Low water/acid. Charging builds up gas. Then it needs a ignition source. We blew one up in school years ago. Also does the sticker say B4? Like the age is 2014 Feb. Maybe?
I had a great big one blow up on a scraper I was running years ago. It blew the cover off the battery box and scared the hell out of me. It sounded like a 12 gauge going off !
saw that happin in a pick up truck when i was a kid the poor guy had his head under the hood and lost his sight from the blast acid . battery boxs ARE your friend !
Had on blow up on me while I was jumping off a forklift. The water caps hit the roof of our old shop and stuck in the insulation....it was as loud as any rifle I’ve ever heard.
It’s caused by the water getting low and the battery filling with sulphuric gas....1 spark and boom.
I had one of my trolling motor batteries blow up. I learned that as batteries are charged, the plates will thin. As the plates thin over time, the scale that accumulates will slough off and pile up in the bottom. When the scale piles up to the point that it touches two adjacent plates...it will short out. Also the plates will warp to the point of touching...resulting in a short. When this happens below the liquid level, it is then referred to a dead cell. When this happens ABOVE the liquid level, it ignites the hydrogen gas and goes BOOM!
Low water/acid. Charging builds up gas. Then it needs a ignition source. We blew one up in school years ago. Also does the sticker say B4? Like the age is 2014 Feb. Maybe?
Feb 2015 is an approximate date of the age give or take a month or two on the shelf. And Xrod is spot on. New plates are gray. You can see black plates. Glad no one got hurt.
Happened to me once. As soon as I touched a set of jumper cables it blew up and I concur with Drycreek it sounded like a 12ga.
The extra annoying part was I apparently didn't get all the acid washed off a wire for a cooling fan that eventually caused a short and led to an expensive repair a year later.
Low water/acid. Charging builds up gas. Then it needs a ignition source. We blew one up in school years ago. Also does the sticker say B4? Like the age is 2014 Feb. Maybe?
I stopped to get gas in August...long time ago. My son in a car seat. I filled up and turned the key...BOOM. scared the hell out of me. trying to get my son out of there. Turns, the battery exploded. Why, I don't know. Maybe the heat. It also took out my alternator.
Drove to work and parked my '94 Ford F250 diesel and went to my office. About 15 minutes later the chaplain walked in and said "I just walked by your truck and something under the hood went "boom". Went down and checked and there was liquid under the truck. Popped the hood and the battery was bulged and split. But--a buddy and I took the afternoon off, got his toolbox, removed the battery and took it to WM and swapped it for a new one--(2-yr full replacement warranty). Back on the road in time to get home and go fishing.
When they start giving off gas, typically when they are going bad and either start surface charging or when someone over charges them. When they are giving off sulfuric gas, if there is any spark, near the battery at the time it is gassing. You get a bang.
I have seen three blow up over the years. It makes a mess, with all the acid everywhere.
The first one that blew up, I was working at a K-Mart automotive, when I was 18. Some old guy came in, with a old Ford truck. Said he wanted his battery checked out. Then turned and walked back to his truck. I asked him to wait, did not want him to start the truck, before I got the tester hooked up. Boy was I glad he did not hear me. He got out to the truck, sat in the seat and hit the key, it was like some TV show where the car is rigged to blow up when someone hits the key. As soon as he turned the key, there was a huge boom. I hit the ground. The old guy just sat there, frozen. When I got up, I was sure the truck was going to be blown apart, but it looked just like it did, before I hit the ground. I walked over to the driver's door. The guy was still sitting there with his hand on the key, not moving, staring straight forward. I kept banging on the driver's window, he just sat there not moving. I thought the old guy was dead. After I started yelling and banging on the window, the guy finally turned and looked at me, with this look, like am I still alive or am I dead. It probably would have been very funny, had someone filmed the whole deal, with me hitting the ground and the old man looking like he jus died of heart failure.
It turns out the batter blew up, there was battery acid everywhere, under the hood, it was a mess. All four sides of the battery were blown out four different directions. The top of the battery was still there, because, it had a battery hold down, that kept it from blowing upwards. It blew all six caps off the top, back in the days of the screw in battery caps. Then the lead panels were blown apart.
After that deal, I had a lot more respect for batteries, giving off sulfuric gas. I will clear the area in a hurry, when I smell or see a battery boiling.
Comment