Recall of Electrical Wiring How-to-Books

15 years ago

Faulty Instructions Prompt Recall of Electrical Wiring How-to-Books by The Taunton Press; Shock Hazard to Consumers

NEWS from CPSC

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Office of Information and Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20207

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 30, 2008

Release #09-078

Firm's Recall Hotline: (800) 477-8727

CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772

CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908

Faulty Instructions Prompt Recall of Electrical Wiring How-to-Books by The Taunton Press; Shock Hazard to Consumers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Wiring a House, 3rd Edition and Wiring Complete, Expert Advice from Start to Finish Instructional Books

Units: About 64,000

Publisher: The Taunton Press, of Newtown, Conn.

Hazard: The books contain several errors in the technical diagrams that could lead consumers to incorrectly install or repair electrical wiring, posing an electrical shock hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: The recall involves the 3rd Edition of Wiring a House. The paperback book's cover is white and yellow and has a photograph of a man wiring a panel. ISBN #978-1-56158-942-5 is printed on the back cover. Wiring Complete, Expert Advice from Start to Finish is paperback and has a green, black and white cover that shows hands wiring an electrical wall receptacle.

Sold at: Home improvement stores, book stores, and various other retailers nationwide from February 2008 through November 2008 for about $25.

Manufactured in: United States

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the books and return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Taunton at (800) 477-8727 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's Web site www.taunton.com

To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including pictures of the recalled product, please go to:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09078.html

Here is a link that might be useful: CPSC's web site, including pictures of the recalled product

Comments (10)

texasredhead
15 years ago
Who are you and what is the purpose of your post?
plants4
15 years ago
What difference does it make who the poster is so long as they have provided information that is valuable from a safety standpoint? Isn't it obvious what the purpose of the post was?
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robinson Anything that is powered from your main electrical service - outlets, switches, and lights is best done (if you can afford it) when the house is under construction. For example, I added a "Christmas package" which turned out to be a set of outdoor outlets around the house on a 20 amp dedicated circuit that I can plug xmas lights into, that are all tied to a single switch in the garage (where I can put a timer on it) - no more long extension cords for me. Something like that is very easy to add now, very hard to add after the house is done. Another great example of something to do now is recessed lighting. Much less cost to do it now, more cost and a big mess after house is done. Items like wiring for phones, whole house audio, video , computer networks can be added now or later. I took the approach of only putting in wires where I knew on move in day (or shortly there after) that I would need a phone, computer, or TV. One exception was speaker wire and (even though whole house audio is at least a year away) because adding speakers later would require cutting drywall in the walls & ceilings and that was a mess I wanted to avoid. Everywhere else where I anticipated the need for connectivity , I used conduit (plastic tubes) so that I could run the wires later. If you have an unfinished basement and will have access to the floors above, you can put these tubes into the wall (like a speaker volume control box) , install plastic gang boxes upstairs, and run the tubes from those boxes to the basement. Once the tubes are in, it is very easy to pull wires later. The conduit is relatively cheap and gives you the flexibility to pull whatever wires you need, when you need them. For example, I have no TV, phone, or data cables in my 3 second story bedrooms. But I do have wall boxes (with blank plates on them right now) with a conduit tube (some rooms got 2 boxes and 2 tubes) that run from each bedroom all the way down to the basement. I will pull cable to those rooms down the road - no need for cables right now there. To do all of this right you need a plan. You have to layout where you want things now and think about your needs for the future. Then you can decide to whether it makes sense to pull cable or conduit. We ran into budget issues during our build - so I completely understand your dilema. When I got the proposed bill from the eletcrical contractor for all the adds I wanted, plus the bill for voice/data/security pre-wire, I almost fell over. I had to choose either to live without these things or find some other way to get it done. The only way I could get around it was to do some of the electrical work and all security/voice/data/phone myself. It was a lot of work since I had no helpers. By running cables only where I needed them on move in day and conduit everywhere else, I reduced the total time and cost to install. That was the only way I could get what I wanted and keep from...
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i know for a fact that State Farm will pay a claim, and THEN go after whoever was at fault. my grandmother's house caught fire several years ago and it was determined tha ta certain idiot wired an outlet off a dimmer switch for "mood" lighting when the carport was enclosed back in the early '80's. well, 15 years later she plugs a 1500 watt heater in this outlet and dimmer caught fire. this ran up the interior of the wall and did major damage in the attic. SF paid the claim and fixed the house. once everythign was done they sued the electrician's that FIXED the house, thinking they were the ones who wired it like tha tin teh first place. since my grandmother could not remember who actually did the original work, but knew it was not this company, they dropped it. they never once balked at her, they just took care of her and then tried to recoup the money from the party at fault. BTW, the idiot was my cousin. i have tons of horror stories on his wiring. heck, most every circuit in our office has 2 black wires, one is hot and the other is neutral, but good luck figuring out which is which at a glance! he even put in a 16 guage jumper between 2 outlets on a 20 amp circuit. luckily for us no one had every used the 2 outlet since it had been installed, or it would have been a quick fire.
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texasredhead
15 years ago
No it is not. That is why I asked. Why does this person seem to be the only one who knows about these books? I will call the numbers tomorrow.
rjoh878646
15 years ago
If you checked the link it is from the consumer product safety commission. It is important for the novices that log onto this web forum to be notified that the book is recalled and has misinformation in it and not to use it.
hexus
15 years ago
wow... way to jump on someone for trying to help out and pass along a recall warning. They were just trying to help out and posted in the applicable forum since it's electrical related. You do remember this is a DIY website where several people will probably have these types of books right? Apparently since you've ever heard of it, the person who made the thread must be up to something? How dare someone actually post something that might help other people out.
texasredhead
15 years ago
I asked a very simple two part question; Who is the OP and how did he/she come by the information? Hexus, the most exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions. I am well aware of the mentioned books but I do not use them. My son and I are master electricians so we do not use DIY books.
hexus
15 years ago
"I asked a very simple two part question; Who is the OP and how did he/she come by the information?"

