SIGNALS

Before we begin, to all of our South Korean readers, please do me a favor. Check to see if your TV is on fire. I'll wait here while you're gone. Let me know if I should call the fire department. I am standing by.

CLICKBAIT DISCLAIMER: This story of toasty TVs concerns some TVs sold in South Korea. The manufacturer claims that TVs sold elsewhere (in the US, for example) are not prone to this thermal malfeasance. But, let's remember that this is 2020 – the Year When Everything That Can Go Wrong, Has Gone Wrong. So, if this issue happened to some TVs in South Korea, it could happen to your TV. And since this is 2020, it probably will.

If you're like me, you wish you had more things to worry about. Don't get me wrong. Being carefree, and living in a world of unicorns and rainbows is nice, but sometimes you like to get a little weight-bearing exercise in your life. So, I kind of welcomed this bit of news regarding televisions and flambé. Well, not really.

Which, my South Korean friends, brings us to your TV. I didn't see any fire trucks in front of your house, so I'm assuming everything is okay. That is excellent. But if your TV happens to be an OLED TV manufactured by LG, you might want to check it again, periodically, if not constantly. I will explain.

The problem concerns TVs that are running hotter than they should; this naturally causes one to wonder if that might cause them to catch fire. In particular, there have been reports of LG OLED televisions sold in South Korea that run a tad too toasty. It is estimated that some 60,000 TVs are affected. Unsurprisingly, the problem appears to lie with the power circuit board.

As reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap, LG is making repairs free of charge to eliminate “a possible heating risk” and in particular, a “risk of current overflow after performance degradation of a current-controlling component.” Eighteen domestic models contain the suspect component, all manufactured between February 2016 and September 2019. Here is the list: OLED65E6, OLED65G6, OLED77G6, OLED65B7, OLED65C7, OLED65E7, OLED65G7, OLED65W7, OLED77G7, OLED77W7, OLED65G8, OLED65W8, OLED77C8, OLED77W8, OLED65W9, OLED77B9, OLED77C9, and OLED77W9. As of July, about one-third of the affected TVs have been repaired. Of course, the burning question is whether or not any of these TVs have actually gone into flame-broiled mode. No word on that from LG.

One more thing. Please change the batteries in your smoke detectors every six months. In fact, even if you just changed them, change them again. 2020 still has four more months to go.