Battery went up in flames!!

[Pookster]

Stuck an old battery on the charger. This battery has been giving me problems for a while, but what the hell right? So I toss it on the charger, and just to make sure its charging, I attach a 12V florecent light.

The automatic charger says the battery is "full"- Normally, its never been a problem, the charger has an automatic float.

1 hour later, i smell something funny. i run downstairs, and holy @#!!@, the battery is on FIRE.

Luckly I keep two extwingishers handy nearby, so I put the battery out. It looks like the whole battery wasnt "hot"- but the top of the battery was completely melted.

Any ideas what happened? it took me 2 hours to clean up, the extinguisher left a mess.....

 

[justhorsinaround]

Never heard of such a thing.

 

[3 on the tree]

Charging a battery produces explosive fumes to emit from it, the hotter the battery gets, the more fumes. I used to work in a battery shop, saw many batteries blow up, spark igniting the fumes.

 

[rjfguitar]

I think it's nitrogen that is emited out the top of a battery but I'm not positive. Regardless, it is very explosive. I almost had the same thing happen to me. When I bought my '01 dodge it still had the original battteries in it and I got home one day and saw steam coming from under the hood. It was the battery emiting flammable gas.

 

[84_Chevy_K10]

It's hydrogen gas. The air on the earth is something like 80% Nitrogen. If nitrogen was explosive, the earth would be on fire.

 

[diesel4me]

earth on fire??

Dont worry--if the earth catches fire,the Tsunami's will put the fires out---

Is it just me,or has the weather gone coo-coo this year?? I'm beginning to wonder if Nostradamus was right--maybe this IS the end of the world as we know it??--floods in CA,feet of snow in NV,more floods on OH and WV--it even snowed in Texas last week!,and the earthquakes and tidal waves?.. Maybe its time to build an ark?......


I spent some time in a battery shop as a kid too--one day the owner was brazing a flagpole together he made from 2 peices of tubing that slid inside each other for his yard--he paused and pulled the torch back to inspect the welds,and I saw a huge flash and explosion,I ran into the next room,ready to dial 911--he called me back into the room and said "no biggie!"-"crap,I wrecked two new batteries!--hey,shut the charger off for me ,will ya?"--and he kept on welding like nothing ever happenned!--I looked at the table where several batteries were hooked in paralell to an old tungar bulb charger--two out of about six batteries were splattered all over the cinder block walls,and the marble table top was fizzing like spilled soda--he just had me throw lots of baking soda on the whole mess and shut off the charger--the next day we hosed the shop out with a garden hose,and a lot of the cinder blocks inner face washed away when we sprayed them with the water!!--Hydrogen gas was the cause of the explosion,,he told me--he said "Same thing that the Hindenburg had happen,they used Hydrogen because Heluim was too costly and hard to get"..glad I wasnt on that blimp!..

 

[ryoken]

i got my lesson at 20.. was wrenching on my wifes Nissan Pulsar. i had just shut off the charger after a couple hr charge. i had a 1" combo wrench in my hand and dropped it. well, you can guess where it landed, right on the 2 posts. practically blew that thing it half.. still got that scarred up wrench too.

funny thing about battery acid is it wont do a damn thing to your clothes until ya put it in the wash and they come out like swisscheese...

i'm used to it these days tho.. must replace 30 to 40 8D's a year these days in the diesel boats... always fun humpin 80lb batteries out of a bildge... your pretty garaunteed to get some acid on ya... my work cloths go thru utter hell

 

[rjfguitar]

It's hydrogen gas. The air on the earth is something like 80% Nitrogen. If nitrogen was explosive, the earth would be on fire.

Sorry, hydrogen it is then. I slept my way through chemistry class.