Revisited: Looking for serious opinions.

["ABLE_1" <royboynospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As promised this is the response to all your questions and guesses.

OK, concerning the below post, I can now fill you all in on the details.

To who mentioned that the mfg. may have been aware long already, you were
right.

The problem was with some Chemtronics 604 heat detectors concerning the
rivet that holds on the brass terminal strip had broken on 11 out of the 18
that I had installed.  The date code was W01-Y04.  This was the first week
of 2004 production run.

It seems that the rivet was too small in size and when placed under the
pressure of tightening the wire to the terminal it would break the rivet.
As the installer you would not necessarily see the broken rivet.  With the
rivet broken the integrity of the circuit was good but the detectors were
useless.

Just received a letter from Mircom explaining the above and that a Field
Bulletin 04-050-T was issued on August 18, 2004 from OEM
Chemtronics/Kidde-Fenwal, Inc.

It states on the Field Bulletin for ACTION:

"If during scheduled service or a trouble call, check the terminal plates of
EACH detector for rivet security.  If a defect is detected on series 600
heat detectors, contact Chemtronics customer service to request replacement
units and obtain a Return Authorization Number (RMA) to return the defective
units."

This Field Bulletin was only sent as an ADVISORY and not as a RECALL.

I guess they didn't think it was such a big deal at the time.

Since Chemtronics was the OEM and I was talking to MIRCOM they did not know
about the problem when I was taking to Tech Support.   According to my
letter from Mircom it said that Chemtronics had contacted the CSPC with
regard to the matter with a "No Fault" finding.

I may have been a little excessive in my caution but better safe than sorry.
If you guy can track your installs for Heat Detectors you may want to check
those that were purchased in early 2004.  You may have some that will be
absolutely useless to your customers protection.

Which brings up a question.  If the Service Bulletin is printed who get it
or how is it disseminated to the masses.  The Distributor???  Is it then the
Distributor responsibility to pass it on the dealers.  Anyone have any
knowledge on the way it is "supposed" to work???  Just thinking out loud, as
it were, because it didn't seem to work in this case.

I just happened to get lucky and had the customer, while on site during a
very close lightning strike, and the thunder had vibrated the building with
enough force to dislodge the brass plates, which shorted against each other
and caused a fire alarm on the heat detector loop.  Who would have
thought???

Mircom will be giving me a credit for the 18 detectors that were replaced
with the Edwards brand detector.  Imagine that???  They may no comment as to
my labor cost that I asked about.  I had to ask.

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions.  Hope you guys don't have
any.

Les


"ABLE_1" <royboynospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:jPKdneYlkcoVFErZnZ2dnUVZ_rWdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi all,
>
> I know "opinions" here are not hard to find, that is why I thought I
> should ask.
>
> With out going into a lot of detail and naming names.  Who or how should I
> handle the following situation???
>
> I had installed a total of 18 "devices" on a system about 3 years ago.
> Come to find out that a total of 11 out of these 18 are with manufactured
> defects that will render the device non-functional.  After contacting the
> manufacture and explaining the defect and sending pictures, they have
> agreed that there is a problem.  They have requested that I would ship the
> defective devices back to them for further investigation.  They have also
> agreed to a credit to me thru my distributor by supplying me with 18
> compatitable devices of another manufacturer since non were in stock at
> this time.
>
> My plan is to take more pictures and send a letter to the manufacturer
> concerning the defect.  My concern is that once I send them back, I and
> other dealers (you) will never hear a thing about this.  The indication is
> that they have no knowledge of this ever happening before with there
> product.
>
> I am asking here to get some input as to how product recalls are initiated
> or implemented so that this does not get swept under the carpet.
>
> And as I said above I will not divulge any names or product models at this
> time.  This is just a fact finding mission that I am on at this time.
>
> Thanks in advance for your responsible comments.
>
> Les
>
>
>
>
>
>