battery question on venting

[Wolfscout]

I keep hearing about the battery needs to be vented if not on the tongue. I've changed my mind about wanting to put my batteries on the front tongue. So to place them in the cabinet inside a Cargo trailer conversion, will there need to be a vent to access from outside?
I was told sulfur fumes is the problem ?

[eamarquardt]

VW built approximately 21 million beetles with the battery inside the passenger compartment. So it's been done before.

I had a '67 that I put over 100K miles on. The only time I had a problem was when the voltage regulator failed and the battery was being overcharged. THEN I started choking on the sulfuric acid fumes. It wasn't tough to figure out the problem and fix it.

I wouldn't be concerned.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gus

[vreihen]

Lead-acid batteries emit hydrogen fumes as they charge, and one need look no further than Lakehurst, NJ in 1937 to know the danger of that.



If you don't want to vent a lead-acid battery, your other option is to spend more money and purchase a gel-cell or AGM battery. These batteries require specialized chargers to prevent damaging them. Here's an article that I just found in Google that explains the various battery options:

http://www.rvtechlibrary.com/battery/bat_agm.htm

[eamarquardt]

Lead-acid batteries emit hydrogen fumes as they charge, and one need look no further than Lakehurst, NJ in 1937 to know the danger of that.



If you don't want to vent a lead-acid battery, your other option is to spend more money and purchase a gel-cell or AGM battery. These batteries require specialized chargers to prevent damaging them. Here's an article that I just found in Google that explains the various battery options:

http://www.rvtechlibrary.com/battery/bat_agm.htm

Ah, come on now. The Hindenberg had 6,000,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas aboard. Roughly the volume of 25,000 VWs. Of the 21,000,000 VW beetles built, I've never heard of one exploding due a buildup of hydrogen gas in the cabin in spite of the fact the cars were virtually air/water tight. Had there been a problem, I'm sure the attorneys around the world would have figured out how to make a buck or two off of it. To quote the brother re the risk of his brother getting injured in the movie "Rat Race" as they stage a fall down the escolator: "That's a risk I'm willing to take". I'm far more concerned about gasoline and propane in cars/trailers catching fire/exploding than about hydrogen explosions (but I'm not losing any sleep).

Cheers,

Gus

[Wolfscout]

I see. I well know the smell I was told about as I used to work with batteries at Sears when they came in with the acid not in the battery and you had to pour it in and charge it before you could sell it.

I'll just rig mine up inside and carry a spare. Till I get the converter/Charger I don't think it's a worry right now anyhows.

[glenpinpat]

I assume you are talking lead acid battery. Most sealed batteries will be of little concern. If you are using a optima battery then you can completely seal it and lay it on its side. By the way in all my vw ther was a small vent hole in the bottom of the battery compartment.

[Wolfscout]

I've been using my Walmart cheapo Marine battery that I also use on my trolling motor on the canoe.
Fixing to buy me a dedicated camper battery though, most likely same type 27.

[vreihen]

Of the 21,000,000 VW beetles built, I've never heard of one exploding due a buildup of hydrogen gas in the cabin in spite of the fact the cars were virtually air/water tight.

I hope the irony of using one example of 1930's German engineering to defend another one wasn't lost on anyone.

It was acceptable engineering back then to scrounge cabin heat through ducts and heat exchangers around the exhaust manifolds. It was also acceptable engineering to use gasoline-powered combustion heaters to heat the cabin. Oh, and it seems that every VW owner had a tale of "a friend" who changed their battery, forgot to put the proper terminal shields on, and subsequently welded a seat spring to a battery terminal first time someone used the back seat. I'd love to try putting a carbon monoxide detector into an old Type-1 with the windows closed and engine running, just to see if there was a legitimate danger from these practices.

