noisycarlos Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Hey guys, I'm taking aviation classes, and they showed us this video about dealing with fire from lithium batteries. So I thought it might be good for all of us to know, just in case. Turns out water is best, even better than extinguishers because it also cools down the adjacent cells and prevents them from igniting in a chain reaction. You just gotta keep pouring it over, even after the fire stopped. On that note, ice is a bad idea because it acts like an igloo and the adjacent cells still heat up and explode after a while. Anyway, it's all in the video. The tests start around minute 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esaj Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 This is my understanding also, the reaction releases its own oxygen, so trying to suffocate it won't work (ie. powder fire extinguisher or such), the key is cooling it down and keeping it below the thermal runaway temperature to prevent it from re-igniting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Wow, thank you for sharing that @noisycarlos, before seeing that I would have been convinced the safest option would have been a dry powder extinguisher (perhaps not in the confined atmosphere of an aircraft cabin though!). You would think water would electrically short the batteries making them heat even more, but obviously not. Just make sure that any connection to the mains is removed before tipping water over it or there is a real risk of electric shock - I'm suprised that wasn't mentioned as the first fire in LAX was whilst charging and connected to the mains. What was also very noticeable, and not remarked upon, was significant reduction in fumes when using water, a VERY important consideration in a confined space I would have thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esaj Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 6 minutes ago, Keith said: Wow, thank you for sharing that @noisycarlos, before seeing that I would have been convinced the safest option would have been a dry powder extinguisher (perhaps not in the confined atmosphere of an aircraft cabin though!). You would think water would electrically short the batteries making them heat even more, but obviously not. Just make sure that any connection to the mains is removed before tipping water over it or there is a real risk of electric shock - I'm suprised that wasn't mentioned as the first fire in LAX was whilst charging and connected to the mains. What was also very noticeable, and not remarked upon, was significant reduction in fumes when using water, a VERY important consideration in a confined space I would have thought. Water does have its own problems when extinguishing electrical fire, but probably a good option (for non-mains connected circuitry with "low" voltages), unless you have something like liquid nitrogen at hand Personally, I've thought about a metal bucket of sand where to (try to) dump the battery, it won't extinguish it but should keep the fire from spreading (ie. just let it burn out). Of course having a flaming battery venting all sorts of not-so-healthy gasses especially indoors is not a good option either Continuous spray of water should transfer the heat away from the fire (ie. the water pulls out thermal energy while warming, and then is "replaced" by more cold water, essentially moving the heat away). Maybe a large container with "still" water would also work, if it can suck enough heat energy to keep the pack temperature low enough for long enough time (ie. so it has cooled down to the "core" below the critical temperature)? My common sense says that the reaction should stop once batteries have cooled down enough, but don't know if any escaping gasses, metals in the cells or such can react with something in air/water (hydrogen/oxygen/nitrogen/whathaveyou)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noisycarlos Posted August 9, 2016 Author Share Posted August 9, 2016 Exactly @esaj, water might not the best for the fire itself, but it works and also has the benefit of lowering the temperature of the adjacent cells so they stop igniting. I was surprised by the ice being so bad at cooling the pack down (though it makes sense in hindsight). Maybe still water would work (ice might actually help in this case), of course that assumes you have a way of safely throwing a burning battery pack into an iced water tank. As for the main... yeah. @Keith, I hadn't even thought of that, but it's a great point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetricUSA Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 No hope in saving an electric (lithium) car...ouch... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noisycarlos Posted August 13, 2016 Author Share Posted August 13, 2016 @MetricUSA find the closest lake! Though in fairness, I wouldn't worry about that until we start getting electric cars that are Chinese knock-offs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pArmitage Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 What about these guys? http://www.classdfire.com/#!products/cq6m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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