Battery "Exploded"

[bluesky]

Hi folks

My chassis batteries have been low all summer so most of the time I started the coach by merging and using the house batteries. I plan on replacing all my batteries next spring.

I took my coach in to town today to wash and fill the gas tanks up for winter storage. On the way home, I noticed a sulfur smell from the back and assumed it was my black tank, as I still needed to add some solution.

When I parked the bus, I noticed smoke coming from the battery compartment and a very strong acidic smell. I noticed one of the battery caps was off and there was smoke coming from the open cell. A few minutes later there was loud bang and all the caps had blown off and the battery was severely cracked with acid pouring out.

Yikes, it's a mess. I disconnected the battery cables and I now am wondering what caused this to happen and to do next. My insurance runs out tomorrow so the coach is all winterized and ready for storage.

Should I leave the coach plugged into shoreline powder or totally disconnect until spring and then address the problem? Any suggestions? Thanks.

[NewellCrazy]

Hi Glenn and Deb,

Sorry to hear about your batteries, Hopefully you were able to get everything all cleaned up.

Any lead-acid battery system when overcharged will produce hydrogen gas. If the rate of overcharge is small, the vents of each cell allow the dissipation of the gas. However, on severe overcharge or if ventilation is inadequate or the battery is faulty, a flammable concentration of hydrogen may remain in the cell or in the battery enclosure. Any spark can cause a hydrogen and oxygen explosion, which will damage the battery and its surroundings and which will disperse acid into the surroundings. Anyone close to the battery may be injured.

Sometimes the ends of a battery will be severely swollen, and when accompanied by the case being too hot to touch, this usually indicates a malfunction in the charging system of the car. Reversing the positive and negative leads will damage the battery and may lead to gassing and explosion. When severely overcharged, a lead-acid battery gases at a high level and the venting system built into the battery cannot handle the high level of gas, so the pressure builds inside the battery, resulting in the swollen ends. An unregulated alternator can put out a high level of charge, and can quickly ruin a battery. A swollen, hot battery is very dangerous, and should not be handled until it has been given sufficient time to cool and any hydrogen gas present to dissipate.

[Neweller]

Glenn

It sounds like the problem is what Sean outlined above. I had the same thing happen when my batteries were low on distilled water from boiling over from overcharging during freezing temperatures and when the one battery blew it sounded like a shotgun going off and blew the door open bending it. The whole top of the battery was blown apart and yes acid everywhere. Yikes!

Another thing would be to check out the converter and make sure it is not defective possibly seriously overcharging your batteries. You can hook up a good volt meter or I prefer a good DVM to check what the voltage is during battery charging.

If you end up with a bad converter I would suggest going with a smart charger.

[The Newell]

The two most common causes for RV battery failure are undercharging and overcharging. Undercharging is a result of batteries being repeatedly discharged and not fully recharged between cycles. If a battery is not recharged the sulfate material that attaches to the discharged portions of the plates begins to harden into crystals. Over time this sulfate cannot be converted back into active plate material and the battery is ruined. This also occurs when a battery remains discharged for an extended period of time, like during storage. Sulfation is the number one cause of battery failure. The second leading cause of battery failure is overcharging. Overcharging batteries results in severe water loss and plate corrosion.

When you put the RV in long term storage it’s a good idea to remove the batteries and put them in storage too. This is quite simple to do. The first thing we want to do is visually inspect the batteries for any obvious damage. Any fluid on or around the battery may be an indication that electrolyte is leaking from the battery. A damaged or leaking battery should be replaced immediately. Whenever you remove any battery always remember to remove the negative terminal or cable first, and then the positive cable.

Batteries should only be charged in a well ventilated area and keep any sparks and open flames away from a battery being charged. Always be sure to check electrolyte levels before and after charging your batteries. Discharged or partially discharged batteries will freeze much quicker than fully charged batteries. Make sure you store the batteries in a cool dry place but not where they could freeze. Batteries in storage will loose a percentage of current through internal leakage. It’s not uncommon for a battery to discharge up to 10% a month while being stored. Cold temperatures slow this natural discharge process down and warmer temperatures speed the process up. Test the stored battery state of charge every month and charge batteries that are at or below an 80% state of charge.

