Earlier this week I shared our experience of Waking up to a living room on fire, today we learned the cause after having an expert visit and inspect the remains. Being just happy that everything went well, the only thing really left to do was to ensure that we got from the insurance company what we had the right for. Thus, we had a visit from an independent appraiser to document what happened, what the damages were, and what the likely cause may have been, and if sufficient measures were made to avoid further damages.
So what did he have to say? Well, it turned out that the culprit was something as seemingly innocent and unlikely as a charging station for a pair of earbuds, not even connected to the energy socket. According to him, seeing the "blown out" battery made it obvious that there had been a short circuit. Apparently, it wasn't uncommon and something he had seen plenty of times before.
Turned out that the charging container for a pair of Jabra Elite Active 65T had a short circuit which made the battery catch fire.
Anyways, seeing as many people asked what happened in my last post, I figured it made sense to share the story now that we know. And also to ask what you all would do in this situation.
What would you do after this? Consider it so unlucky and unlikely that there’s nothing to do except accept that some risk like that exists? Accept the risk, but perhaps add an extra smoke detector or two somewhere to feel safer? Or go a step further and look into setting up a metal container that could be decorative if selected and placed wisely, for electronics to be kept on? That would remove, or at least significantly reduce, the chance of fire spreading should there be a short circuit or whatever else can happen to batteries resulting in a fire. Part of me thinks that’s a bit too paranoid, but on the other side, it could cost very little if made into a simple rule/habit.
Or what do you think? Do you have habits or rules for how you treat electronics? Do you unplug everything before going to bed? Do you make sure to store electronic devices in a dedicated space that is less flammable should the unlikely event happen?
Let me know in the comments!