A $20 Water Heater Keeps Catching Fire. So the Government Used a Power It Hadn’t Touched in 40 Years.

The short version: On July 22, 2026, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), acting through the U.S. Department of Justice, filed a complaint in federal court asking a judge to order a mandatory recall of certain Lakkzoom immersion water heaters — small, submersible heating rods sold online for roughly $20 to $40 to warm the water in a bathtub or pool. The government says the heaters can overheat and burst into flames within minutes, and that the agency is aware of 235 reports of fires. What makes this more than a routine recall: regulators say they invoked a rarely used emergency authority — Section 12 of the Consumer Product Safety Act — reportedly for the first time in nearly 40 years, rather than waiting for the companies to pull the product voluntarily.

What the Government Did

According to the CPSC and DOJ, the government filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the companies it identifies as the maker and the importer/seller of the heaters — Cixi Miaojie Electrical Appliance Co. Ltd., described as the manufacturer, and Changsha Jiayi Tianzhuo Trading Co. Ltd., described as the retailer and importer, both based in China. The suit asks the court to order a full recall of the products and to stop further sales. At the same time, the CPSC issued a public warning urging anyone who owns one to stop using it right away.

The heaters themselves are simple: a metal tube with circular or heart-shaped holes and a plastic endcap in black, yellow, or pink, meant to be dropped into water to heat it. The agency says more than 98,000 units were sold in the United States, mostly through e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon, under model names including 1500W, 2000W, HT1500W (also identified as MJ-R13), and HT2000W.

Why a $20 Heater Bursts Into Flames

An immersion heater works by running electricity through a metal element to warm the water around it. That is fine as long as the element stays submerged — the water carries the heat away. The danger comes when the element is energized while it is partly or completely out of the water. With nothing to pull the heat away, the element’s temperature can climb extremely fast.

Better-designed heaters guard against exactly this with an automatic shut-off — a thermal cutoff or “dry-fire” protection that kills the power if the device runs dry or overheats. According to the government, the Lakkzoom heaters lack that protection, which is why the CPSC says they can overheat and catch fire within minutes of being switched on out of water. It is a foreseeable moment for anyone using one: you plug it in to pre-heat, or it slips above the waterline, and there is no safety feature to stop what happens next. That the product is often used right next to a filled tub or pool — frequently with people nearby — is part of why regulators treated the risk as urgent.

The Rare Part: A Power the Government Hadn’t Used in Decades

Most product hazards end in a voluntary recall: the CPSC and a company negotiate, the company agrees to pull the product and offer a repair, replacement, or refund, and a joint notice goes out. That path depends on a cooperating company with a presence regulators can reach. When a product is sold by an overseas seller through an online marketplace, that cooperation can be hard to secure — and slow.

Here, regulators say they skipped the waiting and went straight to court under Section 12 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, the law’s “imminent hazard” provision. Section 12 lets the CPSC ask a federal judge for fast relief — including a court-ordered recall — when it believes a product presents an imminent and unreasonable risk of death, serious illness, or severe injury. The agency says this is the first time it has used that authority in nearly 40 years. In the announcement, Acting CPSC Chairman Peter Feldman said Congress created Section 12 “to ensure swift judicial relief when products present an imminent hazard,” and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the government “will not allow dangerous products manufactured in China or elsewhere to flow to American consumers.”

For a reader, the practical signal is simple: when the government uses an emergency power that has sat unused for decades, it is telling you it does not think this can wait for the usual process. That is worth acting on even before a court rules.

Why Cheap Marketplace Gadgets Keep Ending Up Here

If this feels familiar, that’s because it is. A growing share of the recalls and safety warnings Lawsuit Loop follows involve inexpensive, imported products sold by third-party sellers on online marketplaces — items that reach a doorstep faster than the safety-compliance system catches up with them. We’ve seen the same pattern with light-up toys whose button batteries come out too easily and with loose coin batteries sold on Amazon. Different products, same underlying story: a safety feature that established brands include — a secured battery door, a thermal cutoff — is missing, and the gap doesn’t surface until people are already getting hurt.

None of this means everything sold online is dangerous. It means the very cheap gadget from an unfamiliar brand — especially one that heats, charges, or burns — deserves a second look before it goes into daily use. Does it carry a recognizable safety certification? Does it describe an automatic shut-off? Is there a real company behind it you could reach if something went wrong? Those questions are quick, and they’re the ones this case is really about.

How to Check Your Home for This Kind of Hazard

Beyond this specific product, a short sweep can lower the risk from any cheap heating or high-power gadget:

• Immersion / submersible water heaters and “bucket” heaters — the category in this action; check the brand and whether it lists an automatic shut-off, and never run one out of water.
• Portable space heaters, mug and travel warmers, and heated blankets — look for a recognized safety-testing mark and tip-over/overheat protection.
• Off-brand chargers, power banks, and USB heaters — a frequent source of overheating and fire reports.
• Anything that got unusually hot, smells of burning, or has a melted or discolored plug — stop using it.

Register products with real manufacturers so you actually receive recall notices, and check CPSC.gov/Recalls or SaferProducts.gov if you’re unsure about something in your home. Reporting a dangerous product there is also how hazards like this one first come to regulators’ attention.

Where the Law Comes In

Lawsuit Loop follows these actions because they sit where safety meets accountability. When a product is alleged to be defective and it causes a fire, a burn, or damage to a home, one of the questions that follows is whether the company that made, imported, or sold it should be responsible. People in that situation have, in some cases, pursued product-liability claims against those companies — the same kinds of companies the government has now taken to court over these heaters.

Whether any particular situation supports a claim depends entirely on the specific facts, and nothing here is a prediction that any case would succeed or a promise of any outcome. Claims involving overseas manufacturers and marketplace sellers can also be legally complicated, which is part of why the facts matter so much. If a fire or injury has affected your family, the priority is safety and any needed medical care. If, after that, you want to understand your options, you can talk to a lawyer or use the free form on this page. Lawsuit Loop will update this article as the court case and any recall develop.