Allegedly Defective Electrical Heater Causes Store to Burn Down

Case Overview

Questions to the Engineering expert and their responses

Did the electrical heater malfunction and was it defective?

Generally, there is a risk with any electric heater, but if properly placed, it should not have caused a fire. I would examine the exact model and instructions for placement. I have extensive experience designing and applying electric heat in a wide variety of product applications - electric furnaces, AC & HP AHU, duct heaters, packaged AC & HP, Room AC & HP (RAC) and PTAC equipment. This experience would help when I examine the design of the heater. I am a product design engineer with specific experience designing residential electric HVAC units. I have over thirty years of experience as a design engineer.

About the expert

This expert has over 40 years of experience in mechanical engineering and machine design, specializing in heating and cooling products, household appliances, and product design and development. He obtained his BS in agricultural engineering and machine design from Kansas State University and his MS in mechanical engineering and machine design from Purdue University, before receiving his MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Today, this expert is a licensed professional engineer in the states of Colorado, Iowa, and Kansas. He is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Gas Appliance Manufacturers, the American National Standards Institute, the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute, and the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. He is also active in academia, having authored over 20 publications and having developed 3 patents pertaining to heating systems. He previously served as the manager of project development engineering and as the manager of unitary design engineering at Trane, as well as the chief engineer of heating and cooling products, the vice president of engineering and topton operations, the vice president of engineering and quality, and the vice president of technology and government relations at Raytheon/Amana Appliances. More recently, this expert also worked as the manager of engineering and order management at Emerson/Fisher Controls and as the corporate vice president of research, development, and quality at Rheem Manufacturing. Currently, he serves as the principal at a mechanical and manufacturing engineering consultancy in Iowa.

E-005127

Specialties:

Engineering