Saturday 9 August 2014

Man Killed as Laptop Battery Explodes... not

from the BBC

A man was killed when a charging e-cigarette exploded and ignited oxygen equipment he is believed to have been using, Merseyside's fire service said.

David Thomson, 62, was found in the living room of a house in Penkett Road, Wallasey.

A small fire in the bedroom of the property had gone out before firefighters arrived, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) said.

The exact cause of death is yet to be established, with an inquest now due.

An MFRS spokesman said: "The subsequent fire investigation identified that an e-cigarette that had been charging in the bedroom exploded, caught fire and ignited the oxygen tube of an oxygen concentrator, which may have been in use by the occupier."

Myles Platt, MFRS area manager said: "The investigation into the cause of this fire is continuing but at this stage it is thought that the charging device being used at the time may not have been the one supplied with the e-cigarette.

See how long it took to get there?

There's a bit of a problem with people using bad chargers for laptops or bad batteries that can lead to explosions. Most are actually fine, but it does happen. And I've yet to see the BBC report those stories. But e-cigarettes causing fires? No problem.

5 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

That was my first thought.

Anyway, why do people bother with chargers? You can get disposable e-cigs with a battery in them which lasts for ages.

Tim Almond said...

I wouldn't know about that. I last smoked about 20 years ago (excluding some weed in Amsterdam).

Kj said...

Have you started vaping mr Wadsworth?

Bayard said...

The e-cig manufacturers probably use Lithium Polymer batteries, which are popular with the robot wars fraternity, as they are very powerful for their size. Of course, having a battery that is liable to explode isn't such a problem in a fighting robot, it's all part of the show (not that they really explode, they just catch fire and burn quickly). Laptop manufacturers use Lithium Ion batteries, that don't catch fire if overcharged, which is why you don't see "Man killed by exploding laptop" stories, although "Man killed by exploding electric bicycle" is a possibility. But yes, it's all part of an unholy alliance between the Puritans and Big Tobacco against e-cigs.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Kj, I tried it and it was surprisingly good, but it's not the same as proper smoking.