HoA is thinking about banning Ebikes and scooters in bike room
Posted by jarman65@reddit | ebikes | View on Reddit | 29 comments
I live in a 9 story high rise building with a bike room on the ground floor which doesn’t have fire suppression sprinklers. The HoA is thinking about banning Ebikes and scooters stored in the room due to the fire risk. Has anyone else’s HoA attempted something similar?
I was thinking about proposing that all Ebikes and scooters could still be stored in the bike room but they need to be registered with the HoA, need to be UL certified for safety, and you cannot charge in the bike room. Is that reasonable and still safe? Putting in sprinklers would be extremely expensive and no residents will want to pay for that and tbh I don’t want to pay for it either.
John-AtWork@reddit
How about you pose that ebikes could be allowed if the battery is removed? Then just take the battery with you.
jarman65@reddit (OP)
I actually have an NIU scooter so that doesn’t really help me lol. I would probably sell it if I couldn’t keep it in the bike room. Maybe would get an Ebike if I had to remove the battery.
Vicarious_Chair_8359@reddit
It's a scooter. Unless you live in a closet just take it with you
jarman65@reddit (OP)
I live in a smallish 2 bedroom condo and my wife has already told me she doesn't want me storing it there.
Low-know@reddit
Because of fire hazard?
jarman65@reddit (OP)
The only place for it would be against the wall in our dining/living room which takes up a lot of space and she hates how it looks. Also the wheels get dirty from being outside so it tracks in dirt but I guess I could put it on a mat or something if she was fine with it being inside.
green_sky74@reddit
Difficult to enforce. It's simpler to just ban them completely.
John-AtWork@reddit
On a lot of bikes it's pretty easy to see the battery pack. If my HOA has such a ruleI would just take the battery off and put the bike in there.
RainbowUnicorn0228@reddit
This is an insurance thing. My apartment complex and others in my vicinity, here in the U.S. east coast, have done similar. They won’t allow e-bikes or e-scooters to be stored inside. Of course, everyone does anyway because there is no outside ability to charge. Plus in the case of removing the battery, you can just leave the bike outside but still take the battery inside and be technically complainant with the rule. It’s completely B.S. but I understand that the lithium batteries are a fire risk (even with UL certs) because people don’t do the bare minimum to actually care for their batteries properly and some people actually tamper with the built in speed restrictions and things which can cause overheating and other issues. As far as I have seen, nobody is actually enforcing the rule and even if they were, a scooter could be place in a bag or covered in such a way that it’s not visible without opening it. They likely wouldn’t open a bag or lift a bike cover to inspect for privacy reasons as well as plausible deniability. Basically, if there is a fire, they are covered because they told you not to store them inside and can claim they had no knowledge of that rule being violated.
jarman65@reddit (OP)
So what do you do personally? Do you store your bike in the bike room anyways and remove the battery to charge in your apartment? I have a small balcony with an outlet so I wonder if it's safer and makes more sense to charge it out there. This is an all steel/concrete/masonry building if that's relevant.
Spsurgeon@reddit
It's the batteries that people think are dangerous, and they're removable. Have the HOA build a separate storage area for batteries.
jarman65@reddit (OP)
I would be worried about people stealing the batteries unless the storage area had individual lockers for each battery. Have you seen anything like that?
jdege@reddit
I store my batteries (I have two) in fireproof LIPO safe storage bags.
I charge them in the bags, while sitting on the cast iron griddle plate I keep on the stove, and only while I'm within smelling distance.
Despite the name, I do not trust that these bags will contain a lithium fire for long, but I'm hoping that they'll contain one long enough for me to grab the bag by its handles and toss it out the door.
jarman65@reddit (OP)
Do you live in a multi-unit building or a single family home?
jdege@reddit
I live in a single family home, and my stove is five feet from my back door.
So for me, the "dump the battery somewhere safe" process is simple.
In a high-rise the process might be more difficult to arrange.
But - whatever your circumstances, if you're charging lithium you should determine, in advance, what you will do in the event of thermal runaway.
And a fireproof bag with handles long enough to grab without grabbing the battery is a good idea.
Even if your response is to dump it in the bathtub, then to trigger the building fire alarm.
Falcon_Flyin_High@reddit
Don't forget to install fire alarms...
420Aquarist@reddit
sprinklers wont really stop a lithium ion battery fire easily
jarman65@reddit (OP)
The point of sprinklers isn't to put out fires it's to keep them from spreading. It's literally called a fire suppression system. The goal is to contain the fire until fire fighters can respond to actually put out the fire.
touko3246@reddit
It doesn’t need to stop it. It just needs to contain the fire to (a) minimize the property damage, and (b) avoid structural damage to the building.
South Korea recently had EV fires in parking garages, where in one case had sprinklers disabled and they were working in the other. The former had a massive fire involving hundreds of vehicles and made the building uninhabitable during decontamination and structural evaluation. The latter had two neighboring cars sustain moderate fire damage but nothing much more than that.
BodSmith54321@reddit
But it could stop it spreading
Robocup1@reddit
From the HOA insurance standpoint, they will not insure the building with the E-bikes inside the building. No HoA wants the building uninsured.
jarman65@reddit (OP)
Even if they're inside individual units that have sprinklers?
Robocup1@reddit
The HOA insurance covers common areas and structures. Your property insurance policy probably covers the inside of your home. I would imagine this is similar to having an electric vehicle. Homeowners policy allows EVs inside of homeowners garages. So, I imagine that EBikes are allowed inside the house by that same logic, unless specifically excluded in your policy.
J_IV24@reddit
That's probably even worse
Hot_Block_9675@reddit
No charging in the bike room and perhaps several portable fire suppression devices would work. Certainly not inexpensive but compared to a retro installation of a traditional sprinkler system it's chump change. Pretty sure H2O sprinklers wouldn't work on a lithium fire anyway.
Then the question is were DO you charge? In your unit? THAT will never fly. I think you're screwed, glued and tattooed. Sorry.
https://havenfiresafety.com/products/haven-5lb-automatic-fire-suppression-safety-device-135f-57c-rated?variant=39950662107298&country=US¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&srsltid=AfmBOoo-omHw_uaqt8x_5aycBmkUBmpURzgKMfgEIVlBOyQKEqGLCj8vxHI&com_cvv=8fb3d522dc163aeadb66e08cd7450cbbdddc64c6cf2e8891f6d48747c6d56d2c
elvespedition@reddit
I’d just start with the proposal to allow UL listed ones. Do some research so you have info to provide them about the UL requirements / testing to give context. Don’t offer the idea of registration / no charging unless it helps as a bargaining chip.
Significant-Pen-6049@reddit
Please bring up motorized scooters with lithium batteries. Thete have been some cases where they caught fire
Zenigata@reddit
Maybe you could suggest compulsory bat safe boxes to safely store the batteries, to be purchased by anyone who wants to store an ebike.
RMG-OG-CB@reddit
Easy solution - ebikes can be stored in the bike, room but batteries must be removed.