Richlist Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 There have been a number of reports in the media of fires caused by faulty mobile phone chargers. These nearly always turn out to be counterfeit/ defective/ not electrically safe & purchased on line from overseas. Reports suggest that 800,000 phone chargers were bought online over the last year. Has anyone else issued a note to their tenants warning them of the dangers of using non proprietary phone chargers ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 No, but I will now. Thanks Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carryon Regardless Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 I'm not so sure many of my T's can read and seriously doubt many would. Many of mine would likely feel this was just a Stalinist attempt to control them further and would ignore such information so I'll just check my property insurances are up to date. As I understand pretty well all my T's can't afford rents but can afford the most expensive contracts that provide a latest new phone every 12 months or so. Very necessarily to remain cool and fashionable I believe. It's just the affluent such as myself that try to save a few quid by buying from China, so I'll send a note to myself. Can't say I've noticed the quality of the chargers being any different than my daughters actually but maybe her Samsung was made in China or Korea anyway. Then again I charge via USB here at my desk or in the car, do I still need to worry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted May 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 The problem is that buying a genuine Samsung, Nokia etc etc phone charger is usually far more expensive than a cheaper alternative via Ebay. I've bought a cheap mains charger myself but have now thrown it away. You could argue that provided you only used a cheap one during the day, whilst you were in & not during the night whilst sleeping you might be OK.....but forgetting & plugging in the charger whilst you pop to the shops is a risk not worth taking in my opinion. The cheap chargers won't have any quality, safety or CE markings. The genuine ones are often made in China so don't let a made in China sign fool you into believing you have a defective one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Couldn't a fire risk exist with any charger, not just cheap phone chargers? Laptops, toothbrushes, chargers for re-usable batteries ? And apparently the risk is greater when turned on but not connected to its appliance. No load is being extracted to reduce the heat in the transformer. Nothing to prevent cheap suspect chargers being CE marked illegally, particularly from countries outside CE zone. Rechargeable batteries, particularly lithium-iron type, also have higher fire risk. Used in tiny phones through to big aeroplanes. Perhaps we should stick to clockwork! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted May 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Chestnut, Your making the classic case of arguing that there is danger in everything we do......and who could argue with that. The point here is that the danger is massively increased by using unsafe/ untested copies of the genuine chargers. The fire & rescue services who have investigated recent fires have laid the blame clearly on the use of these untested copies..... Personally I couldn't care less if my tenants want to burn themselves to death but I do care about having my property destroyed by fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grampa Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 I brought a replacement lap top charger on-line for my daughter which worked ok for a few weeks and then it started to trip all the fuses in the house and get very hot. The bottom line is you get what you pay for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Precisely RL! There are Hazards all around us, but Risk is dependent on Likelihood also, much of which is very low, a point easily overlooked, especially by local authorities etc. There are prescribed systems for Risk Assessments, the simplest of which involves multiplying a Hazard index (e.g. minor injury 1 up to fatal 5) by a Likelihood index (improbable 1 to very likely 5). If the product of these two is say more than 10, then the Risk is sufficient to demand some warning or design action to reduce it. I don't know the likelihood level for phone chargers. There must be millions about and one doesn't hear of many fires. One could always ask supplier/manufacturer for copy of Risk Assessment, if in doubt. Faulty/suspect goods should be reported to Trading Standards, especially if no CE mark. Ensuring tenants have working smoke detectors is probably more important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carryon Regardless Posted May 23, 2014 Report Share Posted May 23, 2014 Wouldn't the preferred mains powered smoke detectors increase risk of an electrical fire? Not as much as Beko fridges and Hotpoint washing machines though I agree. Ignore me I'm off to kick the cat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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