The unqualified rate of electric hand warmers reaches 65.1%. Where is the problem? What should be paid attention to when purchasing?
Electric hand warmers are also called "hand warmers", baby warmers or hand warmers by consumers. Because they are convenient to use and easy to carry, and most of them are sold for only more than 10 yuan to more than 40 yuan, they are popular in autumn and winter. Very popular, the market sales are also increasing year by year.
However, such a product has frequently caused accidents such as explosions, injuries, electric shocks and fires. The quality supervision and random inspection results of electric hand warmers released by the State Administration for Market Regulation in 2022 show that the failure rate has reached an astonishing 65.1%.
Spontaneous combustion and injury "hand warmer" has many safety problems
Not long ago, a lady in Hohhot suddenly smelled a burning smell at home, and she immediately found that the "hand warmer" that was charging on the table had ignited a flame.
The reporter learned that the fires in many places in recent years were caused by the spontaneous combustion of the "hand warmer" while charging.
In Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, a "hand warmer" that a family was charging spontaneously ignited and caused a fire. Fortunately, it was discovered and extinguished in time without causing further losses.
Some "hand warmer" quality and safety accidents also caused personal injury.
In an accident in Xinzhou, Hubei, the "hand warmer" purchased by Ms. Tang suddenly exploded while charging, and her son suffered burns to varying degrees on both legs.
The doctor told Ms. Tang that a skin graft must be performed next to ensure that the child can walk normally.
The reporter learned that accidents such as explosions, scalds, and spontaneous combustion of "hand warmers" occur every winter.
According to the quality supervision and random inspection results of electric hand warmers released by the State Administration for Market Regulation in 2022, after spot inspections and inspections of 126 batches of products in the circulation field in 13 provinces and cities across the country, it was found that the failure rate reached an astonishing 65.1%.
Ding Hong, senior engineer of the Electronic and Electrical Institute of Anhui Quality Inspection Institute: Among all the random inspection products, the number of unqualified products has reached 82 groups (batches). Compared with 2018 and 2019, the (increase) is very large .
"Components" and other six items have potential safety hazards
"Hand warmer" is an electrical appliance, but the quality is so worrying, so what is the main problem?
The reporter learned that the 14 items of the electric hand warmer spot check are closely related to the personal safety of consumers. The test found that there are six items that have potential safety hazards. For example, the "components" of the electric hand warmer are unqualified. Easy to cause explosion hazard.
The reporter at the testing agency found that not all electric hand warmers have the same internal structure. This small fingernail-sized device is not found in many products.
The testing engineer told the reporter that although it is just a small piece of metal, it is actually a safety valve for the temperature control of the electric hand warmer.
The test found that there are not a few electric hand warmers lacking this temperature control and protection element.
The testing engineer selected an electric hand warmer that lacks temperature control protection components, and simulated the operating habits of some consumers for charging.
The reporter saw that during the charging process, the bag body of this electric hand warmer gradually increased with the increase of water temperature. After charging for one minute and thirty seconds, the electric hand warmer suddenly burst.
He Lingling, testing engineer of the Electronic Appliance Institute of Anhui Provincial Quality Inspection Institute: During the testing process, it was found that there are many hand warmer products without such protection (components). If you use it while charging or turn it upside down during charging, it will cause The temperature keeps rising, and eventually there is a risk of bursting and scalding.
The reporter learned that this spot check involved as many as 35 batches of unqualified products for the project.
Once consumers buy back such an electric hand warmer, it is equivalent to bringing danger to them unconsciously.
Some products use electrode heating to cause electric shock hazards
In further investigation, the reporter learned that in addition to causing burns caused by bursting, unqualified electric hand warmers may also have hidden dangers of electric shock.
The electric hand warmer itself is a product held in the hand, directly in contact with the human body.
In order to ensure the safety of use, the national standard clearly stipulates that the conductive liquid that is easy to touch or may become easy to touch in normal use of the electric hand warmer should not be in direct contact with live parts.
In other words, the liquid inside the electric hand warmer cannot be charged.
