No fire, no electricity, just a bottle of water to enjoy the hot hot pot... Today, the so-called lazy man cooks his own hot pots, and some brands produce foods such as rice, noodles and fans. However, in their investigations, journalists found that there was a certain security risk to the hot pot, though delicious and fast, and that the heat packs of the hot foods were flammable and explosive, that consumers should be very careful to use them and that they were not allowed to carry them on trains or aircraft。
What's a hot pot
The self-heat pot, which is free of fire and without electricity, consists mainly of food items, cooking pots, pan covers, external pots and heat packs. The heating principle is the release of heat using the substance in the heating package to contact the water, thereby increasing the temperature after the intake of heat in the foods in the upper food pan. In addition to the "self-heat pot", it is also called the "micro pot" "cooking pot" "self-cooking pot"。
This product, which initially appeared in the micro-friend community, attracted an increasing number of catering and food companies. From the base of the fire pot to the chain of the fire pot, many companies have started their own small hot pot business. Even a good shop for snacks sells hot pots in their own skycat flagship shop. There are now at least 30 brands to search for “heat-to-heat pots” on electrical platforms such as skycat and kyoto。
Eat a hot pot and call the police
However, this easy-to-eat hot food implies significant security risks. Journalists noted that there were a number of reports online that alarms were reported when spontaneous hotpots were used, and that videos that triggered constant alarms by gas alarms were sent to short video platforms when consumers used hotpots。
Consumer chen has been afraid to eat since he at home once at his own hot pot caused the gas alarm to call the police. It was explained that she was operating in the kitchen in accordance with the instructions, and that the lids were starting to heat up and were planning to go back to the house for a while, but before leaving the kitchen, the gas alarm went off。
“at that time, a shock was caused, fearing that the gas leak would specifically call the gas company, which came to the door and said that the gas had not leaked.” the inspectors claimed that it could have been caused by the hot pot, because the gas alarm would only have called the police if carbon monoxide had been detected, and that the gas released from the hot pot had triggered the alarm。
In addition, the consumer li told the press that one time he ate hot rice on a glass cup of tea at his home, and that the air vents on the hood just blew up and heard the tip of a glass cup of tea that was “cracked”, causing rice to be spilled。
Journalists bought a box of their own hot pots at random, unpacked them and put the base and all the food in the dining boxes and added cold water. Heated bags are then torn off and placed in the bottom box, and the cooling water is not used. The food box is placed on the heating pack, and the vents on the closed cap are opened to tighten the pan. A few seconds later, there was a vent of steam, and a few minutes later, the sound of “slurping” water boiled in the box, the box was subject to heat expansion and deformation, and the temperature was felt close to the lunch box. After more than 10 minutes, the box sounded like a bang, and then the gas alarm in the journalist's home went off. Turning off the gas alarm for another few minutes, opening the seal, and coming up at high temperatures. During the food process, the hot pot remained at high temperatures. After an hour of consumption, the outside of the lunch box still feels hot。
The factory says so
Why does the alarm keep calling the police
So, what's the reason for the gas alarm to keep calling? The journalist made phone calls from the heat pack manufacturer. “when heat is distributed, trace amounts of hydrogen are produced, as hydrogen causes smoke sensors to alert.” according to the head of a heat package manufacturer. Hydrogen is a gas that is flammable and reductive, and pure hydrogen burns quietly in the air, and impregnated hydrogen can explode when burned。
Is it dangerous to produce hydrogen from heat packs
However, in response to hydrogen from the heat pack response, the manufacturer's personnel stated to journalists that “there is absolutely no safety risk”。
The head of a heat-pack manufacturer told the journalist: “it's okay, if it's dangerous, it won't be so hot in the market, don't think so dangerous, not so dangerous, big businesses are doing it.”
Security test
In closed space, heat packs are at risk of detonation
The manufacturers of heat packs said there was absolutely no safety risk, but reports of alarms during the use of their own hot foods appeared from time to time. So, is there a safety risk after the heat pack reacts to water
Recently, the shanghai city consumers' rights protection commission (csdc) provided information on the testing of 20 self-heating hot pots. The pilot project includes indicators such as appearance and packaging marking checks, surface temperature of the boiler, heat encapsulation response to the release of gas, re-heat reaction of the heat pack, heat package composition and content. The test results show that all the heat packs tested are “substances or mixtures that release flammable gases in contact with water”。
The deputy managing director of the national chemical safety and quality control centre told the journalist, "we've done a lot of experiments, and it's almost 40 litres of hydrogen per heat pack. The combustion limit for hydrogen in the air is between 4 and 75. 6 per cent, although there are other closed or semi-enclosed conditions, for example, where there is a similar risk.”
Watch out for hot pots on the tourist bus
There is a potential risk of explosion when used not only in closed spaces, but also in a number of public settings, with a high intensity of use and a high security risk。
The assistant to the director of the national chemical safety inspectorate said: “many tourists do not know, for example, that during the journey of the tour bus and the long-distance bus, this could produce hydrogen, which could be used extensively and in large quantities as a hot pot, which could lead to the accumulation of hydrogen in vehicles, especially in the summer, with air conditioning, and a closed environment in which the entire compartment would be closed, in which case, if the low explosive concentration were reached, a small source of fire, which did not require a lighter, a small amount of electrostatic power on the body, or some spark on the circuit, would be sufficient to cause an explosion.”
Three, we're still in danger of losing our lost heat pack
The experts also told journalists that, not only did the spontaneous heat product reach the detonation threshold for hydrogen gas during its use, there was a risk of explosion, as did the use of discarded heat kits。
In this experiment, the shanghai commission for the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities (csrp) also provided a heat pack for 20 samples that had already been reflected. The results showed that there were 14 samples of heat packs with varying degrees of continuous air discharge. The duration of the response was over three minutes, up to a maximum of eight minutes。
If such heat packs are discarded, they meet with water in closed spaces such as garbage cans and add a small source of fire, they may burn。
