You can choose to directly plug in the power adapter to use.

Hi @Gigaplex  many devices use lithium-ion batteries. How many other lithium-ion devices are there on your person, in your house, at work, etc.? Swollen lithium-ion batteries should not be used and should be replaced and disposed of properly. 

@crimsom I've got lots of lithium batteries and I know I shouldn't use them when they're swollen. Thats why I started this thread.

I've pulled the battery out of the laptop. I need a replacement battery but I can't get it under warranty and Dell won't even sell me one. I'm not keen on buying another one from a 3rd party who won't honour their warranty.

@xiaomei that's not an option. If a permanently tethered computer was viable for our use case we'd have purchased a desktop.

Dell will only sell the battery with installation, as it's considered not user-replaceable.

Search locally and you'll likely find a vendor selling OEM batteries.  If not, and you're in the US or Canada, try parts-people.com.

@ejn63 that's what I did the first time it puffed. The second battery puffed too.