Just a reminder...

[ItsRandy]

A close friend of mine was driving his '69 Chevy long bed pick-up truck down the road about 50 miles an hour when he says "It sounded like I hit a landmine". BOOM! His truck shook and shut off for a second or two then began running again so he drove it home (about four miles). As he was driving he began smelling an acid smell. When he got home and opened the hood this is what he found.
The moral to this story is: Batteries really can blow up...big time. I have been working on cars for 40+ years and have never seen a battery blow up, I have been told it can happen but have never seen one that has. Hydrogen gas is explosive and only takes a small spark/internal short in the battery to set it off, so be careful.

[cedorris]

Wow! What kind of damage did it do?

[midniteblues]

I have seen the aftermath of a wallyworld neverstart battery that went k-boom in a friends 70 chevelle... what a mess

[GMCJOE]

I have witness one explode first hand. A guy I know went to unhook a battery charger off one.... BOOM... Right in his face! Lucky dude, went to the hospital and had to wear some patches over his eyes for a few days.

[haminator]

Iv'e had 2 pop. One was in a box in the back of a 57 Chevy. Just never checked the water level, then one day boom. Didn't leave hardly any acid. The other in my 72 442, same thing, out of water. Hit the key and pop. Both were in Phx. AZ in the summer. Both seemed to be empty. I'm guessin the heat took its toll combined with poor maintenence on my part.

[ItsRandy]

Originally Posted by cedorris

Wow! What kind of damage did it do?

Nothing very bad. Acid all over the engine compartment and under the truck. Blew the side marker light out of the fender on the passenger side of the truck. He washed it down for about 2.5 hours right after it happened, we will see how bad it rusts after the acid bath.

[birdistheword]

Here's the aftermath of one of the two Caterpillar batteries that exploded in a big 621B scraper. They weigh about 70 lbs each. We sat them of away from us and they smoked for hours.

[big_al_71]

this happened to my wife about ten years ago while driving she said similar story that it sounded like a bomb went off she pulled over got out of the vehicle and got our daughter out. she called me but at that time i worked an hour away so my brother in law went over to meet them till I could get there and in fact the battery had exploded and sprayed acid all over the engine compartment.

[68gmsee]

Thanks for the reminder. Maybe it will save someones eyes. My ex-brother in law had one blow in his face while removing it and had to be hospitalized. He was lucky it didn't damage his eyesight.

I have worked on vehicles for 50 years and have done all sorts of maintenance on batteries from replacing, charging, adding water and even replaced acid in some and never had one explode but there's always the chance.

[treveiger]

How do they explode like that? Is it a poor maintenance thing or what...
Posted via Mobile Device

[ItsRandy]

Originally Posted by treveiger

How do they explode like that? Is it a poor maintenance thing or what...
Posted via Mobile Device

I'm not really sure the cause of my buddy's explosion, however I do know this: when a battery charges or dis-charges hydrogen gas is emitted form the battery, hydrogen is explosive (it's what powers the space shuttle, along with a little oxygen) and all it needs is a little spark and, BOOM! The spark can come from a direct short in the battery, it can come from connecting jumper cables incorrectly. Always connect the positive cable to the battery first then, connect the negative cable somewhere on the motor, away from the battery. If you have a battery you can add water to, be sure the water level is topped off, reducing the empty volume in the battery case for the hydrogen to build up in. Oh yeah...no open flames or welding around a battery.

[Ron 586]

I've had 2 blow up in my 65 years. The first was in 1981, I had removed the battery from my tractor and was charging it. I was about 15' away and heard the charger change the pitch of the hum it was making while charging. I went over to it and just as I started to reach to unhook it it blew up. I had glasses on so my eyes were protected. I ran over to the house and yelled for Naomi to come out and spray me down with a water hose After a few minutes of being sprayed I shed my clothes and got in the shower.I was red for a while but nothing that left a scar.

The second one was my son Lew's (Lewser on the board) battery in his MGB convertiable. The battery was located under the passenger side rear seat and he had my 36" snap on pry bar trying to get the hold down out of the way.He shorted the battery and it blew the top of the battery thru the back plastic window. He was home on leave from Great

[ChevLoRay]

The comment about the hydrogen gas is on the right path. When a lead-acid battery is in a discharged state, it will give off hydrogen-sulfide gas, which will remind you of a rotten egg. It is that gas which is dangerous.

