I opened my laptop for unrelated reasons and was greeted by a slightly bloated battery. Idk if the picture makes it clear, but the individual segments of the battery have slightly raised above the solid structure pieces in between. Laptop is just over a year old. I have already contacted the manufacturer, but with the holidays...
Every bloated battery can start igniting any second. So please remove it and store it somewhere outside, ideally on concrete. Li-Ion fires cannot be stopped, not even with water.
The battery will most likely not explode, but just ignite. The melting of the chemicals and metals just gets really really hot, so anything else around it will start to burn eventually. So don’t treat it like a bomb, more like a very hot iron. If you can, find a temporary spot for the battery. Maybe in a garage or basement. If also possible, use a metal container. Dirt/sand is also a good option.
What you are describing is just dangerous, for the simple fact that people then think they are safe, as soon as they put the battery into salt water. You even say yourself that it takes days until fully drained. During those days, the battery could still ignite. When that happens, the salt water will not help at all. What then will happen is, that the water will immediately turn into steam. You know what happens if you put water into hot oil - similar effect, just less dangerous. The water will be gone in no time and everything around it starts to burn.
That‘s why we always recommend what I was suggesting in my initial comment. And please don‘t say things like „it is the only fully safe way“. This is just straight up wrong.
I actually had to check some resources myself, as I was unsure if it was really useful in that case. Those blankets usually help stopping a fire by limiting the amount of oxygen that gets to it - without oxygen, no fire. Unfortunately, many batteries have oxygen in them, not much, but enough to keep it going. So the fire won’t stop in that case. But what the fire blanket does, is give a layer of insulation, thus reducing sparks flying around and reducing the temperature directly above it.
Fire blankets are always a very useful tool, as they are easy to use and at least protect the person holding it (in small fires, obviously). If it doesn’t help, it does not make it any worse.
bad battery? ( lemmy.world )
I opened my laptop for unrelated reasons and was greeted by a slightly bloated battery. Idk if the picture makes it clear, but the individual segments of the battery have slightly raised above the solid structure pieces in between. Laptop is just over a year old. I have already contacted the manufacturer, but with the holidays...