How did this happen?

Anonymous-0 · Sep 10, 2010

I have an old 77 dodge that I went to start, and the top of the battery blew off! I just got it off the charger and put the battery back in, it was not hooked up backwards. Never saw anything like this in my life, last time I went to start it everything went fine, the battery was getting weak for it is five years old. Any thoughts on this is? What a way to start the day!
Tom

730d se · Sep 10, 2010

Could have been an internal short, sparked and set off the gas inside the battery.

Vernon in Ks · Sep 10, 2010

Have seen it twice. Once on a tractor and once in a pickup truck. Doesn't take much. I've started using safety glasses any time I'm sevicing batteries.

John Harmon · Sep 10, 2010

Happened to me once on my Ford 2000.Sure made a mess of my Carhart overalls.

SCHMUCK 2 · Sep 10, 2010

Gasses given off by batteries are explosive, as you just witnessed. Apparently, the battery was still emitting gasses from charging and when you tried to start the truck and a loose/bad connection sparked and KABOOM! The spark may have come from inside the battery itself. Batteries in poor condition are much more prone to this, especially when you use a 10 amp charger or larger on them. Keep what you witnessed in mind so it doesn't happen to you again.

buickanddeere · Sep 10, 2010

That is why you should wear safety glasses around batteries.Can't get most people to understand that.
Probably a spark or hot spot from a failing inner connection.

Bspauld · Sep 10, 2010

A few years ago I was setting in the truck waiting for the wife at a store. A guy drove up in a restored 50 ford truck,really pretty truck,well done,He got out and went in to the store and the battery blew,put a big dent in his hood, He and I were both dumbfounded.The truck was just setting there,not running

Eric SEI · Sep 10, 2010

My Chevette (years ago) did that in an intersection in Cincinnati. Luckily I was able to roll into a gas station that had batteries.

cj in wisconsin · Sep 10, 2010

Been a mechanic for over thirty years, have had at least five explode, one by my error, and 4 had no apparent reason. Had a Taurus battery just blow up for no apparent reason, filled my arm with broken plastic shards and acid, that kinda stung! I always wear glasses around batteries now. Internal shorts are what cause the explosions that seem to have no explaination.

Lamar Fudd · Sep 10, 2010

Our old Suburban used to overheat. Shut it off at a railroad crossing while train went by. On restart, heard a "Poof" under the hood. Checked it out and thd the battery cover was raised up at one end. The terminal had broken at the plate junction. Found a stick and wedged the plate up against the terminal and it started. Went to Western Auto, where the "mecanic" questioned why we'd pried uop the end of the case. Long story shot, bought a new battery and came back a week later with the old one when the service manager was back from vacation and he adjusted it. Actually ended up ten dollars ahead by the time the adjustment was made.

Russ from MN · Sep 10, 2010

The gasses inside a charging battery are mostly hydrogen and oxygen, witch burn very rapidly! All it takes is an internal short, or external caused by hooking or unhooking a charger or jumper cables. I have seen it happen a couple of times,once in my dad's face while jumping a JD R where the battery was under the seat and the other time was a 49 Chev pickup, where it was under the passenger floorboards, blew the cover and floor mat up into the seat! That's why its best to keep the water level right up because then there is less room for gasses.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 10, 2010

Had the hood open and I am finding pieces of it over fifty feet away. Sure glad I wasnt standing in front of it. Makes me think, I have stood over motors before while people try to start them, I hope I never forget what can happen. Had to hose the inside of the truck out. Sure is a sticky mess!
Tom

brian(MN) · Sep 10, 2010

I know what you are thinking, I had a battery explode in a JD 6620 combine explode. I was charging it at the time. ( I will never do that again!) It was like a shot gun blast, blew the top off the battery, realy scared me. I think of it everytime I hook up a battery, or charger, or jump start something. I try to be more carefull.
Brian(MN)

jim murphy · Sep 10, 2010

Old mechanic taught me to always take off the caps when charging your battery. Does this let the gasses escape and prevent the blowup?

Pops1532 · Sep 10, 2010

(quoted from post at 22:42:05 09/10/10) Old mechanic taught me to always take off the caps when charging your battery. Does this let the gasses escape and prevent the blowup?

Yes, removing the caps will allow the explosive gasses to escape. ALWAYS remove the caps when charging! The one time I didn't remove the caps guess what happened?

paul · Sep 10, 2010

Dad was picking ear corn, I was hauling wagons & unloading with the Ford 960.

Got the wagon unloaded, hopped on the 960, turned the key and leaned forward, pushed the started button down (battery is under the steering wheel on a 960 so less than a couple feet from my head, under the instrument cluster...) and BOOM.