I have to admit that I have just gone through three different VW shop manuals as well as John Muir's fine book ("How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive - A Manual of Step By Step Procedures for the Compleat (sic) Idiot"), looking for any reference to a battery vent tube being used. Sadly, there is none, and the only mentions that a quick web search turn up are for aftermarket battery trays and acid-resistant rubber pads to prevent spilled acid from eating through the floor pans. Every modern lead-acid battery that I've dealt with includes an overflow/vent tube that must be routed away from danger, and am shocked to see no mention of it in any VW service documentation.

With that said, I have personally witnessed a battery exploding on our garage floor when my brother was disconnecting the charger leads and caused a spark. While it didn't explode in flames or with enough energy to knock down the walls, it did have enough force to blow a fist-sized hole through the top and side of the battery and spray acid all over the concrete floor and nearest wall. I wouldn't discount the real dangers caused by hydrogen venting from a charging battery as an urban legend, and make sure that you always charge a lead-acid battery in a well-ventilated location.....

[eamarquardt]

With that said, I have personally witnessed a battery exploding on our garage floor when my brother was disconnecting the charger leads and caused a spark. While it didn't explode in flames or with enough energy to knock down the walls, it did have enough force to blow a fist-sized hole through the top and side of the battery and spray acid all over the concrete floor and nearest wall. I wouldn't discount the real dangers caused by hydrogen venting from a charging battery as an urban legend, and make sure that you always charge a lead-acid battery in a well-ventilated location .....

I would think that a the battery above was in a reasonably ventilated environment (a garage versus a small closed battery box) and yet there was an explosion. The "major malfunction" in the incident would appear to be not following generally accepted safe practices while charging a battery (not disconnecting charging leads in a spark free manner).

Many VWs have burned up and I believe I know why. The high voltage coil wire passed very close to the fuel line. When the insulation on the coil wire deteriorated it was possible to get a spark to jump from the wire to the fuel line. It scared the heck out of me when I saw this happening on my '67 and I couldn't buy and install a new set of plug wires fast enough.

I bought a new battery once and placed it in the trunk of my wife's car. As she doesn't drink carbonated beverages I wasn't expecting there to be a soda can in the trunk and was surprised and scared "s$%^&$#s" when the soda can exploded spraying soda (but I thought it was acid) in my eyes. There were a few tense moments before I realized what had happened.

Given folks on the forum have been warned about keeping their teardrops sealed up tight, the amount of hydrogen produced by a battery being charged, the fact that hydrogen is lighter than air and dissipates quickly, I wouldn't be overly concerned. However, as was noted batteries, under the right (wrong) conditions can/will explode so you gotta pay attention and not generate a spark within an inch or so of the vent after subjecting a battery to a heavy charging session.

Nothing is life is risk free and someone hurt in a accident is usually not an "innocent bystander" (but it is possible).

Cheers,

Gus

[dh]

So, your saying we need to vent our coolers incase the sodas explode?

[eamarquardt]

So, your saying we need to vent our coolers incase the sodas explode?

Depends upon your degree of paranoia. NOW, I always check my wife's trunk for unexploded sodas before putting a battery in the trunk of her car. I sometimes omit this check when I know the battery is filled with soda rather than acid. I'm not that paranoid.

As a side note one could argue that the US caused the Hindenburg disaster because "we" refused to sell the Germans helium and they were forced to use the more dangerous hydrogen as they didn't have a source of helium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_129_Hindenburg

Cheers,

Gus

[bdosborn]

Batteries vent a minimal amount of H2 under typical use. However, they vent much more if your charger malfunctions and overcharges the battery. I've had 2 chargers do that. All the deep cycle battery manufacturers strongly recommend venting (even for VRLA and AGM batteries BTW). It's so easy to do venting, why wouldn't you?

Bruce

[Wolfscout]

I suppose it becomes a question of how to vent.

[bdosborn]

Locate your battery next to an exterior wall and throw a couple of soffit vents in from the home center, one high and one low:



Bruce

[Shadow Catcher]

Inexpensive solution, a vented battery box http://www.adventurerv.net/vented-batte ... -4084.html

http://www.rayvaughan.com/battery_safety.htm