Firewood Vaporizer

hippogriff

hippogriff

Well-Known Member
I confess, I'm still using my FW4. I speculate that the little grommet is the culprit - when you're inserting, the cell is slightly longer b/c of the angle, and the grommet surface is a little sharp, so it makes sense it could degrade the wrapping. BUT I always inspect my batteries whenever they change location, and carefully, AT MY OWN RISK and all that, continue to use my favorite DD.

edit: I MAY have touched the grommet for 8 seconds w/ a file and it MAY now feel smooth. I DEFINITELY push the battery down against the spring more than I used to, so I clear the grommet. I'm DEFINITELY being a little stupid in the face of Marc's serious process to address the problem. The FW4 is a beautiful example of thoughtful and balanced engineering, you should all follow the instructions of the designer, I'm being a kid who doesn't want to give up his toy, even for a reasonable moment. Wah.
 
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Mr Mellish

Mr Mellish

Well-Known Member
hippogriff said:
I confess, I'm still using my FW4. I speculate that the little grommet is the culprit - when you're inserting, the cell is slightly longer b/c of the angle, and the grommet surface is a little sharp, so it makes sense it could degrade the wrapping. BUT I always inspect my batteries whenever they change location, and carefully, AT MY OWN RISK and all that, continue to use my favorite DD.

edit: I MAY have touched the grommet for 8 seconds w/ a file and it MAY now feel smooth. I DEFINITELY push the battery down against the spring more than I used to, so I clear the grommet. I'm DEFINITELY being a little stupid in the face of Marc's serious process to address the problem. The FW4 is a beautiful example of thoughtful and balanced engineering, you should all follow the instructions of the designer, I'm being a kid who doesn't want to give up his toy, even for a reasonable moment. Wah.
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I am also using mine because all my other vapes were in “storage” while I was away from home for a month and haven’t had a chance to get them back. My battery has no dents, nicks or scratches in its wrapper.
 
XiolaOne

XiolaOne

Firewood 4
This is my only vape so I'm still using it as I can't stand smoking now. I do inspect my battery now on every change though.

Would like to hear more about fileing down the grommet though
 
hippogriff

hippogriff

Well-Known Member
XiolaOne said:
This is my only vape so I'm still using it as I can't stand smoking now. I do inspect my battery now on every change though.

Would like to hear more about fileing down the grommet though
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I can't advise you do it as it could potentially weaken the connection, and w/o feedback from Marc we don't know that's it's necessary. So in my inadvisable case, I could feel a little sharpness w/ my fingertip, protected the wood w/ blue tape and ran a file over the sharp area - felt better and more flush, did the barest amount possible to (hopefully) not weaken the grommet. Just be clear, however much sense it makes that this is where a short would happen, it's still a guess.
 
djchexxx

djchexxx

Well-Known Member
aphidii said:
Just got a new bulk email from Marc, looks like he's taking the recall super serious, lots more detail, but the CPSC are still testing the proposed fix.

I miss my fw4 so much :cry:
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In the email it says this
Please stop using your Firewood 4 immediately and reply to this email with the following information:

  • Your current mailing address where you will be mailing the Firewood 4 from.

  • The address you would like to have the fixed Firewood 4 mailed to (if different from above).

  • The date on which you plan to send the unit back.

Does this mean we can pick any day to send it back and we just wait for the email with prepaid shipping? @firewood
 
aphidii

aphidii

Well-Known Member
djchexxx said:
In the email it says this
Please stop using your Firewood 4 immediately and reply to this email with the following information:

  • Your current mailing address where you will be mailing the Firewood 4 from.

  • The address you would like to have the fixed Firewood 4 mailed to (if different from above).

  • The date on which you plan to send the unit back.

Does this mean we can pick any day to send it back and we just wait for the email with prepaid shipping? @firewood
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Yeah seems that way.
Domestic US orders Marc will make you a shipping label, international will be reimbursed via PayPal.

I sent mine in for warranty just before all this happened so he's had mine for a bit over a month now, I'm jonesing for some lazy fw sessions
 
djchexxx

djchexxx

Well-Known Member
aphidii said:
Yeah seems that way.
Domestic US orders Marc will make you a shipping label, international will be reimbursed via PayPal.

I sent mine in for warranty just before all this happened so he's had mine for a bit over a month now, I'm jonesing for some lazy fw sessions
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Cool, thanks for clearing that up. Im just going to send mine in as soon as possible. I dont mind waiting for it since I have plenty of other vapes in the rotation.
 
aphidii

aphidii

Well-Known Member
XiolaOne said:
Over a month?? Man, that's a long time
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Yeah, it wasn't heating right so I sent it in, then this happened just before he was about to send it back. I've got plenty of other vapes in the collection so I'm not too cut up! (nah but really I'm crying on the inside)

I really respect how Marc's going about all this, professionally with good communication. He wants to do the right thing by us, so I'm more than happy to do the right thing by him.
 
CarboxylicAcid

CarboxylicAcid

Well-Known Member
Also got the new email, figured I'd post the full text again since it answers some questions we've been having lately:

"Dear Firewood Customer,


This notice is being sent to inform you of a significant safety risk with using the Firewood 4 vaporizer. You are receiving this notice because our records show that you purchased a Firewood 4 that is subject to this recall.


What is the Risk?

There is a risk of an electrical short between the positive and negative terminals of the battery which can cause the battery to catastrophically vent and catch fire, which could cause injury or damage to property.


