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dthomas95 · 16-08-2018, 11:47

Recently had an 8D battery blow up in the engine room overnight. Didn't realize it until next morning. Immediately hosed down the entire engine room, then "painted" all hoses with a water/baking soda solution using a paint brush. Now, I'm wondering if that was adequate. I've got a garden sprayer and thinking about spraying the entire area with a water/baking soda solution. Question for this august group: am I heading in the right direction? Is there some other action I should be taking?

**a64pilot** · 16-08-2018, 14:28

I’d flush everything with baking soda and water, then rinse really well with plain water, maybe a little soap in in, may as well wash things while your getting them wet.

travellerw · 16-08-2018, 16:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I’d flush everything with baking soda and water, then rinse really well with plain water, maybe a little soap in in, may as well wash things while your getting them wet.

Excellent advice... It won't hurt to spray around some extra basic solution as long as you rinse it off. Costs pretty much nothing.

drewm3i · 16-08-2018, 16:39

Sheesh, what a mess! Do you think the water level was too low, exposing the plates which then shorted and blew?

Jerry Woodward · 16-08-2018, 19:03

Also, be mindful of lead residue or particulates. You don't want to breathe it or allow it to spread to the rest of the boat.

smac999 · 16-08-2018, 19:09

a good reason why every battery should be in a box.

**a64pilot** · 16-08-2018, 19:52

I think, and I’m likely to get into trouble here, but the only way a flooded lead acid battery can actually “blow up” is something ignited the hydrogen gas. I don’t think there is any other mechanism that can actually cause one to blow up.
Swell up, bust, leak etc yes, but blow up? I think hydrogen had to be ignited.

Snowpetrel · 16-08-2018, 20:03

I have heard of a few blowing up recently. Especially the maintenance free type.

In one case it sounded like the cause was internal heating (or arcing) due to high resistance when starting the genset. It got it hot enough to ignite the hydrogen gas. Possibly due to a dodgy cell. It was an older battery.

Another was a nearly new battery that exploded for no apparent reason while the boat was steaming. Prehaps it was being overcharged but it sounded more like it was a one off bad battery.

From what I have read it sounds like maintenance free batteries left on trickle chargers are more likely to have issues. Keen to hear more about this though.

For what its worth I'd just be using lots and lots of water to dilute and wash away the acid.

er9 · 16-08-2018, 21:37

what brand of battery?

Rapanui · 17-08-2018, 02:18

You can explode a lead acid battery with an external dead short across pos and neg. Happened at an engine test cell, mechanic overrode the isolator to the floor mounted terminal plate, dropped a scanner and boom. Batteries were in control room with lots of very expensive Bruel and Kjaer noise analysis instrumentation. Did not like an acid washdown. His SnapOn spanner ceased to exist.

dthomas95 · 17-08-2018, 09:33

All good ideas, but here's what happened this time: I believe the explosion was due to a cracked terminal. As I was hooking up the replacement battery and tightening the terminal clamp, I noticed a crack in the terminal opening up as I tightened it. It finally completely separated. My guess is, this constituted a loose connection which caused extreme overheating due to resistance build up and eventually the battery exploded. This thread was thoroughly discussed on the "Trawler Living and Cruising" facebook page. See that for a more thorough analysis and discussion. https://www.facebook.com/groups/traw...81489242023401 .