Has anyone heard or experienced this?

On changing the battery in our plane the other day, the A&P said, "You had a
battery explosion." On looking closely, I could see that the box was bowed
out and rounded as if someone had tried to inflate it with air. I'd
noticed that it wasn't exactly square and the cover didn't fit very well but
thought it was just poor workmanship.

He said it probably happened during starting from hydrogen build up that the
propwash hadn't had a chance to blow away yet and the pilot thought it was a
backfire. No harm done except we'll need a new box because of corrosion.
It could have happened years ago.

--
Roger Long

"Roger Long" m> wrote in
message ...
> Has anyone heard or experienced this?

Nope, but I guess it seems plausible. On my airplane, both batteries have
vents overboard to allow any gases out. I would hope that, even if gas
accumulated in the battery box, an ignition source wouldn't be forthcoming,
but I guess I can't rule that out.

Maybe as part of the repairs, you should add vents to the battery box or
batteries (my batteries each have a vent built in, to which a hose leading
outside is connected).

Pete

"Peter Duniho" > wrote in message ...
> "Roger Long" m> wrote in
> message ...
> > Has anyone heard or experienced this?
>
> Nope, but I guess it seems plausible. On my airplane, both batteries have
> vents overboard to allow any gases out. I would hope that, even if gas
> accumulated in the battery box, an ignition source wouldn't be forthcoming,
> but I guess I can't rule that out.

I had it happen in my truck. Battery exploded but evidently kept working but
was leaking acid slowly all over the battery holder and into the cables. Had to
get them all replaced.

It actually wasn't the battery which exploded in this case (unless it was
long ago and didn't make it into the logs). It was the gas around the
battery. The battery was fine.

--
Roger Long

Ron Natalie > wrote in message
m...
>
> "Peter Duniho" > wrote in message
...
> > "Roger Long" m> wrote
in
> > message ...
> > > Has anyone heard or experienced this?
> >
> > Nope, but I guess it seems plausible. On my airplane, both batteries
have
> > vents overboard to allow any gases out. I would hope that, even if gas
> > accumulated in the battery box, an ignition source wouldn't be
forthcoming,
> > but I guess I can't rule that out.
>
> I had it happen in my truck. Battery exploded but evidently kept working
but
> was leaking acid slowly all over the battery holder and into the cables.
Had to
> get them all replaced.
>

"something" = master relay contacts (generally bolted to the back or side of the
battery box), alternator slip rings, starter commutator/brushes, generator
commutator/brushes...

Jim



"G.R. Patterson III" >
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

->gasses were produced as the alternator charged the battery and something set
it
->off.



Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Experienced; In a U6-A, had a battery explosion.
Heard of; In an O1-A, A classmate had a battery explosion.

"Roger Long" m> wrote in
message ...
> Has anyone heard or experienced this?
>
> On changing the battery in our plane the other day, the A&P said, "You had
a
> battery explosion." On looking closely, I could see that the box was
bowed
> out and rounded as if someone had tried to inflate it with air. I'd
> noticed that it wasn't exactly square and the cover didn't fit very well
but
> thought it was just poor workmanship.
>
> He said it probably happened during starting from hydrogen build up that
the
> propwash hadn't had a chance to blow away yet and the pilot thought it was
a
> backfire. No harm done except we'll need a new box because of corrosion.
> It could have happened years ago.
>
> --
> Roger Long
>
>

Roger Long wrote:
>
> Has anyone heard or experienced this?

It's not uncommon for batteries to explode during charging if they've been deeply
discharged. It's a good idea to remove the caps on batteries that have them when
charging one.

Your mechanic is correct. What probably happened is that the battery was deeply
discharged starting the plane on an occasion on which it was hard to start. The
gasses were produced as the alternator charged the battery and something set it
off.

George Patterson
Great discoveries are not announced with "Eureka!". What's usually said is
"Hummmmm... That's interesting...."

