My shop burned down

[ampmike]

Little update,The battery charger radio may have started the fire,S the radio co has been served notice and the fire site is taped off.No work can be done until they come out and check the site.They will take the charger radio to test if it did indeed start the fire.I have to go to live in a hotel at this point it pretty bad with the smoke and soot.So it looks like ill be able to get new tools.I appreciate all your input guys.You have all been really helpful.It pretty gloomy right now but a few months from now things will be looking up.
My daughter is getting married in July and is counting on me to make a lot of wooden stuff for her wedding.My list of loss is going to be huge.I even had tubes and chassis out there.Talk to you all later,Mikey

[C Moore]

Good Grief...I will just repeat...hope "this" all works out for the best.
Fire is a damn scary thing.
A house 3 blocks away burned down a few weeks ago at Midnight.
Will be interesting to see what caused that and yours of course.

Really sorry to hear...have enjoyed looking at many of your products in the For Sale/Trade section.
Hope you will be back there soon.
Kind of eery in that pic...looks like the flashlight is on.
Best Of Luck

[drew]

Just recently I learnt that quite a few household fires have been started by old 9 Volt batteries as an ignition source. Never knew that.

That's a little scary. I've got a couple freezer bags full of old batteries. You're not supposed to throw them in the regular trash anymore, because the environment, but then I never remember to do whatever it is that you're supposed to do with them now, so they just keep accumulating.

[LeftyStrat]

Big scary thing for me happened a while back when my wife noticed a burnt rubber smell in the basement. It happened after the garage flooded from heavy rain. Apparently water and debris had lodged in a submerged extension cord and it was slowly self destructing without tripping a breaker.

I don't leave sawdust or wood scraps laying around anymore. The garage is almost under the stairs in the house. My kids could have been trapped upstairs.

BTW, this is the weekend we're all supposed to check the batteries in our smoke detectors.

Good luck Mike.

[Leo_Gnardo]

I've got a couple freezer bags full of old batteries. You're not supposed to throw them in the regular trash anymore, because the environment, but then I never remember to do whatever it is that you're supposed to do with them now, so they just keep accumulating.

Do you have a recycling pickup? If so pitch 'em in there. I gather no more than a sandwich bag full before heaving the lot out.

Some stores like Home Despot & Lower's have recycle bins near the entry doors. One bin is intended for batteries - rechargeables that have lost their groove - I bet you could get rid of yours there one way or t'other if you haven't a recycle-items pickup.

Don't wait, get 'em gone in the next couple days.

[rp]

Terrible news Mike, but as everyone said, it's just things. It's like being sick, it'll get better and be just a distant memory soon enough. You do great work, with a new shop you'll do even better work, or more faster

BTW I read through this whole thing, typical of TAG I learned a ton on insurance claims.

Just curious, why aren't battery recycling bins a fire hazard? There are many here, most e-stores have a bin. I doubt all or even most of the batteries are dead. I usually chuck 'em when their down to 1.35V if that. This question includes the lithium bins too. You'd think the batteries thrown all together would risk setting each other off. Guess who ever made the recycle laws thought it through, right?

[ampmike]

A guys,staying at a hotel so using there computer,it was a dewalt battery charger radio that started the fire,can't do much till they come out,still waiting for serpro to start so in the meantime were hold up at a hotel with three dogs,ill keep you posted thanks guys,Mikey

[Cliff Schecht]

Best of luck with everything Mike.

[eniam rognab]

battery charger huh? damn...

ive been using alot of 18650 Li batteries recently and i got a cheapo charger with a purchase. opened that girl up (cuz thats what i do) and i saw...... no fuse.. no nuthin. scary, those lithium batteries freaking explode if shit goes down....

good luck with everything!

[Leo_Gnardo]

it was a dewalt battery charger radio that started the fire

I wasn't aware there were such things until I did a search after you mentioned it. Bosch sells 'em too. I'm sure they're all MIC despite their USA and German hi quality brand names.

One of my crustomers is the northeast DeWalt sales rep, a terrific guy. I'm sure he won't be pleased to hear about this, but then again he's more involved with tools.

Any battery under charge could go defective, and chargers themselves aren't much of a hi tech item at all. What surprises me is what these combo charger-radios cost. OW! Battery chargers ought to be dead cheap. Pretty much, just a wall wart power supply. Next time, separate chargers & radio.

[eniam rognab]

Next time, separate chargers & radio.

what am i a'sposed to do while my battery charges?

[rp]

I think it's this. They are everywhere on construction sites. Pretty sure if you buy the 7 piece set it comes w/ the radio and pretty sure all the brands have a radio now, though Dewalt is the one you see the most, I think they started it along with the vac. I wouldn't blame the radio itself, it's likely the charger or the pack that was in it. It's ALL MIC, even Hilti which prided itself on not being MIC is made in China - and it's still extra expensive

Ever since the Apple & IBM laptops battery fires like 10 years ago, I never leave a cell or laptop charging on the bed. If I'm not home I never even leave them on the bed not charging. The table top they're on might burn too but no need to provide kindling. Anyway, everything is rechargeable now and little bad happens, I would worry that much. I was always amazed that in the vacuum tube era with everything running red hot and at high voltage in fragile glass and a population of people like my mom, that the whole planet didn't burn down. Most stuff works pretty good, apparently.

[ampmike]

Yea,Mine may have been the first model they made but there is no question thats where the fire started.And i had those batteries as well.I wont even leave a toaster plugged in anymore,Thanks Man,Mikey

[ampmike]

Well not much progress yet,waiting on the Man to give us the go on cleanup,I'm at a little hotel with 3 dogs that are used two a country quiet life,they bark at any noise at night here.good news,serpro starts on Thursday cleaning the main house.it just is to stong of an Oder to live there ,you get sick from it.Hopefully ill be home in a week or so,that's all for now guys.thanks for praying,mikey

[Teleguy61]

Hang in there mikey, we are all pulling for you.
Good luck.