I had a little OOPS this morning

[mtnman210]

I forgot I had a battery in the back of the blazer when I drove it yesterday. I found it this morning and it had tipped over and leaked all over my back carpet. It put some nice big holes in the carpet and it still looks "wet"....is there any way to clean this up or should I just let it sit and dry out. And the carpet it already wrecked but now I'm concerned will the battery acid mess up the metal floor at all?

 

[cegusman]

Pull the carpet and hose the acid out out of the blazer. It will eat the paint. Also hose the carpet off real good and let it sit in the sun and dry.

 

[mo]

baking soda might help

 

[Skigirl]

Take out the carpet and rinse out the truck. Then pour a bunch of baking soda with some water or use apple cider vinegar where the acid spilled on the metal to neutralize some of it. Obviously battery acid is much stronger, but baking soda or apple cider vinegar will help. Then let it dry without wiping up the alkaline solution. Then wipe it up with alkaline again, let it sit then rinse off.

 

[goldwing2000]

baking soda might help

+1

I agree with skigirl except that you should mix the solution of baking soda and water and spray it all over everything before you rinse it, that way the acid is neutalized before you wash it over all the rest of your parts. After it neutralizes, then rinse it all out and scrub everything down with detergent and water.

Then Rhino line your interior.

 

[Masiony]

vinegar is not a good choice. vinegar is an acid like the battery. however, baking soda is a base, which has the opposite pH charge. a base is what you want if you are trying to neutralize. BTW, water has a "neutral" charge (which is about 7 on the pH scale).

 

[mtnman210]

thanks for the help....I'm already going nuts right now. I'm suppose to be getting ready for my Accounting MidTerm (40% of my grade) that's at 3 today. I went to the truck to get a book and found my little surprise. Not exactly what I wanted to be doing before my test.

carpet's pulled but the insolation is a pain to get up. I pulled the carpet and dumped a 2/3 full small box of baking soda on there. It's all that was in the house. I'll grab some more after my test tonight. Then I put some water soaked rags on it just because I don't have the time to pull it all right now. Now it's all done bubbling and drying in the sun with all the windows open. Hopefully I caught it in enough time. I really don't feel like doing any metal work on this truck right now.

the hole in the carpet

I'll give everything a good rinse tonight.

Thanks for all the QUICK help

 

[Leper]

Get a couple of 2 liters of coke or pepsi and dump over everything. Being that it happened a while ago, I don't know if anything will help now.

 

[mtnman210]

BTW, water has a "neutral" charge (which is about 7 on the pH scale).

"neutral" meaning....water really doesn't do anything in way of getting rid of the acid??

 

[goldwing2000]

"neutral" meaning....water really doesn't do anything in way of getting rid of the acid??

It will push it away but it doesn't 'deactivate' it. You have to put a base on an acid to neutralize it.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about the metal too much. It take long-term contact with battery acid to eat away metal with any major damage. At the very worst, you may have to repaint the bed but you won't have to replace any metal.

 

[Masiony]

"neutral" meaning....water really doesn't do anything in way of getting rid of the acid??

actually it will, the battery acid (H204, sulfric acid) has a low acidic charge (probably somewhere around 2), water has a charge of 7, if you had equal emounts of both substances they would basically average to 4.5. water basically would dilute the acid, so it does help. however baking soda has a slightly basic charge of around 8.1, there for is better for neutralizing an acid. there are other bases that work better, but not as available and are more caustic and cause as much damage as the acid does.

Get a couple of 2 liters of coke or pepsi and dump over everything. Being that it happened a while ago, I don't know if anything will help now.

mythbusters disproved this, they basically dont do anything more than plain water.

 

[k20]

you might not wanna be barefoot when messing with battery acid, just a little warning as I see a foot in one of those pics.

 

[Skigirl]

Duh, masiony's right. Vinegar wrong. Baking soda right.

 

[pvfjr]

Yep. Water will dilute, baking soda will neutralize. Coke and vinegar probably won't get you anywhere. And put some shoes on.

 

[Mudgod]

For a kick ass neutralizing use a drain cleaner Ph< 11! Lime would also work PH </=10

 

[Masiony]

For a kick ass neutralizing use a drain cleaner Ph< 11! Lime would also work PH </=10

you can, but that stuff is as bad as the battery acid. they are both far from 7 which is neutral, and therefor bad news if you get some on you.

 

[goldwing2000]

Worse, actually. Acid burns hurt while they're happening so you know what's going on.

Base burns just rot your flesh away and it doen't hurt till it gets down to the bone.

 

[pvfjr]

Yeah, I'd definitely stick with the safe remedies. Can't really hurt yourself with one of the ingredients of your toothpaste (baking soda). I know I wouldn't brush my teeth with Drano...

 

[diesel4me]

Whitener!...

I wouldn't brush my teeth with Draino either!..bet that would whiten them up though... ..

You have to really look at the toothpaste tube first thing in the morning ,while your half asleep..
DONT reach for the Preperation "H" tube by mistake!.. ...what fool decided to put it in a toothpaste looking tube anyway?? ...

I'd dump a few boxes of baking soda on the acid spill,and flush it with a garden hose thouroghly...I'd hate to see a floor looking just like the battery tray does... ..I see it all too often here ,thanks to our DPW dumping tons of salt every time it snows here... ..

 

[76zimmer]

Load it with baking soda, once the acid neutralizes itself with the baking soda, any extra baking soda will do no harm. Then flush the entire area thoroughly.