In Th eMarch issue of FMCA MAg an answer was givin that mineral oil in batteries was harmful.I put in 4 oz. of mineral oil in each cell of my 6 6 volt batteries when I purchased my 2010 Phaeton new. That was over 4 years ago and my batteries still look and charge like new. I never have to clean my batteries and add water every 3 months. We are full timers and the batteries really get a work out and we do have a house large refrigerator with a ice maker.I researched the internet and found that Thomas Edison used oil in his batteries and I think he was a well informed gentleman. I will continue to use mineral oil in my batteries.O P LutzF392946

The only reason I have heard for a LITTLE mineral oil was to give a top layer to the electrolyte that MIGHT help to prevent evaporation. Other than that I know of no other benefit.

Yeah... uh... thanks for the info. I'm not sure what benefit there is to it either. I do believe there are thousands of 4 year old GC6s that are also working perfectly without the mineral oil.Thomas Edison also made his recording tubes out of wax. It worked but Vinyl turned out to be a bit better.....

OhhWell wrote:Yeah... uh... thanks for the info. I'm not sure what benefit there is to it either. I do believe there are thousands of 4 year old GC6s that are also working perfectly without the mineral oil.Thomas Edison also made his recording tubes out of wax. It worked but Vinyl turned out to be a bit better.....Edison also advocated use of DC for the electrification of America. Westinghouse was the champion of AC which won out in the end.

bob_nestor wrote:OhhWell wrote:Yeah... uh... thanks for the info. I'm not sure what benefit there is to it either. I do believe there are thousands of 4 year old GC6s that are also working perfectly without the mineral oil.Thomas Edison also made his recording tubes out of wax. It worked but Vinyl turned out to be a bit better.....Edison also advocated use of DC for the electrification of America. Westinghouse was the champion of AC which won out in the end.Good one. thank goodness someone in this hemisphere was listening to Tesla.

rgatijnet1 wrote:The only reason I have heard for a LITTLE mineral oil was to give a top layer to the electrolyte that MIGHT help to prevent evaporation. Other than that I know of no other benefit.That is the ONLY benefit one might get....BUT if he is adding water every 3 months...he's not even getting that benny!

mineral oil in rv batteries | Good Sam Community

rascal55
Explorer
Aug 07, 2014
This is a little late on this thread, but I am not finding information as to which retailers sell Thermoil DeMister. Does anyone know where I can source this product?
mowermech
Explorer
Mar 21, 2014
Those who use Thermoil might be interested in this:

https://www.thermoil.com/sites/default/files/msds_battery_de-mister.pdf
RayChez
Explorer
Mar 20, 2014
Kidoo wrote:
RayChez wrote:
There is a pretty good article this month on the FMCA magazine about adding oil to wet batteries, and they do not recommend adding oil. First off your warranty is gone if you add oil mixed with the electrolyte. Plus it also mentions something about oil getting on the lead plates when the water/electrolyte goes down.

My batterie came with oil in it. If I remember, oil was used in batteries a long time ago. I only added water once, and very little. I had them for 4 years now. I do not think that oil on the plates would be an issue as it uses much less electrolyte than my standard batteries.

I am 71 years old and I have never seen batteries that come with oil. I worked for the BNSF railroad for 42 years as a mechanical supervisor and those locomotive have some big batteries and even on those I never saw oil mixed with the electrolyte. So if you bought those batteries new I sure would be interested as to what company does that.
Kidoo
Explorer
Mar 20, 2014
RayChez wrote:
There is a pretty good article this month on the FMCA magazine about adding oil to wet batteries, and they do not recommend adding oil. First off your warranty is gone if you add oil mixed with the electrolyte. Plus it also mentions something about oil getting on the lead plates when the water/electrolyte goes down.

My batterie came with oil in it. If I remember, oil was used in batteries a long time ago. I only added water once, and very little. I had them for 4 years now. I do not think that oil on the plates would be an issue as it uses much less electrolyte than my standard batteries.
AeroP
Explorer
Mar 20, 2014
I have 4 Trojan 105's. I refill 3 or 4 times a year, they do not use much water. They are 9 years old and I added 2 ounces of mineral oil to each cell when new. I have a very clean battery compartment. I would not be without mineral oil purchased from Walgreens.
AeroP
RayChez
Explorer
Mar 17, 2014
There is a pretty good article this month on the FMCA magazine about adding oil to wet batteries, and they do not recommend adding oil. First off your warranty is gone if you add oil mixed with the electrolyte. Plus it also mentions something about oil getting on the lead plates when the water/electrolyte goes down.
wilanddij
Explorer
Mar 17, 2014
What if it's a sealed battery? Whatcha goin to do then?
Think about it. How much water is gonna evaporate from a sealed battery?
Passin_Thru
Explorer
Mar 17, 2014
What if it's a sealed battery? Whatcha goin to do then?
Deano56
Explorer
Mar 09, 2014
n7bsn wrote:
JohnnyT wrote:
I have never added pure mineral oil, but I do use a Thermoil product in my 8 house batteries.. Current batteries are in their 7th season, I added the Thermoil additive when I installed them...

It has not affected the battery life but did eliminate corrosion and greatly reduced water consumption.

Our coach is all electric and we are on the road 9 to 10 months a year so our batteries get a good workout. Prior to using the product I had fairly severe out gassing and resultant corrosion and was having to add water every two to three months.

The Thermoil website does speak to the differences between their product and mineral oil.. I have no way to know the reality of their assertions since I have never used mineral oil in a battery. As I recall the Thermoil product was expensive, but my corrosion problem was so severe I took a chance...It does not appear to have hurt battery performance or longevity. Mineral may well work the same???

JohnnyT

One hopes your batteries are not made by US Battery or Deka/East Penn (among others) as the use voids the warranty.
after 7 years I doubt there is a void of warranty to be concerned about
Passin_Thru
Explorer
Mar 08, 2014
WOW! and no one said "Who is Telsa?" Bad idea or they would do it on aircraft batteries. Never heard of engineers testing this theory. Also, the reason you don't keep batteries indoors is because they produce hydrogen and it is highly explosive and if you should overcharge a battery and create a spark you could go KAOOM!
BO

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