.

I'm glad you didn't take their crap! Let us know how it turns out.

 

[kybreos]

Well, they sent me another email today saying a check for the full amount is on its way. I did of course have to sign a release to not hold them liable for any future damages. Whatever, i just wanted a refund on the faulty device and im glad it didnt burn down my house. The second guy i dealt with was much more pleasant that first dude was an ***.