Be ware of batteries

jon f mn

Well-known Member
The company I work for also does roll off dumpsters and operates some landfills and does recycling. Today we had a company wide safety meeting concerning batteries. Seems like lithium batteries are very flammable and will self combust. They recently had a fire in a landfill caused by them. The recycling facility right across the street from the shop I work out of burned to the ground recently and they just blamed that on lithium batteries too. One of the larger garbage companies, I don't remember which, claims to be having an average of 3 fires related to lithium batteries per month. Not only will they self combust, but water makes it worse unless they are completely drown in water. So the new company policy and the policy of all local garbage companies is that all batteries must be recycled and not thrown in the dumpster. This is especially a problem with construction companies throwing took batteries in the dumpsters. So be careful with your lithium batteries. They are in tools, most all phones and computers, battery cars and many other things.
 
I have a friend living in Windsor, Ontario, that had a couple of lithium ion battery powered bicycles charging in his condo. They caught on fire and burned his condo. In the middle of the night, after being awakened by his wife, in his confusion and half asleep, he stood up and got a number of breaths of the poisonous smoke that had gathered near his ceiling. His wife grabbed his arm, (she was on her hands and knees) and pulled him to safety. He spent around 6 weeks in an intensive care ward on a pulmonary machine for a lot of the time. He almost lost his life. They are dangerous!
 
just watched a show on the dangers, seems they are worst when crushed or pierced, make a huge fire and lots of smoke. garbage trucks seem to be most at risk.
 
I would think as long as they are not in use, and properly stored, there is little danger. Probably upright on a metal shelf or a fire resistant locker, as long as there were no other flammables in with them.

Improper storage would be in a position they could be shorted, like something conductive getting across the terminals, on a cluttered work bench, in a drawer with loose bolts and nuts, in the truck with piles of other junk (guilty).

Left on the charger unattended for extended time. They are supposed to be automatic, but...

Anywhere they could be damaged, run over, dropped, exposed to heat, weld or torch slag, then continued to be used with obvious damage.

Near flammables.
 
It sounds to me like they don't have to be in use if they burn up in garbage trucks, landfills and transfer stations or is that because they get crushed in those places.
 
Jon there was some article on TV awhile back about the ones is phones, laptops etc messing up on airplanes and doing lots of damage.
 
Heard of one guy who built a little platform with a roof out in his yard, with power to it- he stored and charged his lithium batteries there, so if they caught fire, they wouldn't burn down his house or shop. Don't know what you do about your cell phone, though.
 
The vaping cigarette things are a real hazard too.

Read where someone actually died because one exploded in his face.

Something about people modifying the pipe or something.

And then carrying extra batteries in their pocket, getting shorted out, blowing a hole in their leg!
 
Could it be that Lithium batteries are dangerous because they contain Lithium in its elemental state or a compound with similar properties?

Lithium is a metal that reacts violently with water like Sodium or Potassium. Those metals are from the same family on the periodic table of elements.
 
Lithium are fantastic but DO NOT screw with them. Couple of good videos. First one advance up to seven minutes and a few seconds. Hold onto you hat and lap top!
Lith
 
Had a dewalt battery catch fire and have never owned another dewalt tool, the reason I went with Milwaukee.
 
Years ago , at the VFD , we watched a film on the making of meth . As a first responded you might get a call to a meth lab .

They would take a spray can of starter fluid , hold it upside down and let the pressure out , then puncture the can and pour the fluid on a soda pop bottle . They would then drop in the sinus pills and a lithium battery . When they added a cap full of water it would violently react with the lithium . You could see the sparks in the starting fluid filled bottle . Usually there is no oxygen but if there is then a big blast happens .

They started using fire extinguisher and portable oxygen bottles and leaving them on the side of the road . They would come back in a few hours and if the place wasn't burnt down they would get the stuff they wanted and leave the toxic / flammable goo for someone else to clean up .
 
Another thing that most people today have no clue about. Back to the 50s and further every photographer used flash bulbs. Now press photography you didn't use those little tiny things like your mom's instamatic used. Ohhhh no those bulbs were #22 or #2 bulbs. They look like 100 watt light bulbs and bigger. Supper powerful like lightning in a bottle. Now there is a problem with flashbulbs. They have a sympathetic reaction if touching another bulb. You flash one and the other will go off too. They are full of shaved magnesium wool. In those days if a photographer was on a hot photo shoot they would take the bulbs out of the cardboard sleeves and stick them in their pocket. Remember back then WOOL pants were the norm. Do you have any idea what happens if static electricity sets off one of those bulbs with a pocket full of #22 flash bulbs?????
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A friend of mine has a son who started vaping "because his girl friend did". He put it in his pants pocket and it caught fire. He was severely burned, but his jewels were saved. The hospital never heard of that before. A week later they had another victim.
 

Lithium Batteries in the cargo hold has downed several aircraft . A few Boeing 787’s have nearly burned to bits while parked on the tarmac .
 

I think a bunch of you folks are using a wide variety of tools that use Lithium batteries without knowing it. Most modern cordless tools are using the 18650 battery which is the basis of most electric cars.

They kind of have it figured out now.
 

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