Morgans wrote:

>
> Funny that this should come up. I had my first experience with battery
> explosions, this past Friday.
>
> An associate was charging a tractor battery with a large automotive charger
> at a high rate, and asked me to come over to see if I thought it was
> charging well. I went to see, and it was bubbling away to beat the band.
> He then reached down to check the tightness of the charger on the terminal.
> All this happened so fast, and I was not able to prevent what you all know
> happen next. It sparked, and let out a very surprisingly loud, BAM!!!. A
> little acid splashed about, but fortunately, I wear glasses, so no great
> harm was done, other than seriously ringing eardrums.
>
> If that large of an explosion went off in a battery box, it is lucky that it
> didn't completely split it open.
>
> Sh*t. More hearing shot to hell, that I don't have to give!


Reminds me of my high-school days when two friends were doing some welding with
a oxy-acetylene torch. During a break, they decided to capture a small amount
of near-stoichiometric gas mixture in a sandwich-sized plastic bag, tie off the
end, and put a match to it ('just to see what would happen'.) I entered the
garage just as my friend was bringing the match next to the bag.

The bag instantly exploded with absolutely no smoke or residue, but with the
loudest BANG I had ever heard. All three of us walked out of the garage with
our ears ringing, temporarily unable to hear normal conversation. Nobody hurt,
and hearing came back after a few minutes, but ears still ringing even after a
half hour or so.

"Roger Long" m> wrote in
message ...
> Has anyone heard or experienced this?
>
> On changing the battery in our plane the other day, the A&P said, "You had
a
> battery explosion." On looking closely, I could see that the box was
bowed
> out and rounded as if someone had tried to inflate it with air. I'd
> noticed that it wasn't exactly square and the cover didn't fit very well
but
> thought it was just poor workmanship.
>
> He said it probably happened during starting from hydrogen build up that
the
> propwash hadn't had a chance to blow away yet and the pilot thought it was
a
> backfire. No harm done except we'll need a new box because of corrosion.
> It could have happened years ago.
>
> --
> Roger Long
>
>
Funny that this should come up. I had my first experience with battery
explosions, this past Friday.

An associate was charging a tractor battery with a large automotive charger
at a high rate, and asked me to come over to see if I thought it was
charging well. I went to see, and it was bubbling away to beat the band.
He then reached down to check the tightness of the charger on the terminal.
All this happened so fast, and I was not able to prevent what you all know
happen next. It sparked, and let out a very surprisingly loud, BAM!!!. A
little acid splashed about, but fortunately, I wear glasses, so no great
harm was done, other than seriously ringing eardrums.

If that large of an explosion went off in a battery box, it is lucky that it
didn't completely split it open.

Sh*t. More hearing shot to hell, that I don't have to give!
--
Jim in NC

Mark Mallory > wrote in
:

> Reminds me of my high-school days when two friends were doing some
> welding with a oxy-acetylene torch. During a break, they decided to
> capture a small amount of near-stoichiometric gas mixture in a
> sandwich-sized plastic bag, tie off the end, and put a match to it

Wimps... we used to use those plastic clothes bags (which tend to leak
badly, by the way). [Of course, we also melted a small aluminum TV antenna
this way one day... ]

Thinking back on it all, it's very surprising that we survived to what now
passes for adulthood.

-----------------------------------------------
James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
Austin, Tx 78721
-----------------------------------------------

In article >, James M. Knox wrote:
> Thinking back on it all, it's very surprising that we survived to what now
> passes for adulthood.

I shudder when I think about the 3 litre bottle of trinitrogen iodide I
had sitting in my study at school...

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

"Richard Riley" > wrote in message
...
[snip]
> Every once in a while - like, every 3-5 years - someone will wash their
engine,
> close their hood, get in and try to start it. The battery promptly
> explodes.
[snip]

Wow! You've really got my attention now. I nearly awways spray water in and
around the front of the hood/grill when washing my car, and usually spray
off the engine once or twice a year. (Pilot wannabe- Still too much time on
my hands)

Anybody have an idea why this would happen? Would leaving the hood open for
a few minutes before attempting to start, or starting WITH the hood open
prevent such an unpleasant incident?

