battery explosions?

[67chevemall]

I always hear you shouldn't spark the jumper cables cause the battery will explode!
Has this ever happened to anyone???

I've never seen a batter explode
But I have seen ALOT of people spark stuff around the battery!

If it has happened to you how big of an explosion is it??

[ratrod67]

I had a battery explode in my old 87 Nissan truck.
It really didn't explode with too much force. The whole side blew out and covered everything with battery acid. I cleaned it up the best I could but the engine bay was fubared after that. The acid took the paint off everything underhood and it got rust covered real quick. That stuff is nasty.



















the acid took all the poaint

[minitruck_freq]

when i was in college...1 of my instructors claimed that a battery in a car exploded in the shop, and blew the hood clear up to the ceiling. i kinda find that hard to beleive. but i have heard several stories like Ratrod's about batteries splitting apart and blowing acid everywhere...even on people standing near the vehicle. i sure wouldnt like gettin that nasty crap all over me.

[Diesel20]

I use to fix tractors and a guy was load testing a battery and it exploded battery acid all over made a boom but didnt explode with much force and i dont think they will

[Sweet72]

We were trickle charging a bus battery in the shop overnight and the darn thing blew up. What a mess that was. Lead-acid batteries produce hydrogen gas and vent it when they get warm (the Hindenberg), so always be cautious when connecting jumper cables or batt. charger.
-Sam

[Chevy67Tk]

Had one detonate in my 81 when I forgot to turn off the battery charger before un-hooking it, not much force but very loud and sprayed acid every were. Hosed every thing down with baking soda and lots of water, but there were still small marks and rust holes from it. Also my jeans and T-shirt looked like some one took a shotgun to them when they got washed 2 days later. Was glad I had my glasses on and not the contacts in.

[70c10]

I remember as a kid, a battery exploded in my dads face one night while he was doing something under the hood of his truck. He said it burned like hell in his eyes and was very scary.

[super72bb]

Yup a friend of mine lost an eye from a battery that exploded

[Alex Hayley]

Had one explode when I was a kid. There was not a piece of the battery larger than a dime.

[67chevemall]

WOW !!I guess it does happen!
I'll be more careful now
I am always nervous about leaving the charger on over night!

[lukecp]

I've always had the insanely stupid idea of putting a welding electrode in the positive end of a pair of jumper cables, and using the negative cable as the ground clamp on a piece to be welded.....might work, but i can only imagine what it would do to the battery, lol.

[Alex Hayley]

From what I know, leaving the charger on is fine. The problem is having the battery in a confined area. When a battery is charged it produces hydrogen gas. If the gas cannot escape, it will explode if a spark occurs. This is why the proper way to boost a car is to connect the ground cable to a location not near the battery on the discharged car. At least this is what I have been told and what I have noticed....

[1972C10]

Originally posted by yellow72custom
I've always had the insanely stupid idea of putting a welding electrode in the positive end of a pair of jumper cables, and using the negative cable as the ground clamp on a piece to be welded.....might work, but i can only imagine what it would do to the battery, lol.

if you get a small enuff welding rod like a 1/16 3/32 something like that and a large amp battery you can dirt dob but not really worth messing with

[rodnok1]

A discharged battery is very dangerous, never hook up the ground close to the battery, had on explode on my uncle when we jumping his car battery about blew a hole in the hood, the bottom blew out, broke the cheap hold down. That's what saved him gave him time to run

[Woody]

Blew one up years ago working at Sear's. Man came in and his Alt. was over charging (Voltage Reg Stuck...told you it was years ago)...Battery was putting off fumes from being over charged. Hooked up a battery/Charging system tester. and one cable wasn't quite tight. Made a spark then KA-BOOM. It had a small explosion on top then blew up from the inside. The car hood was open and I got myeyes closed before it really blew up. Pieces of the battery top hit the garage ceiling (15-18 ft up).

One should always be careful and hook up one Neg. end of the jumpers to a metal bracket on the engine and make it the last connection.

