Battery EXPLODED last night... It went like a shotgun blast. First Time For Everything...

[mikewest]

I had to back my  1966 Fairlane out of the storage last night to move something in.  When I got in it all I heard was one click when I went to start it like a bad connection. The NAPA  75 series battery was only a year old and I thought it was odd it didn't start . It always starts instantly... So I pushed it out by hand, made by move and jump started it. I thought Id take it for a quick run so I went up the road about a mile and returned. When I pulled it back into the garage I shut it off and immediately hit the switch to see if it would restart. Thats when the battery BLEW. I mean the whole top of the case is fractured into pieces. I raised the hood because of the smoke coming out from the edges , no fire but the air was so toxic  with acid, I ran out. 

Thinking about it , I can only surmise that fumes ignited when I tried to start it again if in fact I had a bad connection  and it arced?? Im going to look today but I wouldnt be surprised if the hood isnt dented. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by mikewest (see edit history)

[TerryB]

We always hear that things like this can happen.  Battery gases are flammable and explode as you have seen firsthand.  Sorry to hear it happened to you but it serves as a good wake up call to everyone to be careful around batteries that are not working as they should.  I hope your damage is minimal.

[Str8-8-Dave]

I've seen hydrogen gas battery explosions, happened to one of the owners of the Sunoco station I worked at as a kid.  If the water was low in the battery and there was a fracture in cell connecters the arc may have been inside the battery.  If the connecters stay submerged they won't arc.  The fact you had to jump start the car, then took it for a short drive during which the alternator was probably throwing everything it had at the battery to catch the charge up, there would have been quite a bit of hydrogen gas generated. 

[Andy J]

I was jumping off the dead battery in my '57 Chevy once and the top of dead battery blew off. I didn't hear an explosion,just an unusual noise.The hood was up,so no damage to anything,but battery acid spewed over everything.It was a fairly new Sears battery,one of those that were different colored according to how many months they were warranted for. They had big numbers on them,36,42,48 and so on for the months of warranty. I took it back,but they wouldn't warranty it.I didn't think jump starting would void the warranty,but I guess it did.

[jp1gt]

I am not sure it was an explosion. If it were it would have, it would have blown the hood off. When I had my shop we had 2 blow their tops, on right in front of me! My guess is that hydrogen gas built up and the vents were plugged.

[Frank DuVal]

11 minutes ago, jp1gt said:

I am not sure it was an explosion. If it were it would have, it would have blown the hood off.

These are explosions, not simple gas build up. How many psi of Hydrogen and Oxygen do you think a few ounces of water in several cubic inches of space can provide?  Certainly not enough to remove the top of a battery case. 

 

I had to take a co-worker to the ER after they twisted a battery cable to make a better connection as another turned the ignition switch. Spark + Hydrogen + Oxygen = Bang! It certainly had not had time to make any gas pressure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[m-mman]

1 hour ago, jp1gt said:

I am not sure it was an explosion

The specific technical words are detonation and deflagration. 
 

Either way it was a big boom. 

[Grimy]

5 minutes ago, m-mman said:

The specific technical words are detonation and deflagration. 
 

Either way it was a big boom. 

@m-mman knows of which he speaks!

[Ronnie]

I had a friend that had a hydrogen gas explosion 3 times under hood of his old Chevy van before he figured out the problem. The battery didn't explode but it did puke out battery acid on the inner fenderwell.

 

The battery was mounted close to the blower motor for the heater. The rubber hose that goes between the motor and the heater box had got knocked off somehow exposing the brushes in the motor.

 

If the van had been sitting for a while he would get a small explosion and loud pop as soon as he would turn the key to the run position. The hydrogen gas built up under the hood was being ignited by sparks from the brushes in the blower motor.

 

He replaced battery (it had a bad cell boiling that was generating extra hydrogen gas), and replaced the hose on the blower motor and the problem was solved.

[edinmass]

Is it an explosion? Just look at the ceiling in my pole barn……….17 feet up it punched through the insulation and corrugated roofing. My 1932 Pierce Dual Cowl was on the charger for a few days………when I disconnected the cables…..BOOM! I was covered in acid………not a good way to take an acid trip! Fortunately my eyes didn’t get anything in them………and my face seems to be ok(according to some), but my foot was really messed up. I managed to jump over the pool fence and dive in face first………..was as freezing but didn’t bother me too much as I was scared shixless. In the end the car and I were fine. But much wiser………..about batteries.

[Tom Boehm]

I had the battery explode once in my 1991 Ford F-150. Very scary. I'm glad I was inside when it happened. 

I also had a muffler explode once while starting a different truck. 

