Local NW Floridian with severe injuries from exploding ecig battery

[Col. Gaunt]

Next questtion, if the incident happened in Florida and the guy lives in Florida why is he in a hospital in Alabama?

Another odd thing as quoted from AP "The battery flew out of the tube and set the closet on fire."

So obviously it was a device with a single battery. The electronic cigars that I have use a 10440 battery, we are more familiar with 2 batteries being stacked to explode or if it was an ecig, was it the battery that flew out of the metal housing of a pen style ecig?

 

[Batsu]

I hear you. Now, lets see a show of hands from people who think about this incident, every time they lift their e-cig up and put it in their mouth now. Yep...that's what I thought. Almost all of you. (Ok, you can put your hands down now).
It's amazing what the media (and especially the internet), can do to you. I find myself closing my eyes and crossing my fingers now, every time I take a hit. This story is all over the place.
My thought's and prayers go out to this man....just an awful thing. (In the mean time, I'll be praying for myself as well, every time I pick up or charge my PV).

i don't worry about it. i did everything i can do to be safe, good batts, good charger, good mod, if it blows up, .... happens. people wreck their car every day, i still drive all over town every day. sometimes it is what it is, and bad things just happen.

 

[Col. Gaunt]

yeah, big pharma seemed to have settled and swept that under the rug real fast, and i still see adds for chantix like the whole thing never happened

Yeah, the lobbyists for big Pharma have deep pockets to pay off the right people.

 

[JollyRogers]

Ok so I just took my stacked Tenergy RCR123A's out of my Reo and am about to throw them away before I leave work, lol. Anyone know anything about these batts? Tenergy 3.0v with yellow band at the bottom. I havent had any problems out of them but.... I'm also using a UltraFire charger, Have I had a bomb in my mouth or what? Should I stick to the AW IMR 3.7 batts?

The tenergy 3.0v with the yellow band, are charged with a 3.6v charger, specifically labeled for the LifePO4. Mine came with the charger that is needed. There are chargers that can be switched to charge a 3v (charger outputs 3.6) or a 3.7v (charger outputs 4.2). What model of Ultrafire charger are you using? Without that info, I can't answer your question!

If you are charging your LifePO4 batts on the same charger as your AW IMR 3.7 batts, and there is not a setting for the 3v lifePO4s, and it doesn't have a way to switch to 3.6 vice the 4.2 that the IMRs charge to, well yes you have had a time bomb in your mouth.

 

[rise2it]

"It's amazing what the media (and especially the internet), can do to you."

---------

Agreed...but it's not worrying me in the least, and I use several devices, including one with 18650 batts.

I do watch other people get in an uproar over headlines and stories that get splashed across the news...I just learned to not trust the (usually incomplete or slanted) stories in the media about 2 decades ago.

With that said, I did 'head it off' by making a couple of calls to relatives before they saw this on the evening news and started calling me to 'warn me'.

 

[Col. Gaunt]

Regardless of what the guy asked for back if he decides sue somebody his lawyer will put a gag in his mouth... Thus limiting any useful information for the vaping community... Probably already has had 50 or more lawyers banging on his door...

That is true, but 99.9% sure that the e-cig was made in China. So he can forget trying to get any money from them. His only recourse will be from the chain of distribution once the unit hit American soil.

 

[Col. Gaunt]

So like how many people are now gonna have heart attacks if while vaping someone cuts the cheese real loud?

 

[jlazarus]

"I've also heard the argument that our cell phones are potential bombs as well - but we aren't putting an atty on a cell phone and hitting a button while it's in our mouth. "

That's true BUT-

Cell phone explodes, killing young Indian man believed to be mid-conversation - New York Daily News

Technolog - Man claims phone 'blew up' in his ear

Incidentally, I had one fry in my original Droid. Fortunately neither the phone or I was was damaged, just the battery and battery back.

iPhone 4 Explodes Midflight on Australian Airline - ABC News

"S" happens.

Yes, "S" happens, but at what rate? Meaning, how many cell phones are running around the world versus e-cigs and what's the incident rate of exploding batteries of each?

(For that matter, what's the rate between say and EGO and my AW IMR in my reo?) - Ok, I know we don't KNOW those answers, but I'd LIKE to know the answers. Information is important.

 

[Scotay87]

That is true, but 99.9% sure that the e-cig was made in China. So he can forget trying to get any money from them. His only recourse will be from the chain of distribution once the unit hit American soil.

If he was stacking batteries in a commercially made mod he is probably SOL since most vendors have disclaimers on their sites warning against the practice... Still if he tries to go legal it would still further delay pertinent facts from being divulged...


Edit... I was referring to the process to find out if there was even a case...

 

[Col. Gaunt]

But really, my heart goes out to Mr. Holloway and his family. A Vietnam vet who survived a despicable governmental farce of "war" in Vietnam. A war that was supported by the Chinese on the side of communism, only, in the end, to fall victim to what amounts to yet another Chinese "booby trap." But instead of this booby trap being a shoe shine box filled with most likely Chinese made explosives (or yes, salvaged American explosives) , he is attacked in his own home, relaxing, not smoking cancer sticks, by yet another Chinese device.

 

[Goldenkobold]

That is true, but 99.9% sure that the e-cig was made in China. So he can forget trying to get any money from them. His only recourse will be from the chain of distribution once the unit hit American soil.

There is absolutely no information that leads me to think this was a Chinese made device, generally speaking most large problems come from mods and until very recently most mods were made domestically, the majority still are but there are now some low cost Chinese ones. Do we know he device being used at this point?