Another good tip is to remove the Neg battery cable FIRST so that if you bump something it won't short. Then if you need remove the POS cable it won't short to Grd even if you do hit something.

[oldsub86]

Almost hate to admit this one but way back when I was a much younger fellow, I shot an old battery with a 12 guage slug from about 75 - 100 feet away. The battery blew into real small pieces and some of them landed behind me. You do want to be careful with them.

I don't think that trying to weld by connecting to the battery posts would be all that dangerous if you are doing it in an area with good ventilation and have cables long enough to ensure that the spark is not going to ignite the fumes from the battery.

You might also note that it is often suggested that the battery caps be removed and a clean cloth laid over the battery when using the charger. I guess the idea is to prevent the buildup of gases in the battery. The cloth is to prevent debris from falling into the battery and perhaps to collect any small splashes in the event the battery gets bubbling pretty good.

[toms68cst]

A friend of mine had his battery in his 71 C/10 blow up on him one time. It had been sitting in a small gararge all winter and he went to jump it. I guess the Hydrogen? collected under the hood and in the garage over the winter. He was not hurt other than a cut or two on his face.

[smitty62]

Just in case someone didn't get the message an exploding battery is EXTREMELY dangerous--not so much from the explosion, per se, but the sulphuric acid spraying around If you think it can't be that serious, try walking around awhile in your OWN HOUSE blindfolded!!! Never mind walking blind in a strange area and the pain involved. You won't be driving these great trucks anymore either!! (Although I think blind drivers are legal in NC!!)











"Let's be careful out there!"

[bstack]

Had one explode on an early 60s Rambler wagon i had. The oil filter was toward the top side of the motor and when i put the oil filter wrench to it, i made contact with the battery post and it blew up. My hand was very near the battery and i had gloves on. I took my glove off to make sure my hand was alright cause it stung pretty bad. Also my face was tingling, probably from the acid in the air. Good thing the acid went the other way. Still leary of even connecting battery cables.

[Low69CST]

One blew up on my dad's John Deer garden tractor for pretty much no reason. Sounded like a gun shot and blew acid everywehre.

[70cst10_05]

my brother had one blow up in the ole 67 bout 5 years ago, he either had a cut in his hand or got a cut from it got acid in it, and got some in his eye, went to the e.r. got it all fixed up, now there are darker blue spots all down the side of the truck, haha, not funny bout the blowin up but about the blue spots.

[69 air cab]

In 1973 I was working construction and arrived late at the place where we all parked our cars for the week. My battery was dead. We did not have jumper cables, but we did have some 1/2 metal strand. This meant there were no clamps so I had to hold the cables to the battery to jump it off. After a few turns of the engine there was a spark and it blew up in my face......kind of like a water baloon hitting your face. I still had my safety glasses and hard hat on but it hit my face and chest. I ran into the rest room and washed down and quick as I could but it started burning as soon as it happened. THe other guys helped me get my shirt off and we just keep throwing the water to me. I only had minor burns and first aid cream fixed me up within a week.
ALWAYS CLAMP IT DOWN AND BACK AWAY.

[stelth2002]

I have a good one. My grandpa( a drunken one) hooked up a 12 volt big tractor to a cat to get it started. The cables were hooked up for less then a minute or so. He went to crank it over and it blew his hat off and into the air a good 20'. It got on me and toasted my sweatshirt. The cat was 6 volt... never a good idea.

[Gordo]

Many moons ago (35+years) I took a just charged 12V battery and installed into a piece of construction equipment. The very second I put the cables on, it blew up, must have made a spark. Good thing I wear glasses because it sprayed my face with acid and pieces of plastic. The two things I remember about it was that one piece of the battery cut my face and the acid burned quite a bit, then the second thing was I ended up with what looked liked and felt like a sun burnt face the next several days. That taught me a lesson to last a life time.

[ckenwright]

I use gell cells to beat this problem. When ever someone asks me for a jump I hook up their battery first, then mine. That way there is less chance of covering myself with acid.