9 Volt Batteries and Fire

[Colliemom]

I got an email from a friend the other day with some interesting information. She had watched Inside Edition and they did a feature on 9 volt batteries causing fires. Apparently when the batteries are out of there original package and just laying in a drawer or wherever, if the positive and negative terminals on those batteries come in contact with any metal, they can spark a fire.

http://www.kctv5.com/story/24594124/kct ... ire-danger

Guess will be watching how I store my 9 volt batteries from now on. But I usually always keep them in their package. Interestng.

[Deeann]

ANY battery can start a fire if the two terminals are "shorted' together. When the terminals touch each other they cause a spark. And I do mean ANY battery, from a small AAA battery to a large car battery. Always store batteries properly. Never allow the two terminals to touch.

[VickieP]

Batteries can be used as an emergency fire starter. Shut up, Mitch! "He who has control of the remote" watches a lot of survival shows.

[Yakn1]

Vickie - with my luck the battery would be dead!

[WickedLady]

Touch a 9v battery to steel wool to start your campfire.

[Dell]

Crikey! I have batteries rolling about inside a drawer! If you've already thrown out the package, how do you store them "properly"? 8-Dell

[JudyJB]

Put them in a bunch so all the ends are facing the same way, and then wrap masking tape or duck tape around them.

If the ends touch each other, they can also short out and lose their charge.

[bluepinecones]

Good to know. Think I have some loose in a shoe box in Magic. Will have to find them in the morning. No tape so will just move to different boxes.

[JudyJB]

To tell the truth, I have some floating loose also. I knew this was a bad idea, but got lazy. So tonight will tape them up.

[IrishIroamed]

Thanks for the heads up Sue. I'd bet a lot of people are guilty of this. Battery packages either come without enough or too many.

Heads a little foggy still (no coffee yet), but I saw on one of those 'save money' segments a while back, that you can open the 4x4 batteries (can't remember the voltage), and inside are about a dozen 9v batteries. I thought that was pretty dangerous.