ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

A 25-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries after a robot vacuum cleaner blew up at his home last month.

Lachie Perrem from Perth, Australia, was in his kitchen when the device exploded and set fire to his house.

Investigators from the state department of fire and emergency services believe that a fault in a robotic vacuum cleaner sparked the fire. The make and model of the machine have not been disclosed and it is unclear as to whether the incident was caused through a fault in the vacuum's electrics or with its lithium ion battery.

In rare cases, lithium ion batteries can explode when internal damage causes the battery temperature to rise rapidly. This process - known as thermal runway - may be triggered by crushing, dropping, puncturing or overcharging the battery.

Perrem reportedly suffered burns across 75 per cent of his body after the machine exploded. He was taken to Fiona Stanley hospital where he underwent multiple surgeries and is expected to remain hospitalised for at least two months.

Western Australia state emergency service officials claim to have attended four fires involving standard vacuum cleaners over the past two years, though the Perth incident was the first to be triggered by a robotic device.

In 2024 the lithium-ion battery in a robotic vacuum cleaner exploded in the living room of a Miami house causing extensive structural and smoke damage. And in 2023, a robot vacuum cleaner caused a major house fire in a bungalow in Holland-on-Sea in the UK.