As far as why he was in an Alabama hospital as a Florida resident, look at a map. Mobile is a large area with a medical center..maybe they had the specialist needed? Try not to be too paranoid. Depending on where he was between Pensacola and Mobile, the Mobile center could have just been a more geographically close local.

 

[Col. Gaunt]

If he was stacking batteries in a commercially made mod he is probably SOL since most vendors have disclaimers on their sites warning against the practice... Still if he tries to go legal it would still further delay pertinent facts from being divulged...


Edit... I was referring to the process to find out if there was even a case...

I think that from the majority of the news releases that I have read, not to say that they are all that accurate, we can almost safely assume that the device was a single battery device or one with an incorporated battery like a penstyle one.

 

[ChaosTheory]

"He is very, very lucky," Fire Chief Joseph Miller of the North Bay Fire Control District told The Times. "

No, sounds like he's pretty unlucky... billions of puffs on ecigs and his exploded on him... yeah, very fortunate for him! I guess they mean he's lucky that he's alive.. The real lucky ones are the News Media for a great story, and for the tobacco agencies that can say, hey, ours products will kill you in 60 years.. These will blow up and destroy your face in two years.

 

[Col. Gaunt]

There is absolutely no information that leads me to think this was a Chinese made device, generally speaking most large problems come from mods and until very recently most mods were made domestically, the majority still are but there are now some low cost Chinese ones. Do we know he device being used at this point?

As far as why he was in an Alabama hospital as a Florida resident, look at a map. Mobile is a large area with a medical center..maybe they had the specialist needed? Try not to be too paranoid. Depending on where he was between Pensacola and Mobile, the Mobile center could have just been a more geographically close local.

You are quite correct sir and I thank you for your information. I plead guilty to making ...-u-me-tions.

 

[jlazarus]

I hear you. Now, lets see a show of hands from people who think about this incident, every time they lift their e-cig up and put it in their mouth now. Yep...that's what I thought. Almost all of you. (Ok, you can put your hands down now).
It's amazing what the media (and especially the internet), can do to you. I find myself closing my eyes and crossing my fingers now, every time I take a hit. This story is all over the place.
My thought's and prayers go out to this man....just an awful thing. (In the mean time, I'll be praying for myself as well, every time I pick up or charge my PV).

Every time I pick it up I think of my 22 year old son, off at college, vaping on his KGO and it exploding in his face. It's somewhat flipped me out! Exploding in my face is one thing, in my kid's face? Ugh.

I also think about my husband happily charging his at work - what if it exploded and just happen to maim/kill a co-worker?

Yes, I know people die every day from tons of other things (car accidents) but one can REDUCE odds of e-cig maiming to one's face by NOT vaping. Pretty easy. One can also reduce odds of maiming someone ELSE by don't doing it AROUND them.

Don't get me wrong - I'm totally against any type of government intervention - eek! - but this does have me rethinking my personal behavior - and that of my family's. I will NOT have ecigs charging all over the house when my sweet nephews are here, I will NOT have a carrying case with ecigs in my side pocket of my purse sitting in an empty chair next to the family with kids in the next booth. And I WISH my oldest would quite vaping (and not pick up a cig).

Methinks I'm overreacting and that's probably true. But still...food for thought.

(If I can only get my son's face out of my mind when I'm hitting that button I might feel better!)

 

[Stubby]

Lithium does not explode, they just vent then catch on fire.

That's right, and when you put one inside a metal tube with no place to vent you have a bomb. We really don't have to know what the details are, because we already know what the problem is.

I'm not going to make any excuses for the moders. Mods should be designed for worst case scenarios, and many if not the great majority are not. It's simply a very bad idea to put a lithium battery in a metal tube. When a battery goes into runaway what is need is ventilation, and the more the better. A few pin holes are almost useless. Instead of a fire with a runaway battery, which is bad enough, we now have an explosion.

Perhaps this will wake a few people up and we can start getting redesigned mods that take safety seriously.

 

[jlazarus]

That's right, and when you put one inside a metal tube you have a bomb. We really don't have to know what the details are, because we already know what the problem is.

I'm not going to make any excuses for the moders. Mods should be designed for worst case scenarios, and many if not the great majority are not. It's simply a very bad idea to put a lithium battery in a metal tube. When a battery goes into runaway what is need is ventilation, and the more the better. A few pin holes are almost useless.

Perhaps this will wake a few people up and we can start getting redesigned mods that take safety seriously.

Aren't most e-cigs made like this though? Lithium Battery in Metal Tube? (meaning not just mods)?

On another note, are you suggesting something like my REO to be safer, simply by design?

 

[ChaosTheory]

Every ecigarette, cellphone, laptop, etoothbrush, mp3player, ipod, shaver, flashlight is a potential bomb. A ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Don't forget about your wash machine, dryer, water heater, and furnace.

Reality is a terrifying place once you become conscious of it.

Try not thinking about it too much

 

[Scotay87]

I think that from the majority of the news releases that I have read, not to say that they are all that accurate, we can almost safely assume that the device was a single battery device or one with an incorporated battery like a penstyle one.

In an earlier post page 7 I believe, a quote was was transferred from a thread in the media and news section posted by Maxxvapor (registered supplier) stating he had contacted the Niceville fire dept and was told "cr123 batteries and charger were found in the home".... Not to make any more assumptions but the guy was a photographer as well...


Edit... Page 8...

 

[Merzeal]

Hmm... This is still pretty concerning to me... I have an e-power atm, might bust out the dremel and punch a few venting holes in it, just to be on the "safer" side. Ya never know.

Plus, then I could play it off like I'm genius and I was doing it for aesthetics. >.>