Hope this helps,

Joesph

[prairieschooner]

I had a Starting Battery Exploded a couple of years ago and what a mess it makes. Here is what you need to do in my opinion;
Remove whatever is left of the old Battery.
Get some Baking Soda to Neutralize the Battery Acid, I rinsed the area down then applied the baking soda and allowed it to sit for a while until it stopped foaming, then I rinsed the area down again. Once the area is clean you can Paint it again.
The problem had to be a spark as was stated above. It was most likely from a Bad Connection and or Old Batteries. Check to see if the other Battery shows a funky look around the Battery Cables. Anyway you should replace BOTH Engine Batteries. Now you will need to clean the Battery Cables, there is a round inside/outside wire brush made for this purpose. I use a grease or one of those packets made by Loctite that you get at the counter at O'Reilly's that inhibits that from occurring.
The good news is that after I did this I have seen no negative indications.

[bluesky]

Thanks everyone, some great info on cause and how to clean up the mess. I don't believe there was any spark to ignite the gas, so I think it was pressure building up in the battery which led to the explosion. Now, the big question is why did this happen. Probably from overcharging a dry/faulty battery.

Do you think the overcharging could be from having the coach on merge while hooked up to shoreline power and also running the coach with the merge on?

[Neweller]

Glenn, it sounds just like what had happened to mine, running low, merged and overcharging. Except mine was in cold temps with snow on the ground.

Something else that works good for cleaning is that CLR brand (calcium, lime, and rust remover) or an equivalent.

[bluesky]

thanks Ken, could give me a quick run down of how you cleaned up the mess with CLR? ie. Full strength?

[Neweller]

Glenn, I have used it full strength plenty of times without harming anything. You have to use care anytime messing with things like acids to protect yourself and

I'm sure you are already aware of that. My brother was a electronics engineer and he had turned me onto the use of CLR for automotive electric quite a few years

back. I have used it even on flooded vehicles to clean up any saveable electrical components by letting it set overnight and then rinsing it off and letting dry. I'm not

saying you can use CLR on everything electrical but a lot of things. It cleans terminals and connectors like new. When my battery blew and damaged the

compartment, I then pulled the battery mess out of there, neutralized it with CLR for about 15-20 minutes, then carefully rinsed it off. For additional battery corrosion,

I would repeat the process letting it sit longer if I thought needed, then rinse and dry everything off. On mine I had black paint that was removed from the acid spill

that I repainted soon after to prevent any future rust.


Word of Caution: Be careful around aluminum using any of these harsh products, as they can cause damage.


For anyone reading this post and ever tempting to do this, please use gloves, eye protection and don't get acid on your clothes. We are talking about caustic

solutions here that must always be handled with care.


CLR - can also work on many things mixed in a 50/50 solution with warm water. And followed by a rinse with water.

[folivier]

An acid has a low PH, below 7. CLR is the opposite, a basic (caustic) solution with a PH higher than 7. What you did with CLR is to cause a chemical reaction that balanced the acid and basicity of CLR to be neutral. Baking soda will do the same thing but will be much safer. Don't know if this can happen with battery acid and CLR but mixing a strong acid with a strong base creates heat. Definately use eye protection and gloves.

[Neweller]

Forest I do agree with you on using baking soda just as Steve mentioned prior. It does work very good as well, I just found that CLR worked better many times over for me on some things I had cleaned with it. For example when I use baking soda and warm water, it would rinse the corrosion off but I needed to use a brush and a couple of applications to get the desired results. When I used CLR, a lot of times I didn't need to brush anything and with a simple rinse I was done. I have found that CLR or a like product eats away the deeper corrosion.

Something I would not do is to try and rinse a blown open battery while still in the vehicle. I would remove all batteries in that compartment first. Now if a guy wanted to save money, use the baking soda and warm water to do the initial rinse of the acid, then apply the CLR. I have let CLR set for 24 hours many times and then rinse the item for it to come out beautiful.

Here is an at home example; actually on a range in one of my rental houses. The oven quit working do to some bugs getting into the timer doing their hatching messes or something which caused corrosion (gross I know). I took the timer out and tried to just rinse it off and nothing would break loose, I then put the timer submerged in a plastic tray of CLR covered with a lid letting it sit overnight. Came back the next day, took it out, rinsed it off and it looked like brand new. I blew it off with air and let it sit until the next day at which time I reinstalled it and it worked perfect saving me $80.00.

