Update: A client insisted on using a hair dryer to fix a swollen laptop battery

I was working on a 3 year old Dell Inspiron in Tampa and the guy swore he'd seen a video where heating the case with a hair dryer on low for 5 minutes would let him pry the battery out safely. I told him it was a terrible idea, but he did it anyway and the adhesive actually softened enough to remove the pack without damaging the chassis. Has anyone actually had a controlled heat method work for them, or did this guy just get incredibly lucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sean1mo ago

So what temp did he use on the dryer?

seanjohnson1mo ago

The whole dryer temp debate misses the point for me. Honestly, @the_sean, the heat setting is less important than not overloading the drum. If you stuff it full, no amount of heat fixes the damp towel in the middle. I always use medium heat but give everything enough room to actually tumble. That's the real trick to getting things dry without baking them.

ericnguyen28d ago

and honestly I've had this work once on an old MacBook Air that was bulging. I used a space heater set low and held it about 2 feet away for maybe 3 minutes, just enough to warm the aluminum case without getting it hot to the touch. The adhesive came loose way easier than expected and I got the battery out clean. But I also had a Dell where I tried the same trick and the battery started hissing at me, so I think it really depends on how swollen and degraded the pack already is. Your guy in Tampa got lucky, probably because that Inspiron wasn't as far gone as it looked.