Batteries left sitting on concrete?

[jaydee325]

According to The Tappet Brothers (Tom and Ray Magliozzi) of the famous PBS "Car Talk" radio program, this is a myth!

Blog Post | Fact or fiction: It's OK to set your battery down on a concrete garage floor. | Car Talk

 

[k0ua]

Australia is an island,, so it is only loosely connected to the earths core,,

Hawaii has the same problem,, that is why the dancers have such wiggly hips,,,

And Guam actually floats on the pacific ocean, and could tip over if overloaded on one side:

 

[CADplans]

,,,, as far as batteries,,,
I hung out at the service station across the street from my home between ages 6 and 16,,

The owner used us kids as free labor,, we all loved to work there,,
in 10 years,, I am positive there was never a battery on concrete,, even a replaced one.

I am sure the owner was convinced the calcium in the concrete would neutralize the acid.

The acid from an "old" battery would eat up the concrete,
ALL batteries were on wood,,, "PERIOD!!"

:thumbsup:

That was then,, now, I leave plastic cased batteries on the concrete all the time.
I never see any problem,,,,, now,,,.

 

[k0ua]

And yes Rep Johnson from Ga. was actually re-elected after that insightful observation. Proof positive that in some districts you can be a total moron, and yet still hold public office.

 

[oosik]

I kind of wonder about the wiggly, jiggly stuff you guys are talking about also. However, I have no doubt regarding K0UA's statement. Unfortunately, its been shown beyond any doubt that this effect goes well beyond "some districts".

 

[Pete O]

Heating and cooling have som affect ?

Heck, maybe that's exactly what it is; never gave it a moment's thought when I was told it was caused by vibration as I had heard this about batteries decades ago. The Schumann Frequency, about 7.83Hz apparently. Hard to tell whether it's science or pseudoscience.
Perhaps someone left a battery on the floor, came back years later and it was flat, blamed the concrete floor and the theory got legs. Maybe if the same battery had a piece of wood under it, they would have blamed the wood and now we'd all be scared to put a battery down on wood. Either way, I'll keep putting something under my batteries.

 

[/pine]

Lead acid batteries will lose about 1% of their charge per day if just left sitting...doesn't matter what it's sitting on...natural discharge can be higher than 1% when the ambient temp is extremely high...

 

[Garandman]

According to The Tappet Brothers (Tom and Ray Magliozzi) of the famous PBS "Car Talk" radio program, this is a myth!

Blog Post | Fact or fiction: It's OK to set your battery down on a concrete garage floor. | Car Talk

Theyæ±*e a riot. Both MIT grads, one still ran the garage while the other was a PhD business professor. Tom passed away in 2014.

However, this legend is historically based in fact. The first lead-acid batteries consisted of glass cells that were enclosed in tar-lined wooden boxes. A damp concrete floor could cause the wood to swell, breaking the glass inside.

The Edison cell (i.e. the nickel-iron battery) that preceded the rubber-cased battery was encased in steel. Those that weren't isolated in crates would discharge into concrete quite easily. Later battery cases used primitive hardened rubber, which was somewhat porous and could contain lots of carbon. A moist concrete floor combined with the carbon in the battery cases could create electrical current between the cells, discharging them.

None of this is a problem with modern batteries....

 

[bullebak]

LOL, put anything on a concrete floor and you will have a nice big wet patch, it has all to do with condensation.
LOL, do U really believe that concrete will suck the amps out of your battery?
If so, have a bridge to sell to you, real deal!

Mythbusters debunked that concept some time back.

Condensation... it's water and water will evaporate which requires heat. Your battery will be colder and stored batteries don't like to be cold.

There's your answer.

 

[RalphVa]

You can sit them on concrete as long as you put a battery tender on them.

Way back before battery tenders (or before I knew about them), I took the huge battery out of our Benz 220D and sat it on the concrete floor in the basement. I connected two 24 hour battery chargers in series and set each one to run for about an hour (maybe only half; don't specifically recall). Went away for 9 months. Came back; disconnected the chargers; put battery in car; car started right up.

Ralph