New Widetech is a Chinese manufacturer of Dehumidifiers that are widely sold in Australia by brands such as De’Longhi, Haier who also own Fisher & Paykel and Whirlpool.
On Saturday the US U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled millions of their products claiming that they can overheat and catch fire, they are believed to have been caused over $25 Million dollars’ worth of damage to US homes.
The Chinese Company is also used by several distributors in Australia to manufacture house brand dehumidifiers which are sold in discount retailers.
At this stage Product Recall Australia has not announced any recall of local products.
The investigation started after New Widetech, received 107 reports that their dehumidifiers were overheating or worse, and the fires they started have caused about $17 million in property damage, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
No injuries have been reported as a result, officials said.
The recall includes numerous models of dehumidifiers from brands including AeonAir, Amana, ArctiAire (Danby), Classic (Danby/Home Hardware Stores), Commercial Cool, Danby, Danby Designer, Danby Premiere, De’Longhi, Edgestar, Friedrich, Generations (Danby), Haier, Honeywell (JMATEK/AirTek), Idylis, Ivation, perfect aire, SuperClima, Whirlpool and Whynter.
They were sold at major retailers in the USA including Costco who have several Dehumidifiers listed in their Australian stores and online.
The CPSC has advised owners to stop using the products immediately and contact New Widetech for a refund.
The dehumidifier recall is the largest so far for appliances in the USA in 2021.