"Inferno Alert on Exploding E-Cigs!!!"

[Nate760]

Yes, the Daily Mail is still trying to out-Daily Mail itself with comically absurd sensationalist headlines about e-cigs. This might be the best one since "Man's Legs Nearly Blown Off By Exploding E-Cig." If someone were to get all their information from the DM, they might reasonably assume e-cig batteries rank somewhere between unpinned hand grenades and open containers of nitroglycerine on the list of combustion hazards.

E-cig charging devices now start one fire each week  | Daily Mail Online

 

[xtwosm0kesx]

Yes, the Daily Mail is still trying to out-Daily Mail itself with comically absurd sensationalist headlines about e-cigs. This might be the best one since "Man's Legs Nearly Blown Off By Exploding E-Cig." If someone were to get all their information from the DM, they might reasonably assume e-cig batteries rank somewhere between unpinned hand grenades and open containers of nitroglycerine on the list of combustion hazards.

E-cig charging devices now start one fire each week. | Daily Mail Online

You would assume that would be a positive considering (using US numbers) cigarettes start over 146 per week...

But, as you know, actual facts are boring.

Statistics to share

There are about 7,600 smoking-related fires in homes each year.
Smoking is a leading cause of home fire deaths.
The death rate per 1,000 fires is more than seven times greater in smoking-related home fires than in nonsmoking-related fires.

 

[Sarin]

Oh look, another cheap charger plugged into something that is completely inappropriate for the job!

 

[Nate760]

Oh look, another cheap charger plugged into something that is completely inappropriate for the job!

I'm not as familiar with the situation as it pertains to the UK, but here in the US, I don't think it's unreasonable to surmise that the government's lax enforcement of trademark/copyright law might be a contributing cause of the small number of e-cig-related fires that do occur. The market is flooded with cheap knockoff products that bear the names of reputable manufacturers but were not made by them, and the authorities have shown little to no interest in protecting the rights of those manufacturers by removing the knockoffs from the marketplace and prosecuting the criminals who put them there. This apathy and dereliction of duty on the part of the relevant agencies is, more likely than not, directly endangering consumers, because I'd be willing to bet it's poorly-made knockoff products that are responsible for the vast majority of fires and explosions that have taken place.

 

[AzPlumber]

What irritates me most is the number of wall wort caused fires blamed on an e-cig charger.

 

[Sarin]

I'm not as familiar with the situation as it pertains to the UK, but here in the US, I don't think it's unreasonable to surmise that the government's lax enforcement of trademark/copyright law might be a contributing cause of the small number of e-cig-related fires that do occur. The market is flooded with cheap knockoff products that bear the names of reputable manufacturers but were not made by them, and the authorities have shown little to no interest in protecting the rights of those manufacturers by removing the knockoffs from the marketplace and prosecuting the criminals who put them there. This apathy and dereliction of duty on the part of the relevant agencies is, more likely than not, directly endangering consumers, because I'd be willing to bet it's poorly-made knockoff products that are responsible for the vast majority of fires and explosions that have taken place.

I completely agree, i'm sure that the safety in the charger concerned was merely a strip of foil. However a lot of the issues are from people that have bought from un-reputable sources because the items are a bit cheaper.

 

[sonicdsl]

The data needed to put this into perspective for the public is the failure rate of these wall worts/charging cable in general for any device. Particularly ones purchased as replacements that are not OEM.