[c49er]

A gas station co worker years ago was working on a battery in a Volkswagon bug. ....down in the floor, back seat area.

We heard a loud Explosion out at the pump islands.

Dale shorted the battery terminals. He was drenched in acid as was the interior of the V-dub.

Be careful around batteries.

[Dandy Dave]

Been there, Done that. Take a piece of cardboard, or something you can use to fan the fumes away before disconnecting the battery from a charger, or from a car that has been recently running. Had one blow up in front of me once. After I was washed off we examined the battery and it had a crack in the lead post connection just below the case. It arced internally. I'm glad it was summer.

[Littlestown Mike]

Good reminder--it can happen to any on us.  If you charge car batteries in an enclosed space---say  one shelf with another shelf above, THAT can be an enclosed space,  Battery charging can produce hydrogen gas as well as oxugen---Always turn off the charger before removing the charging cables.  A small spark in that somewhat enclosed space can be an unwanted source of ignition.

[Porsche 68]

Hope you cleans the acid off the body parts with lots of water!

[jp1gt]

I try to buy batteries that have a removable cap to release pressure and you can actually add water. Hydrogen is powerful. When I was a kid we made hydrogen balloons. We tied them to the chicken coop with strings tied to balloons. Some how one got ignited before we let go  all the balloons.  blew up part of the chicken coop. Just one of the stupid things I did when I was a kid! You need a spark to have an explosion. If the car was just sitting there and nobody was there to deal with the cables incorrectly where was the spark? the new batteries have junk straps inside and could cause a spark but you would have a hole in the roof of the barn.  I always figure out how not to make a spark. No brainer when jumping from another car. Some trickle chargers will spark when turned off but not when turned on. Figure it out on a fully charged battery first.

[Fordy]

I have had one go bang. Back in the day at the drive-in movies where you clipped on to the radio antenna to get the soundtrack. At the end of the show when I cranked the motor off it went like a cannon blast!

This thread has got me thinking - the Hindenburg was full of hydrogen and burnt more than explode, so why no really big bang to take out half the airfield?

Steve

[Frank DuVal]

14 minutes ago, Fordy said:

the Hindenburg was full of hydrogen and burnt more than explode, so why no really big bang to take out half the airfield?

Because there was no containing the force, it abated rather than rupturing. Rupturing requires containment for the containment vessel to rupture. 

 

Sparks happen because of internal joint failures. Sparks happen because of corroded battery terminals. These are all explosions, not simple gas build up. All flooded lead acid batteries have vents. Your chicken coop balloons had way more Hydrogen in them than could be gotten from electrically breaking down a few ounces of water. 

[Fordy]

48 minutes ago, Frank DuVal said:

Because there was no containing the force, it abated rather than rupturing. Rupturing requires containment for the containment vessel to rupture. 

 

Sparks happen because of internal joint failures. Sparks happen because of corroded battery terminals. These are all explosions, not simple gas build up. All flooded lead acid batteries have vents. Your chicken coop balloons had way more Hydrogen in them than could be gotten from electrically breaking down a few ounces of water. 

Thanks Frank - that makes perfect sense!

Steve

[avgwarhawk]

There is a reason for connecting battery cables in sequence. No spark to ignite battery gases produced from charging.  Not sure what set off this battery but there was a spark somewhere. 

I have witnessed one battery explosion wrenching at Goodyear.  Coworker's head was over the battery inspecting a relay.  Something sparked.  Loud boom. Battery top blew off.  Battery acid went into his hair. Fortunately he was looking down so no acid went into his eyes.  He was very conscientious with eye protection when grinding metal or brazing.  This day he did not have his eye protection on. Again, very fortunate. 

[Stude Light]

Unlike gasoline vapors, which has a very limited range of combustibility, hydrogen is explosive across a very wide range. LEL and UEL stand for Lower Explosive Limit and Upper Explosive Limit and it's between those two ranges that vapors explode. In reality gasoline has such a tight range that it is hard to get it to ignite unless just right*. Hydrogen gas on the other hand can explode across a huge range. There are lots of sparks inside of a gas tank from static electricity and fuel pump motors but the mixture is always over rich. The probability of exploding a battery is so much higher whether the spark is internal or external. 

 

Here are some LEL and UEL numbers

Gasoline:  1.4% - 7.6%

Hydrogen: 7% - 77%

Acetylene: 2.5% - 100%

Ethanol: 3.3% - 19%

 

* Many may disagree with this statement since their experience is that after pouring gasoline on the ground and then bringing an ignition source near it and you get a big fireball. But that's because they have a constant flame and pass it through the entire range of gasoline vapor and it only ignites once they hit that very short critical band. If you just had a single spark it would be difficult to find the correct location. Not so with hydrogen or acetylene as anyone with a torch knows.

