LP Gas Water Heaters Repaired by White-Rodgers

LP Gas Water Heaters Repaired by White-Rodgers LP (liquid Propane) gas water heaters which contain a thermostat manufactured by the White-Rodgers division of Emerson Electric Co. of St. Louis, Missouri. The water heaters were sold between 1961 and 1980 predominantly to rural homeowners by the A.O. Smith Corporation of Kankakee, Illinois, and by Sears, Roebuck and Co. of Chicago, Illinois. A.O. Smith manufactured its own water heaters during this period and sold them through plumbing wholesalers and contractors; the Sears water heaters were manufactured by State Industries. In settlement of its alleged failure to report promptly these explosions to the Commission as required by law, White-Rodgers has agreed to pay $420,000. Thermostats produced by White-Rodgers from 1976 through 1980 had different pilot gas control knobs and were installed in LP gas water heaters manufactured by A.O. Smith, Rheem Manufacturing Co., the W.L. Jackson Manufacturing Co., and State Industries. These water heaters were sold by Sears, Montgomery Ward Co., and a variety of plumbing supply outlets. The post-1976 thermostats incorporated into water heaters manufactured by State Industries, A.O. Smith, Rheem…