E Cig Fire Scary Lesson Learned

[stretchpants]

I purchased 2 kr808d1's from a supplier and a couple of days later I ordered a starter kr808d1 kit from them as well. I was charging one of the batteries I received first in the charger that came with the kit.
The e-cig exploded and it was so hot the wires and filament part flew across the kitchen counter and soldered itself to a metal bowl on the counter. It caught fire briefly and went out but not before doing black as coal smoke damage to one of the walls in the kitchen.It only took 5 seconds for all this to happen.
My husband is a retired Fire Chief so we never leave a charger of any kind plugged in while we are out.
I am so glad we were right there to take care of it.We were very lucky. So this is a heads up to everyone. Never leave your charger plugged in when away from home.If we had been out we would have returned to a disaster. Honestly I won't be leaving them plugged into a room I'm not in. If you could have seen what happened in such a short amount of time it was unreal.

 

[StormFinch]

Very glad you were right there and there is no major damage!

A lot of us put our charging batteries in something non-flammable, like an aluminum bread pan. Just cut a hole large enough to feed the charging wire though and sit the battery inside. Of course, I still wouldn't leave it unattended, but it helps on the odd chance that they decide to become bottle rockets.

 

[txtumbleweed]

Must have been a 500ma charger instead of a 200 or whatever a 808 uses.

 

[stretchpants]

Thank You for that. I will be doing that as well. It was really scary the way it caught so quickly. It didn't give us a second to stop it before it had gone up the wall.

 

[NCC]

And here I've viewed the lack of fire hazard as one of the bonuses of not smoking cigarettes.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll be more cautious when charging from this point on.

 

[stretchpants]

Why would they put a 500ma charger in a 280 kr808d1 starter kit? I would not have suspected that. Do you think that's what it was? I didn't know if it was the charger or the battery that caused the problem. I threw everything away. The entire kit and the other battery. I wasn't going to take any chances on which was the cause of the explosion.

Must have been a 500ma charger instead of a 200 or whatever a 808 uses.

 

[stretchpants]

I said to my husband after it all went down and we had cleaned everything up that I never had any problems like that with real cigs... He just looked at me...
I'm not going to quit using them but I will be ultra cautious when recharging time comes around.LOL

And here I've viewed the lack of fire hazard as one of the bonuses of not smoking cigarettes.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll be more cautious when charging from this point on.

 

[hairball]

Someone on V4L's forum reported a passthrough catching fire and melting the cartomizer.

Lesson folks: NEVER LEAVE ANY TYPE OF BATTERIES OR PT'S PLUGGED IN UNATTENDED!!!

 

[six]

I've seen this a few times. The worst one was an 18v battery for a cordless drill. That was quite a bang and a pretty good fire (had to use an extinguisher). The most recent, I wasn't actually there for. It was a go-go batt that didn't completely explode or start any fire, but it bulged the housing to a point it was barely recognizable as an e-cig batt. - I built my friend with the go-go a double-walled tin charging box. - I charge my batts in a safe place, but I'm going to make myself a box like I made for my friend.

 

[NCC]

I've seen this a few times. The worst one was an 18v battery for a cordless drill. That was quite a bang and a pretty good fire (had to use an extinguisher). The most recent, I wasn't actually there for. It was a go-go batt that didn't completely explode or start any fire, but it bulged the housing to a point it was barely recognizable as an e-cig batt. - I built my friend with the go-go a double-walled tin charging box. - I charge my batts in a safe place, but I'm going to make myself a box like I made for my friend.

I have a GPS data logger in which the LI battery suddenly expanded, popping the case irreparably open. It didn't catch fire, and it still functions. But for how long, without the case's protection, who knows?

Sounds like there's a market for protective shields for charging PV batteries.

 

[REET_AZ]

Thank you so much for sharing this info. I had no idea. I will be taking much more care, and in fact will investigate a metal case for charging purposes.

Again, thank you.

 

[SteveMacc]

LiPo batteries are even worse, so there is a product already on the market for them that you could use for Li-Ion batteries as well.

LipoSack.com

Have a look at the video page. Quite scary.

There are lots of other suppliers. Just put "battery charging sack" in Google.

 

[AttyPops]

I googled it. Expensive but probably worth it. OTOH, a BIG metal bowl sounds good too.

Makes you wonder how common this really is with e-cigs. I can't count the times I've charged batteries overnight. Scary. I do use protected batteries (14500's) tho. As far as the other "stock" e-cigs, IDK.

I wonder about the PTs that are always trickle charging and used as you vape em. Haven't heard of any issues, ever. There's probably 10s of thousands of those eGo PTs and the like in use. You can't use the wrong charger with them.

Only a problem if you use the wrong charger AFAIK. Maybe if the battery is damaged...?.....

Then again, post #9 is scary too. So, Hmmmm........... Big bowl time. Maybe aquarium.

 

[dcot]

Want to thank you stretchpants for telling your story. It convinced me to change how and where I charge my batteries. Decided today to start charging them in the washing machine . I know it sounds strange, but dropping a short extension cord inside the washing machine, hooking up the charger/battery, and closing the lid, eliminates any chance of burning my house down. Worse case I melt the agitator .

Just to be super safe, the outlet I'm using is a GFI (ground fault interruptor) type to prevent the washing machine from becoming "hot" if a short does occur.

 

[TomCatt]

I purchased 2 kr808d1's from a supplier and a couple of days later I ordered a starter kr808d1 kit from them as well. I was charging one of the batteries I received first in the charger that came with the kit.

Were the first kr8s disposables? Some disposable ecigs aren't meant to be recharged.

 

[stretchpants]

Were the first kr8s disposables? Some disposable ecigs aren't meant to be recharged.

I didn't order them as disposables.I guess they could have sent disposables by accident.

 

[stretchpants]

All in all it was a lesson learned and I hope it never happens to anyone else.I'm going to try the washing machine.LOL It may sound funny but it sounds like a pretty safe place to charge them.

 

[mylose64]

I once had a battery explode on me.

I was charging it too! I plugged it into the wall and it exploded. The pieces went everywhere and they were so hot, when they hit my tv, the tv caught on fire.

Right now two of my walls are completely black, and my father who is a fire fighter was there to protect me.

My TV cost 900 dollars, so now we need to buy a new one.

My brother is still charging them at night, I don't know how bad it's going to be next time.

I noticed that when the e-cig exploded it turned an orange green color and a it looked like a snail.

 

[NCC]

mylose64: Was that a PV battery? What kind was it?

 

[dattmavis19]

Damn, and here i am using the unprotected batts that came with my sparkplug... Guess those are getting moved up on the priority list of PV buys, at least gives me motivation to get a couple of the 3.0v quicker for the thermo tube.