VideoGuy

On Sun, 11 Jan 2004 14:00:42 GMT, "Roger Long"
m> wrote:

>Has anyone heard or experienced this?
>
>On changing the battery in our plane the other day, the A&P said, "You had a
>battery explosion." On looking closely, I could see that the box was bowed
>out and rounded as if someone had tried to inflate it with air. I'd
>noticed that it wasn't exactly square and the cover didn't fit very well but
>thought it was just poor workmanship.
>
>He said it probably happened during starting from hydrogen build up that the
>propwash hadn't had a chance to blow away yet and the pilot thought it was a
>backfire. No harm done except we'll need a new box because of corrosion.
>It could have happened years ago.
>
>--
>Roger Long

I've seen it twice and had a close call on my own battery one winter's
day. I was an auto mechanic in another life and happened to be
watching a nearby Peugeot mechanic working on a dead car that had just
been dragged in. I think I helped push it in, in fact. I'd moved
away from the car and was about twenty feet off when the old dude who
worked on those things connected the charger to the battery. It
instantly exploded, scattering pieces of plastic and acid all over the
shop. The mechanic was scratched in a few places (painfully as the
cuts got splattered with acid) but was otherwise unharmed, including
his eyes as he was wearing glasses. He was lucky.

I saw another explode when a guy tried charging a frozen battery. I
mean literally, the acid was so diluted from being discharged that it
froze. That battery blew apart, but due to the ice, it wasn't a huge
explosion.

The time my own battery tried to explode, I'd removed all the battery
caps before attempting to charge it. I'd connected the charger,
making the negative connection away from the battery as you are
supposed to to lower the possibility of causing a spark near the
battery. I was removing the charger and failed to removed the
negative side first. This caused a spark and the escaping hydrogen
instantly blew up. But since the caps were off the battery, it only
resulted in a loud POP as the hydrogen ignited and it did no damage to
the battery or me.

There's a reason you are told to attach the positive lead first, and
connect the ground to something away from the battery. Problem is,
sometimes this results in such a poor connection that jumping the dead
battery is problematic.

Corky Scott

"Dylan Smith" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, James M. Knox
wrote:
> > Thinking back on it all, it's very surprising that we survived to what
now
> > passes for adulthood.
>
> I shudder when I think about the 3 litre bottle of trinitrogen iodide I
> had sitting in my study at school...
>

I guess you mean nitrogen triiodide, but yes, you wouldn't want that baby to
dry out!

Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ

I used to partially fill balloons with propane from the tanks attached to
the house for the cooking stove <farm boy - handy with tools> and then
finish inflating them with compressed air <farm boy, etc.>... Throw em up in
the wind and shoot at them with my .22 rifle as they bounced across the
field - great bang and gouts of smoky flame... I did a lot of that being
alone all day at the farm with them gone to work...

My mother used to complain to my dad that she couldn't understand why she
ran through cooking propane so fast in the summer but not in the winter...
He would be out there with soap solution looking for leaks... I never told
them about the balloons - it was too darn cold in the winter plus I was in
school all day - and now that you made me remember, I regret I did not tell
her later in life, she would have gotten a good laugh...

denny

"James M. Knox" > wrote in message
...
> Mark Mallory > wrote in
> :
>
> > Reminds me of my high-school days when two friends were doing some
> > welding with a oxy-acetylene torch.

"John Clonts" > wrote in
:


> I guess you mean nitrogen triiodide, but yes, you wouldn't want that
> baby to dry out!

Of course you do, just not in your dorm room. We used to paint the insides
of the door jams with the stuff. One guy once used a dilute solution of
the stuff to basically "wax" the old linoleum tile in an entire room (never
did get all the stain off afterwards).

But we never mixed it up in multi-liter quantities!

Now there were some other little things we used to do with sodim compounds
and sugar and ... well, that's another story.

-----------------------------------------------
James M. Knox
TriSoft ph 512-385-0316
1109-A Shady Lane fax 512-366-4331
Austin, Tx 78721
-----------------------------------------------