In my former life, I supervised folks who drove 48-volt electric fork lift trucks. When the battery was closer to being discharged, it would heat up. At the same time, charging them will heat them up. But, we didn't have to connect jumper cables to the pos/neg posts on those batteries.

I believe that the correct way to connect jumper cables is to connect the positive and negative ends to the discharged battery, first. Then, connect the positive cable to the hot battery, and finally the negative cable to the hot battery. Some all-knowing electical gurus have told us how to do that, but we don't always follow that rule, do we?

I can tell you that a 48-volt battery that explodes will create a lot more damage than a 12volt battery....in case you wondered.....oh, they (48V)can kill a person if they are close enough.

[Daner]

Originally Posted by ChevLoRay

I believe that the correct way to connect jumper cables is to connect the positive and negative ends to the discharged battery, first. Then, connect the positive cable to the hot battery, and finally the negative cable to the hot battery. Some all-knowing electical gurus have told us how to do that, but we don't always follow that rule, do we?

Yes positive first then negative on discharged battery. I don't usually worry about it though because it's always windy in ND. Gas doesn't stick around long. But yeah it would be a good thing to make a habit of.

[cedorris]

Here's a pretty good article about exploding batteries, why it happens, and how commonly it occurs.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...a-dead-battery

[dwarf717]

I used to know a guy that had a battery explode in front of him. He worked at a GM dealership, was wearing safety glasses when it happened, but some got by. He/they washed his eyes out, and he felt OK. I was at the hospital when he came in a few days later in alot of discomfort, and sight in one of his eyes was bad. He was told it was too late for his one eye, and the other treated and bandaged up. The next time I saw him, he was totally blind. I need to keep reminding myself of him, so I work with batteries safely

[RustyBucket]

About 35yrs. ago when I was younger & dumber I was charging one of my boat's batteries and smoking at the same time. I had the fill caps off and looked down into the battery to check the water level with the cigarette hanging out of my mouth. Blew the top off of the battery and battery acid all over me. Apparently I shut my eyes just at the right time and got to the garden hose quickly. I still do dumb things .... did manage to quit smoking though.

[weever82]

Wow... these stories are scaring the crap outta me. Note to self: start putting on glasses when messing with battery.

I also have a super start extreme (like the 1st one up top) in my truck... makes it even more scarier... damn.

Weev-

[pritch]

I've seen two blow up, one up close and personal. When we first hooked up, my wife had this POS '75 cougar and the battery was weak. I went to visit my friends, but they were not home, and sure enough, that cougar woundn't start. So I pushed down thier driveway and out into the middle of the street, figuring that the next guy by would either have to give me a jump or turn around and go back the way he came. My plan worked perfectly. Some old guy pulled up and rolled down his window and I said I needed a jump. My hood was up and the cables were hooked up to my battery. Now, at the time I had owned a slew of lousy cars, and I had plenty of experiance at jumping them. He popped his hood, and I had a cable in each hand. I guess it's not recommended practice to connect each of them at the same time, because that's what I did and his battery went off like a stick of dynamite! It dang near blew my left thumb off, and being winter I had on one of those nylon and down parkas and it was shredded and feathers went everywhere. I looked down and all I could see was the bottom half of his battery and the cables were still attached to the posts. I still had ahold of my jumper cables, so I went ahead and hooked them to what was left and ran around and fired up the cougar. By that time, the old guy had gotten out of his car and was wondering what had happened. I had a 20 in my pocket so I gave it to him and took off. I only had a short ways to go, but by the time I got home, the rest of my parka had disolved and I looked like I had been tarred and feathered. My thumb was a bloody mess, I had cuts and bruises all over my face and neck and by then my eyes were burning pretty good. It was a good lesson.

[Vintage Windmills]

Isn't it mainly a problem on calm days or in buildings where there isn't enough air circulation to clear out the hydrogen?

[Ol69C10]

Had no idea this could ever happen. I'll definitely be alot more careful when dealing with batteries in the future.