Talk about burning down houses

[pete scalia]

Taken from another message board but appropriate since most of us use cordless drills in our business. be safe

Hello Friends: Very seldom do I ever post. I usualy just sit back and learn from all the great post's here but felt the need to let this be heard.
Tonight while working out in the back yard my 11 year old comes out said (dad the power went off in my room) So I go check out the situation and couldn’t find anything wrong. Went to basement to reset breaker and it tripped/wouldn’t reset so now I figure there’s a problem. As I headed to the garage I see a glow coming from inside (Holy crap fire on the workbench!!! Anyways fire's out minimal smoke/fire damage. A Dewalt Cordless Drill that was charging in the case on the workbench caused the fire.
Further investigation has revealed all kinds of interesting articles on this very subject and in fact We have the very same drill listed here
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml01/01057.html
I lost count how many times we left this thing plugged in overnight at that.
BE Safe and Happy Cleaning.

[Mike M]

That's scary. I have a cordless drill and flashlight which I use all the time and charge in my garage. I'm usually good about not over-nighting them, but sometimes forget.

[Jason Rose]

Dang! I have 2 DeWalt chargers in my garage, both are plugged in 24/7 weather they have a battery in them or not! I see that the racall is for 1996-2000 models, I know both of mine are newer than that... Still kinda scary!

[irrig8r]

Originally Posted by pete scalia

Taken from another message board but appropriate since most of us use cordless drills in our business. be safe

Thanks for that. Went out and checked mine and I'm good.

[irrig8r]

I have a sudden urge to play some Talking Heads...

Hold tight wait till the party's over
Hold tight We're in for nasty weather
There has got to be a way
Burning down the house......

[ChampionLS]

If you check the link, the chargers can over-charge a battery and not shut off. If there is no battery sitting in it, nothing will happen.