CPSC Recalls 250,000 Cooluli Minifridges Over Fire Hazard From Short-Circuiting Electrical Switch

The appeal of the modern minifridge lies heavily in its versatile dual identity. For a renter outfitting a compact home office, a student setting up a dorm room, or a homeowner designing a dedicated bathroom vanity for expensive skincare products, a portable cooler that can seamlessly toggle to a warming mode feels like the ultimate modern convenience. But that impressive versatility masks a significant electrical demand, forcing a highly compact appliance to manage complex power conversions in a very tight, unventilated space. When a device is asked to handle both alternating current from a wall outlet and the direct current required by its internal cooling mechanisms without the aid of an external transformer, the thermal load on its internal components increases dramatically. That underlying tension between compact convenience and harsh electrical reality has now culminated in a major safety intervention, serving as a stark reminder that even the smallest household appliances carry substantial risks when their internal engineering fails to safely manage the heat they generate.

That tension has officially boiled over into a nationwide safety alert. On Thursday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a sweeping recall of roughly 250,000 Cooluli minifridges due to severe fire and burn hazards. The federal intervention comes after a mounting number of consumer complaints revealed that the appliances were failing under normal operating conditions. Rather than a minor manufacturing defect, regulators identified a critical flaw in how the units manage their electrical load, transforming a popular desk accessory into a sudden liability. The recall specifically targets the Brooklyn-based company's older 10-liter and 15-liter models, which have become ubiquitous fixtures on shelves and countertops over the past five years. According to federal regulators and the company's own safety notices, an internal electrical switch designed to toggle the unit between its signature cooling and warming modes can overheat during use, eventually causing the entire circuit to short out and ignite the surrounding plastic housing.[3][8]

The real-world consequences of that internal switch failure have already materialized in homes and offices across the country. To date, Cooluli and federal regulators have received at least 19 documented reports of the minifridges smoking, sparking, melting, or outright catching fire while plugged in. Those terrifying incidents have resulted in more than $80,000 in cumulative property damage, as the localized fires spread from the appliance to surrounding desks, carpets, and walls. In one particularly severe instance, a consumer reported suffering a smoke inhalation injury after a unit ignited indoors, highlighting the immediate physical danger posed by the short-circuiting components. The sheer volume of these thermal events prompted the CPSC to elevate the issue to a formal recall, urging anyone who owns one of the affected models to immediately unplug it and remove it from service before another switch has the opportunity to overheat and fail.[1][2][4][5]

The engineering flaw at the heart of the crisis traces back to how these specific older units were designed to handle power. The recalled models feature an internal power supply and are equipped with two distinct power input ports—one for alternating current (AC) and one for direct current (DC)—located directly on the back panel of the fridge. Crucially, the removable power cord supplied with these older units lacks a "brick" power adapter, which is the bulky external transformer commonly seen on laptop chargers and modern electronics. Without that external brick to handle the heavy lifting of converting high-voltage wall power down to a manageable direct current, the internal components of the minifridge are forced to manage the entire heat and electrical load themselves. This internal conversion process creates the exact thermal conditions that allow the selector switch to overheat, melt, and eventually fail catastrophically.[1][3][7]

The affected units were manufactured in China by Ningbo Iceberg Electronic Appliance Co. and imported into the United States by Lisse USA, which does business under the Cooluli brand name. They were sold heavily online, primarily through Amazon and Cooluli's own direct-to-consumer website, during a nearly six-year window stretching from January 2019 through October 2024. Retailing for between $80 and $120, the appliances were marketed as affordable, stylish solutions for personal cooling, making them incredibly popular during back-to-school shopping seasons and holiday sales events.[1][3][7]

The sweeping recall encompasses several of the company's most popular product lines, specifically the Infinity, Classic, Glow Beauty, and Vibe Series. Because these models were sold in a vast array of bright colors, custom patterns, and branded logos, owners cannot rely on the exterior visual design alone to identify a hazardous unit. Instead, consumers must open the appliance and check the specific batch numbers printed on the interior door label. The recall specifically flags batch numbers 1535 through 1545, as well as 1200000 through 1202080, as the units containing the faulty electrical switch.[1][3][5]

In response to the crisis, Cooluli has stressed that the overheating issue is strictly isolated to these specific older production batches. The company's newer refrigerators, which have been fundamentally redesigned to utilize an external power supply brick, are not included in the recall and remain entirely safe to operate. By moving the power conversion process outside of the appliance's main housing, the manufacturer effectively solved the heat dissipation problem that plagued the earlier iterations of the 10-liter and 15-liter models.[6]

For consumers who discover they do own a recalled unit, the immediate directive from the CPSC is clear: unplug it and stop using it entirely. However, the company is not offering full monetary refunds or shipping complete replacement units to affected buyers. Instead, they are providing a mandatory retrofit repair kit designed to permanently bypass the dangerous internal AC circuitry. To receive this fix, owners must register on Cooluli's official recall website, physically cut the original power cord to render it useless, and submit photographic proof of the destroyed cord alongside the unit's batch numbers.[3][4][6]

Once the photographic evidence is verified, Cooluli will ship a replacement DC power cord—which bypasses the internal conversion process—along with a permanent adhesive sticker. Consumers are instructed to place this sticker directly over the hazardous AC port on the back of the fridge, effectively sealing it off and rewiring the appliance's power flow from the outside in. By forcing the unit to rely solely on the safer DC input, the repair eliminates the thermal load on the faulty selector switch, rendering the appliance safe for continued use.[1][3]

For renters and homeowners, the recall serves as a stark reminder of the hidden risks inherent in small, continuous-draw appliances. As the broader consumer electronics industry increasingly shifts toward external power bricks to keep dangerous heat away from internal components, checking the back of a vanity fridge or desk cooler has become a necessary, proactive step in basic home safety. Until those older units are identified and retrofitted, thousands of potential fire hazards remain plugged into bedroom and office walls across the country.