First things first, I think, David,
NEC (National Electric Code) has no legal standing, it is not law. NEC is a set of standards built by some pretty smart folks for the purpose of preventing fires who's root cause could be electrical in nature. So, the equipment in question is not manufactured in any unlawful manner (at least as far as use of NEC is concerned).
Why does Mr Knight continue to manufacture the heat press with compression splices in the wiring harness? I don't know that he does, but if that is the case the answer seems to me to be higher profit. Making those harnesses without splices is much more expensive than making them with splices.
Why has Mr Knight taken the stance that it isn't a problem? Your guess is as good as anyone else's. Personally, I think he is trying to do business in the 21st century with overbearing business practices many thought were left in the 18th century; what the customer doesn't know won't hurt me! (insert your own expletive here)
Thing is, consumers (in business and retail environments) make themselves much better informed than they did 200 year ago..or even 20 years ago. The advent of the internet has increased an individual's ability to "find out" about a product by a factor possibly beyond computation. Many would not know about this problem without messages boards and forums like this one. So, when my press burned 16 months ago, I might have shrugged my shoulders, growled a lot and paid big bucks for a new platen, but, I had, just 48 hours prior to the event, read about several other similar harness problems on DSSI forum.
My opinion is Mr Knight should contact everyone who bought this model and replace all the heating platens by shipping new ones out along with a return shipping label. Customer puts old platens in the box, pastes on the label and calls UPS for pickup.
Doh! Silly me!! That would be the ethicaly and morally right thing to do! Can't let that get in the way of profit, can we?
Anyway, check the harnesses for splices. If you have splices, contact G Knight and get it replaced. And contact those url's Mr Takes gave us.
Michael |