Battery Explosion

S

seabeagle

New member
Not a boat topic but, today I went to start my home backup generator because the nearby lines were being replaced. It's a 15kw Generac with a built in battery charger an had a Delco sealed car-sized battery inside (purchaced 5-29-2005 when installed). I hit the manual start button and was initially puzzled that it didn't start cranking immediately, in fact I didn't even hear a sound. Just as I leaned my head near to look in the cabinet, BOOM!, the battery blew up as loud as an M80. I was mildly hit with plastic and acid. No big deal, I washed off and got some tools to open the cabinet and get the acid out. I removed the burst battery, washed out the cabinet, and temporarily put an old battery inside and started the generator with no issue.

My question is why?

I had recently cleaned the cabinet and test run the generator about a month ago. The built in charger is always on, could that have dried up the battery inside and built up hydrogen gas? When I clicked the start button, the relay latches and holds. Could that have heated the battery inside and ignited the fumes? I'm quite suprised that this happened. I've only heard of this from smoking nearby or overcharging. Tomorrow I plan the test the charger and check the owners manual for a better description of the built in charger's operation. And not that it matters after the fact but, the burst battery did show 9.3 remaining volts.

I had a Delco battery in there because I've always liked the maintenance free aspect. Should I get a standard battery with removable tops to check fluid levels?
 
Well, many years ago I had a "add water to" battery blow up due to the hydrogen created while charging. I caused a spark when jumping it. Fortunately I was wearing glasses and there was a shower right there.

I really like AMG batteries much better. They are also the only type of battery that you can fly with in an electrical scooter. In addition, they can take a direct short across the poles and not explode or overheat so badly as to cause a melt down.

I now run two AMG batteries in Sea-Cruz.

I am very glad you were not hurt, many people have suffered very bad injuries from exploding batteries.

Ron
 
Did some reading this morning and found out that batteries exploding in Generac generators are pretty common. Seems to be a poor design with the trickle charger. I might need to replace it with a better kind.
 
I also have a Generac Back up genset with auto start--so far in 4 years no problem, but I am wondering when to change out the battery. Generally 4 years is what I do in boats.

During my life, I have had two car batteries explode when first cranking the engine--so it is not that unusual to have an internal short. Both of these batteries were about 3 years old.

I will replace my Generac battery with a standard lead acid battery of similar size, and check the water. So far my voltage has been maintained well in the first battery.
 
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