A Samsung laptop battery caught fire a couple of months back, setting light to a bed that it had be left unattended on.
South Korean firefighters in Yeonnam-dong, Mapo, revealed that the P10 laptop overheated, which in turn caused the bed linen smoulder and burn, the Reuters News Agency reports.
Details at best are still sketchy, but it would seem the laptop was on and running at the time. The female owner had been working on the computer for 3½ hours with the laptop resting on a pillow.
Samsung told the news agency that is was investigating the matter (at the time of this post going to press), but common sense suggests a quick, easily guessable cause.
The laptop’s air vents would have been blocked by the pillow it was perched on.
Most laptops’ have fans that suck in cool air through vents in their casing. This air cools the components of the laptop and draws the hot air out through the rear or sides of the casing. If these become blocked or smothered, the core temperatures of components inside increase rapidly, potentially affecting the laptops heat-sensitive lithium battery which is combustible beyond a certain temperature.
Advice is:-
- Not to block the vents on your laptop
- Use a tray or flat surface to rest the laptop on if you have to work whilst in bed
- If your machine gets too hot still, don’t use it in bed
- Make sure the machine is turned off if you are leaving it unattended
It’s simple really.
Other fire related articles:-
- Insuring your music, but are your downloads covered?
- Change your smoke alarm batteries, and some good advice
- New issues for MacBook and MacBook Pro batteries
- ‘Hindenbook’ Computers
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