In the last couple of years, I replaced all my lawn care equipment with battery powered and it has worked fantastically. I’m sure there will soon be other large batteries that need to be charged.

However I also note headlines about fires from cheap or damaged batteries. I don’t buy cheap and I do take care of my stuff so I’m not too worried but wonder if it would be worth building some sort of battery charging enclosure. Does anyone have any links, ideas or references?

My first thought is I have an unfinished basement with concrete walls and floor so that should be fire resistant: could it be as simple as stacking cinder blocks or pavers? My second thought is that would make a great oven, so no. So is there something I can do for my chargers to protect my house from any chance of fire?

  • @FFbob
    link
    71 year ago

    I have been looking into this lately, it seems there may be some commercial options that are normally for industrial use. I found some on Amazon that seem too cheap for this.

    As a firefighter I’ve been running a bunch of these battery calls. The best case scenario is they just smoke up your house., and worse case I’ve seen videos online of the room going from nothing to IDLH (Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health) in under 20 seconds.

    We’ve had a ton of ebikes and scooters burn up in homes. Never charge those inside. I’ve see power tool batteries burn up huge sections of residential houses, and I’ve seen laptop batteries explode right under the feet of other firefighters. That last bit was super cool, rarely get to see explosions that aren’t car tires popping. Those laptop batteries would have caused a huge amount of damage if the building wasn’t made of concrete - they allow modern midrises to be stuck built!