The way I read it, you were an ass from the start. You never asked how they came upon the information.

"Why does this person seem to be the only one who knows about these books?"

How can you even make such a statement? How do you know who knows about it and who doesn't? They obviously happened upon it somehow and were just trying to pass it along to help people out. It has nothing to do with if you use the books or not, or if you're a master or not. If I was a diy-er that used books likes these I would gladly welcome the information that the books I'm using might have misinformation in it. The way you phrased your questions and jumped on the OP was like you were accusing them that they might be up to something.

"Who are you and what is the purpose of your post?"

I'll be sure to ask the news and reply to all the recall emails I get to find out for sure just what their true purpose is.
maryland_irisman
15 years ago
Texasredhead...You've posted a lot of good stuff and have helped a lot of people here. Perhaps your original post was just worded wrong and a bit more confrontational or abrasive than you meant it to be? I have a guy I won't let near a client. He means well and is trying to be very helpful but his approach and the way things come out, well they "ain't" good for "bidness".

I think a spot on this site for recalls would be great. There's a lot of stuff ya just never hear about unless you're in that particul nitch.
countryboymo
15 years ago
Wow it sounds like this might be the book my builder used when my house was built. Too many people thought just because they own a hammer, a pair of wire cutters and a pipe wrench that they could build homes when the building boom came on strong. It is going to provide a lot of job security for the real professionals to try to clean up the attempts the scabs did.
la_koala
15 years ago
It's funny: I used to agonize over how to begin my emails, adding context, and my boss said that I took too much time with that, and to just jump in and get to the point.

It all depends on the audience though. If I was the OP, I probably would have had an intro sentence something like "I went to HD to buy this book, and they had a sign up saying that it was recalled by Taunton. I'm just passing this info on."

This particular one looks real. The CPSC link has a link to Taunton that states the same thing.

Recall of Electrical Wiring How-to-Books

Comments (10)

texasredhead

plants4

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