Venting the Batteries

[daveb]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

Yeah, isn't that also why you're supposed to connect the negative side of jumper cables (of the battery being jumped) to a good ground rather than the battery itself, just in case there's any flammable gas around the battery which could ignite/explode?


Herb

Yea, that’s the rule but I’ve never seen it happen. I have seen the batteries go when while putting out vehicle fires.

Originally Posted by joey2cool

Other than the openings SMB put in them, the cases are completely sealed - no handles. The Dekka literature for AGM battery installation recommends adequate vehicle compartment ventilation. SMB put drain holes in too so that any water that comes in via the vent cover on the side of the van can escape - and, yes, in case a battery leaks.

Mine are poorly sealed and being they are outside I wouldn’t worry too much about off gassing even if I had wet cells. You need a strong tight fitting structure to get the big bang and like I said, it (Hydrogen) dissipates fairly fast.

Originally Posted by LenS

I have witnessed one and only one engine compartment explosion when a guy was attaching jumper cables. It was impressive and much more than just a "pop".

I vent my two house batteries to the outside.

The battery itself can be a self contained mini bomb. Usually the caps blow off kind of violently and it throws fluid all over the place. One more reason to like AGM’s but I would hate to cross phase any battery just to see the “pop”. I really don’t know if an AGM would react like a wet cell and I don’t want to test it.

Ever splash the walls of a room with jet fuel then light it on fire? Flames come out of the windows and doors for a few seconds, then slowly the fuel begins to burn. But screw up and light it off with the doors and windows closed and the building blows up Whoops!

[Silver350]

Originally Posted by daveb

Ever splash the walls of a room with jet fuel then light it on fire? Flames come out of the windows and doors for a few seconds, then slowly the fuel begins to burn. But screw up and light it off with the doors and windows closed and the building blows up Whoops!

Yea, wow, it's a while since I've done that, especially with all the windows and doors closed. Matter of fact I was just telling my wife the other day that I really need to do that more often. Good times, good times.

[daveb]

Well when working with the FD it was called blowing up a training facility….but it wasn’t my fault


Really though, I had some buddies in the "olden" days that would spray Lysol all over the room then light it up. Of course we kept the windows open…really cool blue flames inside the room and all we would say is…wow dude…cool. We cracked ourselves up.
[Edit]
This is what one of my batteries did when one cell went bad. I was leery driving to the dealership.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvLnoeQI ... re=related

I had left the inverter in the charge mode overnight. I should have been tipped off because the charger was throwing an unusually heavy charge for the past week. Because the other battery was good and the house system was assisting, the vehicle started. It also didn’t help when two dealerships had claimed the batteries tested good only a week earlier.
I doubt that the inside of the van would have been able to explode, but I wouldn’t have wanted to light up something to see. It sure smelled bad.