NZXT officially recalls H1 in USA and Canada due to fire hazard

We already wrote in November that NZXT acknowledged a problem with its unusual compact H1 computer case by suspending sales. They later called the enclosure unsafe and proposed a temporary solution. Now the company has officially recalled the case.

This was reported by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The recall is made due to a design flaw: the PCIe riser board used in H1 can cause a short circuit, which can lead to a fire inside the case. According to the statement, NZXT has received 11 reports of overheating or burning of riser circuit boards worldwide – six in the United States.

The first confirmed case occurred back in February 2020. The CPSC reported that it has sold approximately 32,000 of these chassis in the US and 1,024 in Canada since launch. Consumers were advised to immediately stop using the recalled computer cases and contact NZXT for a free repair kit so that they can safely operate their systems.

In November 2020, the company said the metal screws used to secure the PCIe riser were to blame for the problem, so it offered customers a replacement for special plastic ones. Experiments have shown that plastic screws act less aggressively on the threads in the PCB board. However, this only postpones the problem: over time, the thread in the PCB will disperse, which will lead to a short circuit and even a fire, as the experience of many video bloggers has shown.

NZXT CEO Johnny Hou said the company will remove the H1 from the windows, ship redesigned PCIe risers for existing chassis, and move to more robust and rigorous design processes. At the time of writing, both versions of the H1 are not available on the NZXT website.

This is a bit of a shame, because the case was popular among enthusiasts who wanted to build a complete and at the same time compact PC. Hopefully, the company will fix the problems and resume sales of the already revised model.

TechforBrains