Portable Generator Recall Champion Brand - Fire Hazard

Portable Generators Recalled by Champion Power Equipment Due to Fire Hazard; Sold Exclusively at Costco

Model 41332

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. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: Portable generators

Units: About 8,600

Manufacturer: Champion Power Equipment, of Santa Fe Springs, Calif.

Hazard: Fuel can leak from the generator's carburetor, posing a fire hazard.

Incidents/Injuries: There have been 11 reports of fuel leaking from the generators, including eight reports of the generators catching fire and two of property damage.

Description: This recall involves two models of Champion Power Equipment portable generators. Both models have a black frame with black and yellow control panels, a bar handle and two wheels.

   
Model number 41332 has an open frame. The words "Champion Power Equipment" are on the control panel and "8250 starting watts" and "6500 running watts" are on the side of the fuel tank.

  
 Model number 41532 has side panels that cover the long sides of the fuel tank. The words "Champion Power Equipment" are on the side panel above the control panel, and "9000 starting watts" and "7000 running watts" are on the control panel.

  
The model number and serial number are located on the side of the generator with the handle, on a tag on the crossbar above the yellow generator end cap.

Model Number    Serial Number Ranges
41332                  11NOV2600701 to 11NOV2601500
41532                  11NOV1400151 to 11NOV1400360
                            11DEC0700001 to 11DEC0700720
                            11DEC1301077 to 11DEC1402602
                            11DEC2201801 to 11DEC2203600
                            11DEC2501531 to 11DEC2503330
                            11DEC2801073 to 11DEC2801325

Sold exclusively at: Costco Wholesale stores nationwide from December 2011 through July 2012 for about $699.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled generators immediately and contact Champion Power Equipment for a free repair kit to be installed by an authorized dealer. The consumer may also return the unit to Costco for a full refund.

Consumer Contact: Champion Power Equipment; toll-free at (855) 236-9424, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, e-mail support@cpeauto.com, or online at www.championpowerequipment.com, then click on the red "Important Product Recall Notice" link for more information.

 

 

Model 41532

Location of Model Number and Serial Number

Editor's note: This info is straight out of the Consumer Product Safety Commission site. I tweeted this info last night but wanted to pass on the details. I know that a lot of those affected by Hurricane Sandy are relying on generators for temporary power so be sure to check yours out. Be safe.

 

Prepper Profile Part 2

So here's a low-tech version of a mind mapper tool I often use for sorting out ideas.


You can watch part 1 here that way it makes more sense to you:
http://www.apocalypsehub.com/2012/02/whats-your-prepper-profile-check-out.html

This system helps me visualize my thought process for many things so I wanted to share how it relates to my preparedness efforts.

One of the challenges of being a city prepper is the lack of square footage available that can be dedicated for storage in general. So we have to put in a lot of consideration to what enters our home as far as supplies go. Every little inch of space matters and we have to be smart and creative about our approach.

I solve this issue by minimizing and using virtual space/cloud storage for documents and books.

Minimizing
Get rid of stuff you don't use or need. It's that simple. It's a very liberating thing to do, to have less stuff. When it comes to preparedness gear, generally I like to acquire multipurpose items that don't take up too much space. The pros of minimizing: sell items you don't need or use for extra cash and free up valuable space for things that you do need.

Virtual space
What I mean by this is using portable storage devices for ebooks (great for a digital library) as well as documents. This paperless method is great for when you're a bookworm like me or if you have a lot of files. There's no reason why you can't digitize your most important documents and store them in a an SD card, flash drive, or external hard drive which you can then store in a safe or a similar device. Those things are dirt cheap these days especially the SD cards and flash drives, you just have to know where to look.

The pros of virtual storage: Space saver. Just make sure that you have a back up file for your back ups. Don't place everything in one SD card for example. Ensure that if something happens to that then you'll still have those files stashed elsewhere.

This is great for your digital library as well. Especially in conjunction with a dropbox account. My PC also came with cloud storage access which I use all the time.

You can sign up for a Dropbox account here - http://db.tt/j4WzE4i   (It's FREE)



So I encourage you to use this flow chart type of organizing your projects. It's helped me quite a bit in sorting out my often scattered thoughts.

As always, happy prepping.