What will Firewood do?

Firewood will provide you with a return mailing label to send the device back to us to apply a remedy for this issue. As part of the proposed remedy (still being tested by the CPSC), each device will be inspected to ensure that there is an adequate gap between the battery positive terminal wire lead and the top edge of the battery case. Devices with a gap that is too small will be reworked to increase the gap to at least 1mm. All devices will then have this gap filled with a non-conducting epoxy. Once this proposed remedy is accepted by the CPSC the device will then be sent back at no cost to customers.


What should you do?

This is an important safety recall. The remedy will be performed at no charge to you.


Please stop using your Firewood 4 immediately and reply to this email with the following information:

  • Your current mailing address where you will be mailing the Firewood 4 from.

  • The address you would like to have the fixed Firewood 4 mailed to (if different from above).

  • The date on which you plan to send the unit back.

For any other questions please email recall@firewoodvapes.com"

Marc, if you're reading this, just want you to know that we appreciate how professionally you're handling this. I, for one, am glad that our safety is being taken seriously and that I'll have my vape up and running in what is relatively no time at all considering the risk. Thank you!
 
KeroZen

KeroZen

Chronic vapaholic
Wow.. given the price of shipping, especially internationally and back and forth, this is a terrible burden for him. It will dissolve a significant part of his margin.

Granted, with how you yanks are notorious for being "trigger happy" with trials and class actions, he could lose much much more if something bad happened and the case was brought to court.

Maybe those of you with minimal DIY skills (or having friends with said skills) could perform the fix by yourselves? It's simple as expected and it could help Marc lose less money.
 
Fat Freddy

Fat Freddy

FUCK CANCER TOO !
KeroZen said:
Wow.. given the price of shipping, especially internationally and back and forth, this is a terrible burden for him. It will dissolve a significant part of his margin.

Granted, with how you yanks are notorious for being "trigger happy" with trials and class actions, he could lose much much more if something bad happened and the case was brought to court.

Maybe those of you with minimal DIY skills (or having friends with said skills) could perform the fix by yourselves? It's simple as expected and it could help Marc lose less money.
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Maybe if we knew PRECISELY where the potential point of failure is then a number of us might be able to decide how comfortable we are in regard to DIY.

Photos might help?

.
 
moondog

moondog

It's an obsession but it's pleasin'
Fat Freddy said:
Maybe if we knew PRECISELY where the potential point of failure is then a number of us might be able to decide how comfortable we are in regard to DIY.

Photos might help?

.
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Seems to me that Marc would HAVE to say that anyone who undertakes the repair themselves voids any warranty and assumes all liability. He can't afford to be held responsible for any mishaps that occur after someone other than himself does the repair. :2c:
 
KeroZen

KeroZen

Chronic vapaholic
Good point. Then I guess anyone wanting to take the "risk" (and honestly it's anything but rocket science!) could send him a signed manuscript letter stating that they willingly chose to perform the fix and assume all liabilities that could arise in consequence.

But, and to use that silly acronym: IANAL!
 
aphidii

aphidii

Well-Known Member
KeroZen said:
Wow.. given the price of shipping, especially internationally and back and forth, this is a terrible burden for him. It will dissolve a significant part of his margin.

Granted, with how you yanks are notorious for being "trigger happy" with trials and class actions, he could lose much much more if something bad happened and the case was brought to court.

Maybe those of you with minimal DIY skills (or having friends with said skills) could perform the fix by yourselves? It's simple as expected and it could help Marc lose less money.
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From the latest emails, It's not really 100% clear what the fix is. It's definitely not just filing back the positive terminal so it's not so sharp.

Sounds to me like the whole positive terminal will be physically moved further away from the negative terminal; so wood work tweaking and then filling the gaps left with safe epoxy.

I think I'll leave it to the expert, and if he's been running his business this many years he will have set aside some revenue to cover this exact kind of issue. You don't run a business assuming nothing will ever go wrong.
 
Z

ZC

Well-Known Member
Yeah I'm not going to assume what the fix is until we start seeing units back and can see how the positive terminal has changed. And even then, as a user doing the mod yourself likely isn't worth the risk, and for Marc, letting you do it yourself is DEFINITELY not worth the risk or liability, so I wouldn't expect any kind of official DIY instruction, even with a waver.
 
sk8man121

sk8man121

Frozen_Vaporent
I really thought it was the little nub as others had speculated, but nope!

https://firewoodvapes.com/pages/firewood-4-recall

no-epoxy_medium.png
with-epoxy_medium.png


Can someone explain to me whether or not this confirms the device is protected vs. unprotected in the board itself? Circuitry is some fucked up shit.
 
KeroZen

KeroZen

Chronic vapaholic
So this is exactly as expected and a trivial fix. The guy must have had a worn out heatshrink cover on his cell and inserted it at a weird angle and it shorted, that's all.

Come on guys don't say that you are not able to use epoxy? You'll spare the man some hard earned money.

By the way we discussed this very issue in the Nomad thread, so have a read at this post (and the entire page if you want to know more) where I try to explain what can go wrong with these cells:

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/the-nomad-from-morwood.21143/page-36#post-1138086
 
sk8man121

sk8man121

Frozen_Vaporent
I think my question is more along the lines of, barring any weird little divet shorts, is the FW4 (and other "regulated" 18650 vapes) safe of shorting itself due to the circuitry, or could anything possibly go weird even if the wrap is in place?
 
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