Exploding tractor battery!

[k0ua]

Had one blow in my face once. Was using an old garage size charger that had a volt and amp meter. I'm supposing the small load from the volt meter caused a spark when I disconnected the cable. Charger was turned off.

Fortunately I pulled my head to the side fast enough I didn't have any eye damage. There was an outdoor faucet nearby and I washed myself off good then sprayed down the car.

I disconnected the volt meter in the charger. I've never seen a charger before or since that had a volt meter.

The volt meter did not cause the spark. The fact that there was current flow because the battery was a lower voltage than the charger voltage causes current to flow. With current flow, there will be a spark at initial contact.

 

[k0ua]

I would have thought that this was elementary, but batteries under charge create hydrogen off of the negative plates and oxygen off of the positive plates. You could not ask for a better explosive combination of gases than Hydrogen and Oxygen. Just add a spark, or better yet a nice flame from a propane torch nearby and kabloowie. Big explosion.

 

[BenjiMac]

Well that was bloody scary.

I charged the (not entirely flat) battery on my Fordson Super Major overnight and came to start it this morning. Big spark, huge bang, smell of battery acid and battery fluid dripping all over the barn floor.
Everything had been done properly. Correct polarity. It just seemed to happen out of the blue.

Any idea how best to clean the battery acid off the tractor and floor? Hose pipe?

What is is likely to have been destroyed? Alternator? Anything else?

Thanks for any advice

Not likely any damage to the alternator; it was not running yet when you were just cranking the engine. The battery acid is acid, so neutralize it with a weak solution of something alkiline followed by plain water or it will eat the vehicle metal. It is good that the explosion did not happen while you were installing the battery, these are a leading cause of blindness. The explosion is hydrogen gas in the battery case, produced by electrolysis usually during charging. Since the alternator was not running - did you have it connected to a battery charger? The gas will not explode unless there is an igniting spark near the battery, which can be caused when connecting or disconnecting battery jumper cables, which is why the ground jumper should be connected to the vehicle frame instead of the negative battery terminal and this connection made last, disconnected first so there is no current flow when connecting/disconnecting the other connections. I do not know what would cause the igniting spark when starting your engine, unless one of the terminal connections was loose or the battery was somehow defective.

 

[mickeyw]

One blew up two weeks ago right below my head! I was helping friend with Ford F250 7.3L diesel (has two batteries), he had charger on and genius me was using a propane torch to solder starter cable at the battery, friend off to the side holding cable with pliers. It was like dynamite going off and blew us backwards.
He had outdoor spigot not far and I had him get baking soda, washing up ourselves.
Lucky but still barely can hear out of my ear closest to it.

Where I did my engineering apprenticeship we had a big Ford 6 cylinder diesel industrial genny. We used to run it up once a month to make sure it would work when we needed it.
I was helping the guy whose job this was once day, and we were just refitting the batteries that had been on charge. I was hooking up the leads, so like you I was standing right over it just as there was an almighty boom, and bits of battery and acid went everywhere.
Luckily there was a hose close by and the guys completely drowned me in clean water for several minutes. Then I was taken to the hospital to have eyes and ears rinsed out and checked. Amazingly I got off pretty unscathed, just my clothes that disintegrated soon after.

 

[oldpilot]

How long did it take Sears to run a check on that Diehard?

I miss Sears. I suppose their lifetime guarantees helped speed their demise along. (I claimed refunds on a computer that my daughter messed up entirely and also on a tire that was my fault. I felt guilty when they closed.)

 

[mtretick]

Had a golf cart battery explode. Blew the entire top off the battery and by the way with a golf cart you are sitting on the battery!

 

[Dmacleo]

I believe lots of baking soda mentioned before so I'll add another item to the list.
POUNDS of baking soda LOL

 

[patti24]

Well that was bloody scary.

I charged the (not entirely flat) battery on my Fordson Super Major overnight and came to start it this morning. Big spark, huge bang, smell of battery acid and battery fluid dripping all over the barn floor.
Everything had been done properly. Correct polarity. It just seemed to happen out of the blue.

Any idea how best to clean the battery acid off the tractor and floor? Hose pipe?

What is is likely to have been destroyed? Alternator? Anything else?

Thanks for any advice

 

[rv7charlie]

Glad you and the tractor lived through the experience. Sensible advice on cleaning up the mess; now how to keep it from happening again...

It's possible that the battery failure was one of those rare 'random acts of violence', and if so, there's not a lot you can do except depend on the odds.