Lost my hearing for 2 seconds, saw a piece of plastic - battery top - fly away like a frisbee. Fluid dripping down from under the dash. Mom looked at me like I was dead or something, I was kinda wondering myself on that. She was saying something, but I couldn't hear it.

Hearing came back, got my bearings, grabbed a battery out of the H, got it hooked up & made it out the field before dad got the next wagon full.

Those things can just blow, and with real emphisis, one doesn't realize until you live through it.

--->Paul

Joe N E Texas · Sep 10, 2010

Had one to blow up on a welding machine once i wasn't close to it but it was loud.

Crem · Sep 10, 2010

Yeah one little spark when the gases are present and it is ka bang. I worked with a guy that came into our plant to repair the batteries on our electric fork trucks. The first thing that he did was remove all of the caps and blow each one out with his mouth to get rid of the gasses. Then he lit up his torch and resealed the tops of the cells or pulled a bad cell out to replace etc.

montidale · Sep 10, 2010

I had one blow up trying to start a thermo-king in the winter. Left a charger on the battery for a couple hours, Came back ,put the charger on boost. The unit started up and when I took the cables of the battery the charger was still on boost. It blew up in my face. I rinsed my eye's out with water for five minutes and went to the E.R. Had blurred vision for two weeks.NOT FUN

Flurette Farm · Sep 10, 2010

My BIL did it and he's blind to this day. Sad case....

monkeyrun · Sep 10, 2010

This is sorta related. There's a sequence to use when hooking up jumper cables, too. All you need to remember is that a charging battery gives off hydrogen which is explosive when mixed with air, so you always hook up the jumpers to the charged (good) battery first to cut down the chance of sparks. Just remember the battery that has been charging is just like a bomb waiting for a spark. The "dead" battery shouldn't have a lot of hydrogen around it unless it's been on a charger. I've even seen some directions saying to hook up to the charged battery first, then put the + cable on the dead battery, then hook the - cable to a bumper or some other ground distant from the dead battery. I like to live dangerously so I always hook up to the - cable on the dead battery instead of the bumper or engine.

GeneMO · Sep 10, 2010

Ever see the pics of the Hindenberg crashing in flames? It was filled with Hydrogen. Nuff said.

Gene

tjdub · Sep 10, 2010

It happened to my grandpa on a allis WD. He was merrily raking hay and all of a sudden the battery just exploded. Of course, there was no side or top panel on the battery box, and that battery rides right between your legs. Luckily he wore glasses. He just ended up with one heck of welt where the negative battery terminal hit him and all of his clothes came out of the wash as a pile of threads.

When batteries charge they release hydrogen gas, under the right conditions, you have yourself a bomb that's wrapped around a mess of lead and plastic shrapnel that's just waiting for a spark.

Roy in UK · Sep 11, 2010

Yes I had a similar thing happen to me. I was using an angle grinder and I forgot there was a battery bring charged up nearby. BANG! Scared the heck out of me.

Tony S. · Sep 11, 2010

Alternators charge a lot more amps than that.

John B. · Sep 11, 2010

For those who don't know I'll pass this on. BATTERY ACID WILL INSTANTLY BLIND YOU IF GOTTEN IN YOUR EYES. WEAR GOOGLES ANY TIME WHEN HANDLING, CHARGING OR JUMPING BATTERIES IN ANY TYPE OF VEHICLE.
What happened to your battery is very common. Any one that is in the maintenance field most likely has seen this numerous times like my self. We had one just last week in an excavator blow the end out. Sounds like a shot gun. This battery wasn't even on the charger. Many times a battery will leak around the posts if they have any age on them, then a loose connection at that post can create a spark when trying to start the engine. They say batteries are built to blow out the bottom or the sides so the top don't blow in some one's face.

Geo-TH,In · Sep 11, 2010

This happened to me and my brother 25 years ago. It was winter and the battery was 6 mo old. Had trouble starting the car, so it was on the charger. Both of us were in the car and I turned the key on. Big Flash and Bang. Acid all over the place. Did a number on the garage floor. From that day on, when I jump start a vehicle, I make everyone get back.

SCHMUCK 2 · Sep 11, 2010

Not for extended periods, typically the charge rate starts out high then drops off within a couple of minutes. After 10 minutes or so, they are usually just putting out enough to keep up with accessories. This is all normal and doesn't cause the creation of large amounts of gasses. That is, unless the battery was dead or is damaged. That's when the explosions happen.

How did this happen?

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

New User

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Similar threads