Fire Safety ..............

[wolf63]

I am not sure how real a problem these batteries pose but I thought that I would pass the message on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSJH21WmALc

[Canary42]

I would have thought that if the battery is totally run down then the residual power left will be unlikely to behave as specified here. This guy replaces his batteries based on time, in which case there is still probably a lot of power left in them. Replacing smoke alarm batteries twice a year seems very extravagant to me - mine last well over two years. Decent smoke alarms also warn when the battery is low.

[spudqueen]

Batteries are more dangerous than I realised. I work in a Post Office and last year new regulations regarding dangerous goods were brought in. We have to ask everyone what is in the parcels they are sending and can refuse to accept them if they contain certain items, including batteries not in their original packaging. Lithium batteries are apparently even more dangerous and we can only accept them with the item they are meant for. Apparently if crushed they can set on fire. As a lot of mail (even in this country) goes by air this could have serious implications if something caught fire whilst a plane was in the air, for those onboard and also for anyone on the ground. Royal Mail are so serious about this that they scan all parcels and if thought to include something dangerous they will destroy the package, only letting the sender know if they put their return address on it.

[boxtops]

That's interesting, spudqueen - I wondered why the PO had started to ask me what's inside my eBay parcels when I take them for mailing, now I know, thankyou!

[gness]

Gosh.....thanks, Wolf.....my bag of batteries to recycle is now outside...x

[wolf63]

I got this in an email and immediately thought that it was a wind-up but I can see the 'potential' for a problem.

I have to admit, spudqueen, that I lied to the lady at our post office about the contents of my parcel to my brother just before Christmas. I was bad!

[anneasquith]

very interesting, good post, wolf,

[heathfield]

I'll add to that. A small spark is enough to ignite steel wool. On a fire course we were told of an old dear who had bought a couple of nicad batteries, and a hank of steel wool, and place everything in a carrier bag. She got as far as the bus stop before the steel wool touched the battery terminals. It was enough to produce a small but intense blaze, as was demonstrated on the course.

[choux]

Food for thought. Excellent post.

(Though sadly doomed to attract less response than the average Chatterbank post.)

[spudqueen]

Wolf - the probably with lying about what is in a parcel is that Royal Mail are scanning parcels and if they think something dangerous is in it they will destroy it. If you've put a return address on they will let you know, otherwise you'll never know, just wonder why your parcel didn't arrive!