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Topic: battery vent  (Read 2483 times)

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Offline Electron

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battery vent
« on: September 23, 2014, 04:08:58 PM »
Hello,
I' m not a chemist but I had an incident while trying to replace a tablet lithium battery. The battery was glued to the back of the screen and when I tried to pry it off I must put a hole in it because I heard a hissing sound.

My ( very quick ;D ) reaction  was to toss it somewhere in the floor that could not cause fire, open the window wide open, place a fan to the window to remove the smoke and get out of the room! By the time I got out of the room the battery was smoking real bad. 

I let it there until it stopped smoking (it almost fill the room), waited a couple of hours for the smoke to clear  (that fan was real handy) and then I filled a bag with baking soda, placed the screen and the battery in it and wrapped it with another bag, sealed it and gave it to a battery recycle center to deal with it. (the same one that gave me the directions to cover it with baking soda)

By the info I gathered I was extremely lucky that I didn't get any nasty spills/burns in my hands nor I inhaled any smoke because the stuff that maybe produced when a lithium battery vents are very nasty  (hf, oxalic acid, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide and so on)

So now, several days later, there is no nasty smell in the room (the day after the incident there was a burnt smell odor, so I left the window open) and I cleaned the floor with a solution of water and baking soda.

I also tested if there was any leftovers from the smoke in the desk again by diluting baking soda in a glass of water and gently puring it on the desk area... I was told that if there any acid left overs I should see fizzing and bubbles but there was nothing...

The baking soda solution I used to clean the flood was not fizzing either so I guess there are 2 possibilities:
1)baking soda is not the thing to use for cleaning after my mess
2)there is no acid/acids leftovers or the concentration level is too low for baking soda to cause a reaction.

Is this "baking soda test" reliable? Or should I try another method for testing?

Do I have to "decontaminate" all the equipment I had in the room/lab (e.x magnifying glass for soldering, soldering iron, computer screen, keyboard, mouse and so on) because they came in contact with the smoke?

The "local expert" I asked said that there is no need to "decontaminate" anything (floor, walls , sealing, desk, and equipment) since nothing spilled and the battery did not explode and just produced smoke, but I want to hear your opinion too cause I have kids playing in that room some times and don't want them to come in contact with any nasty leftovers...

All advices and suggestions are welcome!

Thanks and excuse my English, I hope they make sense !

p.s. the "local expert" also told me that since I deal with lithium batteries I should buy a 2.5% calcium gluconate gel to keep around the house just in case but I don't think I will deal with another lithium battery again  ;D ;D ... lesson learned!

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