However, in the various electric hand warmers tested by the testing engineer, the liquid inside was all charged when charging.
Chu Xiaoxue, testing engineer of the Electronic Appliance Institute of Anhui Provincial Quality Inspection Institute: You see that the voltage has reached more than 130 volts. This voltage is very harmful to the human body. If consumers touch it, it will cause the risk of electric shock or even death.
The reporter learned that the safety extra-low voltage stipulated in the standard is generally below 42 volts, but the charged liquid in this electric hand warmer has a voltage as high as 130 volts.
The test found that 80% of unqualified electric hand warmer products have such hidden dangers.
If consumers use it while charging, once the liquid inside leaks out, it is easy to cause an electric shock hazard.
The testing engineer told the reporter that the reason for such a result is that the manufacturer adopted the "electrode heating" method in the structural design of the electric hand warmer.
At present, there are three heating methods of electric hand warmers on the market, electric heating tube type, electric heating wire type and electrode type.
Among them, the electric heating tube type and the electric heating wire type hand warmer, when charging and working, the liquid does not come into contact with the live parts, and the use safety is higher.
The electrode type is that the live parts are in direct contact with the liquid during heating, and the liquid is always charged during the heating process.
Ding Hong, senior engineer of the Electronic Appliance Institute of Anhui Provincial Quality Inspection Institute: The structure of the electrode heating device is very simple. It only has one live wire and one neutral wire, and it directly heats the liquid.
Once leakage occurs, there will be a risk of electric shock. If the company chooses this component to add to the product, it means disregarding the rights and interests of consumers. This is a very serious safety hazard.
The reporter learned that almost all substandard products have problems with temperature control elements and electrode heating methods.
Named as Harbin Sandeng Electric Factory, Shanghai Kangxue Industrial Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Cixi Woshang Electronics Factory, Anhui Wuwei City Jupeng Electric Factory, Shandong Zhucheng Linzhi Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., Henan Xichuan County Boyuan Electric Factory, etc. The electric hand warmer products produced by the enterprise have been detected with 4 unqualified items.
Appearance, new technology, old product quality needs to be improved
Electric hand warmers have been on the market since the mid-1990s. However, the reporter learned that apart from the great changes in appearance, its internal structure, including some safety settings, is actually not very big. development of.
At the same time, the current electric hand warmer is still a product in the non-compulsory product certification catalog and the non-industrial product production license management catalog. Such product attributes have attracted a large number of companies with insufficient capabilities to flood into the market, and shoddy and inferior products have also followed. come.
Due to the limited scale, cost reduction has become the choice of many enterprises.
The use of inferior materials, electrode-type heating elements, no temperature control device or inferior temperature control device, etc., have reduced the production cost to a minimum, but the quality and safety of the product are not at all.
Ding Hong, senior engineer at the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Appliances, Anhui Quality Inspection Institute: Compared with the ones we qualified, electrode heating devices are U-shaped (electric heating) tube or electric heating wire heating devices. In terms of cost, an electrode heating device may be more expensive than Qualified products may save about ten yuan in cost.
So the cost difference is still very big.
If the quantity is large, the cumulative effect is more obvious, so many companies take risks and use cheap and unsafe products in pursuit of profits.
The reporter learned that in response to the problems found in the national supervision and spot check of electric hand warmers, the State Administration for Market Regulation has ordered relevant companies to immediately rectify and stop selling unqualified products.
Relevant persons remind consumers that although the current electric hand warmer products are fashionable in appearance and comfortable in hand, they should pay more attention to safety attributes when purchasing.
Electrode-heated electric hand warmers, which are extremely dangerous, are very easy to identify because of their structural peculiarities. Consumers can find this unsafe electric hand warmer product by touching them with their hands.
Dong Lei, senior engineer of the Electronic Appliance Institute of Anhui Provincial Quality Inspection Institute: You can grab the charging interface of the electric hand warmer and feel it with your hands. If there is only one structural unit, and sometimes we can feel that it has two tentacles. The electrode, this kind of hand warmer basically uses electrode heating, do not buy this unqualified product.