Dr. Richard Harris’ rebreather after a battery fire torched his car in the Nullarbor Plain in Australia.
It Worked
We had some excitement at the house tonight. While entertaining Bill Stone and members of the United States Deep Caving Team on my back deck, we heard an explosion. We ran around the side of the house to find my “blast box” erupting flames from the side. The blast box was built to contain charging mishaps that seem almost inevitable with lithium batteries. (It is no wonder there are limitations for airline transport.) We managed to contain the fire and fortunately nobody was injured. Ironically I put up this video exactly one year ago on YouTube after a friend has a similar hotel room fire. We would have lost our house tonight if it were not for this box. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsqFm4AdpCQ
Lessons learned:
- Lithium batteries are volatile. Either charge them in a blast box or get a LiPo Sack for smaller batteries.
- Don’t charge them if you are not at home.
- If you have an explosion do not open the box, it will explode or flare again.
- Keep the box closed!
- Cool the box with water and get everything else that is flammable or explosive away from the box.
- Don’t soak lithium batteries with water.
- When everything is cool, isolate the batteries by putting them on a sand pile or sand pit.
- Buy more fire extinguishers for your house and consider CO2 if you are charging these types of batteries.
I’m redesigning the box now. It worked, but still was a hell of a fireball. The box will not be on my porch anymore. It will be isolated from the house. I think I will keep a CO2 tank hooked up to flood the box in the event of fire.
Thanks to Pete Butt and Georgia Shemitz, the best neighbors anyone could ask for!