 

Doing as suggested above and keeping any spark away from your battery is very smart to do. I think we all may be guilty of being careless, especially with those battery maintainers.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Stude Light (see edit history)

[arcticbuicks]

years ago ,i had two explode boosting in extreme cold and one was frozen solid battery,blew the top half off battery and acid everywhere.....the other was left on charger too long and heated up..........i think my hearing loss is partly from that time 

[Lee H]

Having a battery explode must be something like a membership card into the Gearhead club. Thankfully, I’ve only had one experience, but it was a memorable one: I was jumping the battery in the back seat area of a ‘65 VW. Fortunately, I was able to grope my way to a water spigot.

[mikewest]

I think the fact that the car just Clicked once when i initially  tryed to start it says that it had a bad connection or a battery problem. If that same click created a arc after i ran the car for 15 minutes that might be the cause of the eruptions.

[jp1gt]

22 hours ago, Frank DuVal said:

Because there was no containing the force, it abated rather than rupturing. Rupturing requires containment for the containment vessel to rupture. 

 

Sparks happen because of internal joint failures. Sparks happen because of corroded battery terminals. These are all explosions, not simple gas build up. All flooded lead acid batteries have vents. Your chicken coop balloons had way more Hydrogen in them than could be gotten from electrically breaking down a few ounces of water. 

Don't exactly remember but I think it was drano, and aluminum foil put in a coke bottle. You have to have current running in the battery to cause a spark, just sitting there how did the spark happen?

[Bhigdog]

21 hours ago, Stude Light said:

Unlike gasoline vapors, which has a very limited range of combustibility, hydrogen is explosive across a very wide range. LEL and UEL stand for Lower Explosive Limit and Upper Explosive Limit and it's between those two ranges that vapors explode. In reality gasoline has such a tight range that it is hard to get it to ignite unless just right*. Hydrogen gas on the other hand can explode across a huge range. There are lots of sparks inside of a gas tank from static electricity and fuel pump motors but the mixture is always over rich. The probability of exploding a battery is so much higher whether the spark is internal or external. 

 

Here are some LEL and UEL numbers

Gasoline:  1.4% - 7.6%

Hydrogen: 7% - 77%

Acetylene: 2.5% - 100%

Ethanol: 3.3% - 19%

 

* Many may disagree with this statement since their experience is that after pouring gasoline on the ground and then bringing an ignition source near it and you get a big fireball. But that's because they have a constant flame and pass it through the entire range of gasoline vapor and it only ignites once they hit that very short critical band. If you just had a single spark it would be difficult to find the correct location. Not so with hydrogen or acetylene as anyone with a torch knows.

 

Doing as suggested above and keeping any spark away from your battery is very smart to do. I think we all may be guilty of being careless, especially with those battery maintainers.

The gas product of charging is 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen. The perfect combination to explosively recombine back to whence they came..........Water...............Bob

[bradsan]

Thanks to Stude Light for his list of LEL/UEL  and bringing to my attention that the only gas with a wider range than hydrogen is acetylene.

Yes , I have an oxy/act set in the shop. I can't honestly say that I knew the LEL/UEL of that gas.

Photo of recent service truck result in our area.

Parts were landing in a playground a couple of blocks away

Maybe I should put a LEL/UEL reminder sticker on the set.

Make sure the tanks are off !

 

[Frank DuVal]

2 hours ago, jp1gt said:

Don't exactly remember but I think it was drano, and aluminum foil put in a coke bottle. You have to have current running in the battery to cause a spark, just sitting there how did the spark happen?

No one has reported a battery "just sitting there" in this thread. They were all either taking in (charging) or putting out current (starting vehicle), so current was flowing. ❗

[jp1gt]

6 hours ago, Frank DuVal said:

No one has reported a battery "just sitting there" in this thread. They were all either taking in (charging) or putting out current (starting vehicle), so current was flowing. ❗

I looked you are right

[Littlestown Mike]

When I went through HazMat training I was surprised to learn that an environment could be TOO RICH to ignite.  One of the few times that training for work was useful away from work.

 

[human-potato_hybrid]

What brand/model was the battery?

[arcticbuicks]

any model and brand car battery would blow........6 8 or 12 volts......it was the conditions .....not the brand

[Buick35]

I worked at a helicopter repair shop/school and we had some students from Ireland in training. One day everyone in the hangar heard a loud boom.It turned out that a student  hooked up a battery charger to a 12 volt battery,the problem was that it was set for 24 volts. No one got hurt luckily.