On May 2, 2024, the Consumer Product Safety Commission published recall 24-219: True Manufacturing Recalls Commercial Refrigerators with Secop Compressors Due to Fire Hazard. Roughly 29,200 units in the United States, plus about 50 in Mexico. Sold January 2018 through June 2020, at $3,000 to $8,000 each. Fourteen reported fires.
If you are buying used True refrigeration, this is the one check that can actually burn a building down if you skip it. It takes about ninety seconds. Here is the model list, verbatim, and what to do with it.
The hazard, in plain language
The recall is not about the whole machine. It is about one part: a Secop compressor, model NLE11MN, fitted to units built in that window. CPSC's wording is that the compressor "can fail in a manner causing the compressor to overheat, posing a fire hazard."
That is the entire documented mechanism. You will find pages that embellish it with talk of refrigerant release or housing ruptures. CPSC does not say that, and neither will we. What the record does say is that fourteen fires were reported, with property damage and no injuries. Fourteen fires out of roughly 29,200 units is a small percentage and a very bad outcome if you are the one holding it.
The complete affected model list
Fifteen models. This list is transcribed from the CPSC recall page itself, not from a third-party summary:
- GDIM-49NT
- GDM-45
- GDM-47
- GDM-47FC
- GDM-47RL
- GDM-49
- GDM-49FC
- GDM-49RL
- GDM-69
- GDM-69FC
- GDM-72
- GDM-72FC
- T-49G
- TSD-47
- TSD-47G
Check the suffix character by character. GDM-49 and GDM-49FC are both listed, but T-49G is listed and plain T-49 is not. On this recall a single trailing letter is the difference between a fire hazard and a clean machine.
The models we checked and cleared
Two True models get confused with the recalled list constantly, so we went and looked rather than assuming.
The plain T-49 (solid door) is not on the list. We read the full affected-model list on the primary CPSC recall page on 2026-08-19 and the plain T-49 does not appear on it. Only the glass-door T-49G does.
The T-72 and T-72G-HC are not on the list either. Same check, same source, same date. No T-72 variant of any kind appears. Note the asymmetry that trips people up: on the 49-inch reach-in the glass-door variant is recalled and the solid-door one is not, but the 72-inch reach-in is clear in both configurations. Two different-looking answers, one list.
We state these as checks we performed, not as inferences from absence of news. If a separate True recall lands later, the negative result above expires with it. It is accurate to the primary source as of the date shown.
Why "just search CPSC" is harder than it sounds
One practical note, because it cost us time. CPSC's own site search, the ?combine= keyword filter, does not filter reliably for automated tools. We tested it against Scotsman, a brand with a known, verified recall on file, and it returned the same generic list of recent consumer recalls. A "no results" from that search is not evidence that a product is clean.
What works: go to the recall page directly by URL, or use a normal web search restricted to cpsc.gov to find the right recall slug first. If you are checking by hand in a browser, this matters less. If you are relying on a search result to tell you a machine is safe, it matters a lot.
How to check a specific machine
The data plate carries the model and serial number, usually on the back or inside the cabinet. You need both.
Call True Manufacturing at 855-203-0185, the hotline published with the recall, or use the recall site True set up at www.true-secopcompressor-recall.com. Give them the model and serial. They confirm whether that specific unit is affected and whether the free repair has already been done on it.
If you are looking at a used machine and the seller cannot produce a serial number, that is the answer to a different question. The serial is how you establish this machine is not a recalled fire hazard. No serial, no verification, no purchase.
What the free repair actually is
This is the detail most secondhand summaries get wrong, and getting it wrong changes what you should ask a seller for.
The remedy is not a compressor replacement. It is a change to the compressor's starting circuit: the Secop ePTC starter is replaced with a CSIR motor configuration, meaning the component that gets the motor spinning at startup is swapped for a different starting arrangement. The compressor stays. True covers the repair at no cost to the owner.
So when you ask a seller for proof, you are asking for documentation of a starter retrofit, not a compressor swap. A seller who says "the compressor was replaced" has answered a question you did not ask, and the recall status is still open until True confirms it against the serial. We have not sourced a technician labor time for the retrofit, so we are not going to invent one.
Buying a used unit that is on the list
Being on the list does not make a machine unbuyable. It makes it conditional.
- Retrofit documented. A work order, a service receipt, or True's own confirmation against the serial. That closes this recall. It says nothing about coils, gaskets, or compressor health, which are separate questions.
- Retrofit not done. Buy contingent on the repair being completed before the unit goes into service, and arrange it through True yourself. It costs you nothing except the wait.
- Seller will not cooperate on either. Walk. The discount is never the size of the risk.
What it does and does not tell you about price
Recall status is a gate, not a valuation. Clearing it does not make a machine a good buy. The GDM-49, the most common recalled model in used listings, trades at $1,250 to $2,539 in our per-listing comps, tracking model year closely: 2009 to 2010 units near the bottom, 2018 to 2021 units near the top. The plain T-49 runs roughly $800 to $2,000.
Notice the overlap with the recall window. The 2018 to 2020 GDM-49 units sitting at the top of that range, the ones priced like the good ones, are exactly the units that need the serial check. Paying near the top of the band for an unverified machine is the worst version of this trade.
The short version
Fifteen models. Built January 2018 to June 2020. Secop NLE11MN compressor. Fourteen fires. Free starter retrofit from True at 855-203-0185. Plain T-49 and all T-72 variants are clear, checked against the primary source on 2026-08-19.
Every other used-refrigeration check is about money. This one is about fire. Run it first, then run the rest of the inspection. If your search has drifted toward ice machines, the Scotsman recall is the equivalent check over there.