[bluesky]

So, the mess is cleaned up, just waiting for compartment to fully dry. What specific paint would you suggest I use for the inside compartment? Because my coach is an '83, there is some rust in the compartment.

One other question please, given I have removed one of the starter batteries, should I avoid using my charger/inverter and merge option? I don't want to overcharge the second starter battery. Thanks.

[Neweller]

Glenn on curing the rust and protecting the surface further, I recommend the POR15 paint and protectors. If you can't buy it locally you can order online via the factory website, Amazon or ebay. The guys on ebay package the quantities and types a little different so be careful. I had to send mine back to them as I thought I was getting all the same black coating. They will split a case of six cans 50/50 of two types to keep the cost lower.

http://www.por15.com/SIX-PACK-MIXED/productinfo/SPM/

Por15 is not a rust converter but a rust sealer. Por15 prevents oxidation and the product gets harder with moisture and keeps rust from expanding.

(http://www.por15.com/SIX-PACK-MIXED/productinfo/SPM/)

[prairieschooner]

Just finished a seminar on batteries. Very interesting in that a partially discharged battery can freeze!! If a frozen battery is then charged it will " rapidly disassemble"....explode.
The engineer ( Interstate Batteries) stated that if the batteries were charged this should not happen,freezing. I also heard that AGM batteries did not have this issue! May be worth the investment.

[Neweller]

Steve, man thanks so much for that update. Wish I would have attended that seminar a few years ago. As I mentioned above that is exactly what happened to mine. It is crazy how many of us, me included have neglected the area of the batteries. I believe it would be more of a problem for the guy staying in one place for a long time. We just take our batteries and charging systems for granted.

And the AGM thing comes to surface again. Got Glass?

[Neweller]

Glenn, another anti-rust paint or actually it's a rust converter called Zero-Rust a product I used prior to going with Por15. The Zero-Rust was by far the best product ready to spray I have ever come across. It actually came in multiple colors to boot.

Oh hey hippie dude, take pictures of the clean up process, if you wouldn't mind for all of us neweller's to see. I know you probably have your hands full this time of year brewing up espresso for all those Canucks. But thought I would throw that one out there at you while I was thinking about it.

Cheers!

[bluesky]

Hippie man here owns a tea house, so I'm mixing up some beautiful cups of tea for all of us Canucks. hee hee

I was going to leave the next step of painting etc. until Spring as it's getting pretty cold here now, or do you think the rust could advance over the winter?.

The compartment has been cleaned up to the point where all the acid has been washed out and neutralized. I scraped any loose stuff off and then wire brushed it.

[Neweller]

I changed you over to dude instead of man. You're in the later group like me. :thumbup:Some reason I was thinking you said you had a coffee and tea house. So, it's tea only house then. I keep a huge selection of wild crafted tea at my house. When in Buenos Aires, do like the Argentinians do and drink Yerba Mate. I like the iced boba tea's too.
I had a grandmother who was French Canadian.

Yeah, you're probably cool with waiting till spring. I was in the same boat when it happened to mine. Snow on the ground and winter had just began.

Just in case you have trouble locating rust converters like Zero-Rust, Por15, then there is also a product by Mar-Hyde called One-Step (black only) and more expensive than Zero-Rust and not any better. If you have a local auto body and paint supply you should be able to fine the better product. I don't care for anything found at Home Depot or Lowes.

[77newell]

I have had a battery explode. It did so while being charged by the alternator that was functioning correctly, but the battery had been losing charge for awhile. I'm guessing here but I think an internal plate was disintegrating and eventually a big piece caused a big internal short that boiled the water fast enough to blow the casing. In your case if you have a 200 amp alternator the whole output was probably going into the shorted battery and heating the heck out of it which reached a point of a self-reinforcing runaway. My point is that when we notice our batteries are losing charge internally fairly quickly, rather than failing to fully take a charge (the sulphation thing), there is potential danger of explosion lurking. It is time to replace batteries.

jon
77 coach