As others have said, all lead-acid batteries produce hydrogen while being charged. If they aren't *overcharged*, it will typically be a minimal quantity, which heads upward instantly (lighter than air) and is not dangerous. The newer tech 'SLA', 'RG' etc types don't emit any at all in normal charge/discharge cycling. The RG means 'recombinant gas'; the hydrogen & oxygen recombine (back into water) inside the battery.

I didn't see any mention of the type of charger being used, or age/condition of the battery. Was it an old 'dumb' charger? All those old dumb chargers can and will overcharge a battery if left connected for too long. Big ones can also push too much energy into the battery too quickly. They should *never* be left unattended. If it's a newer 'smart' charger, you might want to check it to be sure it isn't 'brain dead' and now working as a 'dumb' charger.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've found dumb chargers can bring a battery back that had been written off.

Got my outboard battery that way from a neighbor that was not able to charge it.

I put it on the old commercial charger outside and no discernable meter movement.

Left it on all day and a few hours on the charger the needle moved a little...

Went to mow and when I came back it was cooking and I could smell it...

That was 3 years ago and still load tests good.

 

[rv7charlie]

Went to mow and when I came back it was cooking and I could smell it...

I'll leave that as an exercise for the student, to ponder the results if timing had been a bit different, and if another human (child?) or pet had been in the neighborhood of the battery...

 

[OzarkChris]

One blew up two weeks ago right below my head! I was helping friend with Ford F250 7.3L diesel (has two batteries), he had charger on and genius me was using a propane torch to solder starter cable at the battery, friend off to the side holding cable with pliers. It was like dynamite going off and blew us backwards.
He had outdoor spigot not far and I had him get baking soda, washing up ourselves.
Lucky but still barely can hear out of my ear closest to it.

Sounds like you were trying for one of them "Darwin Awards" lol

 

[kraftykeltic]

What was the temperature of the battery at the time? If below freezing I would have warmed the battery up before trying to start tractor. Too much time spent in northern Maine, It was common then to take the vehicle batteries inside to not allow them to freeze. They tend to freeze from the top down. Frozen batteries blow up.

 

[ohiogar]

dampen everything and sprinkle baking soda around any parts that
were affected to neutralize the acid. Fizzing up will tell you if it needs more.
48 hours into a 3 day repairing snow equipment shift some years
ago had a welding spark explode a battery 2 feet from me. Really fortunate
that only a good pair of carharts were ruined that night. Very close to being
ugly! Younger and dumber and really tired!!!

 

[BeezFun]

I had a battery blow up like that because the manufacturer left a piece of plastic flashing blocking the vent hole for one of the cells. As the battery charged the pressure would build but it didn't blow until a year or so later when it went through a long charging cycle and the pressure built up to the point where it blew the plastic case all apart. It looked very similar to yours. If the top of the battery is still intact, see if each of the vent holes is clear.

 

[ForestGrump]

Well that was bloody scary.

I charged the (not entirely flat) battery on my Fordson Super Major overnight and came to start it this morning. Big spark, huge bang, smell of battery acid and battery fluid dripping all over the barn floor.
Everything had been done properly. Correct polarity. It just seemed to happen out of the blue.

Any idea how best to clean the battery acid off the tractor and floor? Hose pipe?

What is is likely to have been destroyed? Alternator? Anything else?

Thanks for any advice

The explosion was from hydrogen gas build up. It can be and is present in lead acid batteries. Don’t smoke near a battery. apparently there was an internal short within the battery and a large draw, starting, caused the spark Within the plates or their connectors. Washing down everything with copious amounts of water immediately is the best solution and is readily available.

 

[patti24]

Wow…That IS scary. Glad you’re okay. Just wanted to say thanks to you & everybody that posted on this thread because I learned a LOT! I’ve always been leery about batteries…and stand back if someone is charging/starting one.
I’ve always wondered if it matters about the order in which you disconnect the cables, so that info was helpful. It was interesting to learn about connecting the ground to the frame too…something I’ve never done.

So…let me see if I’ve understood all this correctly: Having cell(s) go dry is ONE thing that can cause sparks when starting…and because of the hydrogen gas present in the other cells, that triggers the explosion. (Correct?)


I often check the electrolyte levels- (which, I have to say, drives me crazy that I can’t check on sealed batteries!)
I top up the cells with distilled water- should I be using something else?

Just curious…is there any significant difference between the number of sealed batteries versus ‘open’ batteries that explode?
The reaction between the positive & negative plates creates hydrogen, correct? And the creation of the hydrogen gas itself slowly depletes the electrolytes?

