This is funny. There's a one in a million chance that a random lithium battery will explode randomly. I demonstrated this recently by hitting old phones with a 10 pound steel hammer. It has the power of an old-school road flare. Do not store these batteries with your gas-hoarding cansisters. (Seriously, the last gas shock had my crazy neighbour storing lots of gas in his garage.)
Always store them in a manner that doesn't instantly explode, and have lots of smoke detectors. Mine all went off when the phone exploded.
But I went wrong with a little gadget for vacuum sealing small bags. It was the size of a small flashlight, and I threw it with the pots and pans under the induction cooktop. Lithium batteries discharge at a few percent per month, and this one went down to the level where the on-off button went unstable, This was not a physical switch, but a standard latch-circuit button.
So, suddenly there is a buzzing sound under the induction cooktop. OMG that thing is expensive! I thought it was a fan going nuts. Amazingly, I turned the power on and off to reset it, and the noise stopped. Then later it started again. I turned off all the power to the kitchen. Still going!
We started emptying the shelves to see the cooktop better from underneath. As my wife was carrying things away, I tracked the noise source leaving the kitchen. Looked at the stuff, and there is was, making noise. I am discharging it outside, and calling it a fire hazard, for sensitive family reasons.
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