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E-cigarettes, Small fire caused by USB charger
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johnld  
#1 Posted : 17 April 2013 09:47:00(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
johnld
This came up on another forum I belong to and needs to be considered in the general debate about e-cigarettes. I quote “We have had a small incident here where a member of staff plugged in their ecig USB charger into a computer USB port. About 20 minutes later there was a pop and some smoke and a very minor fire. It was extinguished quickly. I thought it was worth sharing with you as the market place is currently being flooded with ecigs of variable quality and safety due to the origin of manufacture” The organisation is now looking at the previous policy of allowing e-cigarettes in the work place and may well introduce a ban. John
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A Kurdziel  
#2 Posted : 17 April 2013 10:18:49(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel
Not just e-cigarettes; there are all sorts of gadgets appearing that run off USB ports, including fans. Although these are low voltage and pose a low risk, it is quite likely that some of this stuff is not exactly upto any sort of European standard. A better solution than banning e-cigs might be to ban staff from plugging anything that is not IT approved into their company machines. After all they are stealing the company’s lecky!
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firesafety101  
#3 Posted : 17 April 2013 22:34:40(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
firesafety101
I once purchased an iPod on ebay, it came from China. When I plugged it in to charge for the first time, after about 20 minuted it exploded. No damage done and I got the money refunded. A bit of a scare however?
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Zimmy  
#4 Posted : 21 April 2013 11:32:07(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Zimmy
As have said before (and rubbished for it as I recall) The only things that should be plugged into company electrical systems are the things supplied by the company. Far too much junk is taken into the workplace untested and unneeded. It seems that (with a few enlightened exceptions) people think that electrical appliances are low-risk and can be plugged-in without a second thought. Take, for instance, those plug-in things that emit cheap smelling fragrance into a room...then catch fire when your back is turned. A bit more thought and the world would be a safer place :-)
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