If you're a fan of Instant Pots, listen up. Earlier this month, Instant Pot decided to recall one of its popular models over concerns they may pose a fire hazard. In fact, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the company has already received about “107 reports of the Gem 65 8-in-1 overheating, including five instances when it caused minor property damage.” Fortunately, no injuries have been reported yet.

Batchcode on recalled Instant Pots; image courtesy of the CPSC, https://www.cpsc.gov/

According to the notice, the affected models have the following batch codes printed on the rating label beneath the pots:

• 1728

• 1730

• 1731

• 1734

• 1746

The affected Instant Pots were sold at Walmart stores nationwide for around $80 from August 2017 to January 2019. What's causing the pots to overheat, though? Well, according to the recall notice, the overheating is the result of a “tooling misalignment during the manufacturing process, which created a gap between the bottom of the inner pot and the top surface of the heating plate in the product.” According to Double Insight, the distributor and importer of the Instant Pots, the “gap can cause the multicooker to overheat and melt on the underside, posing a fire hazard to consumers.”For now, consumers who have the recalled multicookers should stop using them and return them to Walmart for a free replacement. If you have additional questions or concerns, call 888-891-1473 8:30 a.m.-10 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekends. You can also visit www.gemmulticooker.com.

Sources:

Instant Pot recalls cooker over potential fire hazardInstant Pot recalling 100,000 cookers due to fire hazard