If that is correct, then the cells in sealed batteries ‘should’ never go dry?
(and subsequently, explosions due to dry cells ‘shouldn’t’ be the reason why
a sealed battery would explode- the spark would likely be generated by something else? (Have I got this right so far?)

So, besides dry cells, and not controlling the current flow when disconnecting the cables, what other things can cause sparks that are PREVENTABLE (not internal malfunction)?

What about leaving batteries on chargers- for days- inside buildings and in vehicles?
Is this a no-no because it’s letting hydrogen gas build up?

I use my friend’s Steiner, and if you use the LED lights at night (lol) it depletes the (fairly new) battery. So after using it, I always have to put it on the charger, or if leave it out in the field I have to use my portable NOCO charger (a powerful one for diesels- absolutely LOVE this thing!!!)
So…the LED lights are obviously drawing a lot of power.
There is a green indicator light for the lights that is always on-(indicating there is power to the lights??)
SO…my question is this:

Does that mean that even if I have the lights turned off, there is still current going to them, and when I’m charging or jump starting the battery there is potential for that connection to spark??

If so, what do I (or HE) need to do to remedy this?
Better yet, can anyone tell me why the LED lights deplete the battery- and how to go about fixing THAT little issue?
Is there a certain wire that should or shouldn’t go somewhere?
(Can you tell by that wording that Electricity is NOT my forté!!)
Thanks again for sharing your knowledge everyone!
Much appreciated!
patti

 

[carmedic310]

As others have said, baking soda / water mix. Try 1/2 to 1 cup per gallon well mixed. Hose the whole area off once you note that the reaction has stopped.
As far as cause, that explosion began internal to the battery. Likely due to a low electrolyte level while charging, then an internal Arc while starting. The plates should ALWAYS be covered in electrolyte.
JMHO

Quarter cup of baking soda to a gallon of water is plenty.Works better with warm water

 

[Kubotafan]

I had a battery explode in a 1970 Ford Mercury Marque station wagon I owned at the time. I was driving when there was a bang and smoke coming from under the hood. I had a friend come with a battery, installed it, and being dark turned on the lights and when I accelerated onto the highway went like lightening in front of me and then darkness. The diagnose was that the voltage regulator went, and over charged the battery. When I accelerated the excessive voltage burned out almost ever bulb that was turned on.

 

[ChasHM]

Patti24 -
Where to start...

- Yes, you top off standard lead-acid batteries with distilled water. I'm lazy/cheap and use tap water, but my tap water doesn't have a lot of mineral content. While you're doing it, wipe down the battery top and sides (I use a baking soda paste and an old toothbrush) - the grime that accumulates conducts electricity and will slowly drain the battery and/or cause galvanic corrosion on any metal nearby.

- The hydrogen comes from breaking down water in the electrolyte solution (basically just water and sulfuric acid). Under normal discharge/recharge, little or no hydrogen is generated. Overcharging will electrolyze water causing hydrogen and oxygen to be generated. If it's in an enclosed space and there's a spark...

- Lead/acid (and most other) batteries will self-discharge over time. So if you don't use your tractor for long stretches of time, you either get to recharge it every time you go to start it or get a trickle charger that keeps it 'topped off'. These are so low-current that you're not likely to run down the electrolyte level much. I have one with a solar cell as my tractor isn't near an outlet when parked.

- 'Sealed' lead-acid batteries usually don't need electrolyte maintenance as long as they aren't overcharged. They're designed to deal with small amounts of hydrogen being generated from normal operations.

- Your friend's Steiner isn't working correctly if you have to recharge the battery every time you run it at night. Its alternator should power all the electrical equipment AND charge the battery while the engine is running. Really old equipment wasn't necessarily rigged to run at night so the alternator (or generator?) may be too small for the night lighting; the alternator is mainly there to recharge the battery so you can start it again, not power the light bar, your radio, cell phone, heated seat and whatever else has been added over the years. Easy test is to check the voltage at the battery with the engine at normal RPM - you should have about 13-14 volts and turning on the lights shouldn't cause much more than a momentary dip in voltage.

- Any lights that are on after you shut down are draining the battery. Not by much, but they are draining it. Your car has a bunch of these low-current things - clock, the key-fob receiver, etc. - that will, eventually, drain the battery, which is why you 'always' disconnect the battery if storing the car for months. In normal use - say, weekly driving - it's not an issue. Ditto for tractors.