MPCNC Not Fireproof

Just in case anyone else is wondering the MPCNC is not in fact fireproof. It might be worth adding to the documentation. :slight_smile:

Yikes! I hope no one was harmed! And that everything lost is easily replaceable.

I also hope that it didn’t start with the MPCNC… Or do I need to send the safety monkeys out for a refresher?
death-mob-wizard-of-oz

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What the heck happened!? Is everyone ok? Is that in your garage?

Uh boy that sucks.

Can you expand on that situation a bit?

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Lithium battery fire in the garage. No one was harmed.

Nothing lost that can’t be replaced.

I have only managed to cut a few things so rather disappointed. I had such great plans.

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I’m glad everyone is safe. What a mess though.

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Ugh, that’s awful. Sorry to hear about your loss. Thank you for sharing your story, you’ve inspired me to put a smoke alarm in my garage/workshop space.

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Yikes. 3 months ago that happened to my buddy down the street. He was in the shower, the neighbor yelled at me and I passed out a fire extingusher and called 911. We all ran down the street and got it out before the officials got there but as you can imagine it caused extensive damage in a matter of minutes.

Battery for him as well. Not sure if it was a RC car battery or his dewalt stuff. He got home from work and plugged everything in and jumped in the shower.

I’m sorry to hear about your fire. The only upside I see is you hopefully get to build a new one!

Oh, I am planning to build a new one. Bigger and better.

I had not realized how dangerous batteries are. Going to be much more careful with charging batteries that for sure

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Was this a battery from a major manufacturer, or a hobby lithium battery?

It was either a Ryobi or Dewalt cordless tool battery. I am not sure which one was on charge at the time.

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Last week a 18650 battery of my electronic cigarette caught fire in my back bag, in the same room where my baby was sleeping !
By chance it was just after she was awaking and crying so i was in the room taking her from its bed when it happend.
I heared an explosion and when i instantly looked back to see what happend and i saw flames of 1 meter height, in just about 1 second ! I had an umbrella in my bag and other nylon stuff + the bag himself that has accelerated fire for sure.

Without wasting a second, I put my daughter back in her bed, I ran to grab the bag to take it out and empty it into the garden. I got a little burned doing it but nothing serious compared to the drama that could have happened.

Lithium batteries are definitely dangerous !

Now I’m thinking of buying one or 2 metal boxes (like a cookie box) to store them (18650 and makita ones).

Wow! That sucks, but thankfully no one was hurt and all is easily replaceable. :cry:

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Yea, you need a crap ton of water to put out a lithium fire since it’s self oxidizing and will split water to hydrogen and oxygen. Sand will help keep it from spreading, but it’s still burning under there.

Oh crap, that would be terrifying in the house and a flaming melty backpack.

Since my neighbor’s fire I updated and added some fire alarms, and more fire extinguishers. Separated my batteries, they charge in one place and are stored in a metal tool chest drawer.

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I purchased a metal ammo box like this for my drone batteries.

I’m also thinking about building a charging bunker like this to be on the safer side.

They also sell fire/explosion proof bags that I may want to invest in after listening to these stories. :grimacing:

I used to work for a “preferred contractor”… that is, we did most of our work for insurance companies. So I’ve seen plenty of fire destruction, and when I bought my home I did a lot more than just smoke alarms. I found numerous wiring hazards and ended up rewiring the whole place, including networked smoke alarms. So if an alarm is triggered on the other side of the house where it may not be heard with music playing, all of the alarms in the house report (you will hear it, even with airpod pros turned up). I went a step further and hacked a circuit so my 3dprinter will shut down if the garage alarm is triggered… since it’s always operating while I’m away or sleeping. Last but not least, my older construction home (1940’s) has the garage firewall done so flames could easily slip into the main attic envelope between the roof skip sheathing. So I filled all those holes with firefoam to give me and the family some extra time if we needed it.

Also, I was expecting to hear it was hobby lithium polymer batteries, not ryobi or dewalt li-ion (well, maybe the ryobi lol)! At least it wasn’t Makita, which is what I have. The battery bunker idea is good… there’s also nomex socks if you don’t want to store something that large. Nomex pouches are also available called “lipo sacks” for RC use, but they tend to be overpriced vs racing socks (head and foot socks for different sizes… sleeves too). Terra cotta pots are also great if you need to charge something right now and have nothing else.

Anyhow, hope your loss didn’t include non-replaceables, and that your insurance is helping.

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How does insurance handle something like an MPCNC? It is $500 of parts, but also has a lot of energy and time put into it.

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Yeah that makes it technically a “non-replaceable” item wrt insurance. They will pay for the parts if you brandish receipts, but typically they reimburse pennies on the dollar for such things. Depreciable items like an $80 router, you may get $10, and good luck finding a battered one at the flea market for that. Sundry items like filament, I can see them giving a bit more like 50% market value, or even 100% depending who your adjuster is. Without an appraisal for insurance to go off of, the time/energy are lost forever. That said, I wonder what it would end up costing if you were to have to hire someone to rebuild it for you? Appraisers would have fun with that one.

Guessing there’s a lot of other items involved too, besides the structure itself. All of that should be covered here under homeowners or renters insurance. So definitely past any deductables… definitely throw in the MPCNC to get what you can. From experience… don’t be conservative with your insurance, because in this case they often turn into your enemy unfortunately. Almost all clients I’ve talked with about the subject say next time they’d definitely pad things to make it more fair.

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Just don’t seal the ammo can. They will pop if the batteries inside decide to burn. You can drill a hole in the lid, then wire some stainless steel scrubbing pads to the inside over the hole. This will allow the gasses to escape, and keep any chunks inside.