Cooluli Recalls 250,000 Minifridges After Fire Reports and $80,000 in Property Damage

Cooluli is recalling about 250,000 of its 10-Liter and 15-Liter minifridges after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found an internal switch that can short-circuit, overheat, and in some cases catch fire.

The CPSC notice, issued Thursday, says Cooluli has logged at least 19 complaints of units smoking, sparking, melting, burning, overheating, or bursting into flames. Those incidents caused more than $80,000 in reported property damage, according to the agency. At least one person reported a smoke inhalation injury.

Cooluli, based in Brooklyn, explained the defect on its website: "On some older units, the selector switch that toggles between Cooling and Warming modes can overheat." The company said the problem is confined to specific older production batches and that most Cooluli refrigerators are not affected. Newer models with external power supplies are not part of the recall, the company said.

The recalled units were sold at Amazon and directly through Cooluli's website from January 2019 through October 2024, priced between $80 and $120, according to the CPSC and reporting from The Independent. Scripps News reports the affected units carry batch numbers 1535 through 1545 and 1200000 through 1202080, printed on a label inside the minifridge door. The fridges came in a range of colors and patterns, including black, blue, green, white, and red, along with multicolored and printed designs.

The remedy is a free repair, not a refund. Owners are instructed to check their model and batch number on Cooluli's website, then, if their unit is affected, cut the power cable and submit photo proof to receive a free replacement power cord or repair kit. The CPSC is telling consumers to stop using the affected fridges immediately rather than wait for the replacement part to arrive.

A manufacturer identified a defect, reported it, and CPSC pushed a public recall notice with clear remedy instructions. Nobody had to sue anybody to get a fix. That's the regulatory process functioning as designed.

The reporting across outlets was largely consistent on the core facts: the product, the hazard, the complaint count, the dollar figure in damages, and the remedy process. AP News confirmed the same $80,000 damage figure and complaint count as The Independent and Scripps News, though AP's available text was mostly consumed by unrelated headline navigation content rather than deep detail on the recall itself. None of the three sources reported any deaths tied to the defect, and none indicated CPSC is pursuing fines or further enforcement action against Cooluli beyond the recall itself.

The recall covers a five-year sales window, from January 2019 to October 2024, meaning some of these fridges have been in homes and dorm rooms for years before the hazard was formally flagged. Nineteen complaints out of 250,000 units sold is a small fraction, but CPSC's threshold for recall isn't about volume. It's about the severity of the hazard, and fire risk clears that bar regardless of how rare individual incidents are.

The unresolved question is how many of the 250,000 recalled units are actually still in active use and how many owners will bother to go through the verification process of finding their batch number, cutting a power cable, and uploading photos to get a replacement. Recall completion rates for small household appliances are historically low, often in the single digits to low double digits, because most consumers never see the recall notice or find the process too much hassle for a $100 minifridge. Cooluli and CPSC have not released a target compliance rate or a follow-up timeline for how they'll track how many of the 250,000 units actually get fixed.