Battery Venting

jefffoxsr wrote:
...The vent tube is about 1.5 feet long and really only needs to be about 8 inches long. Can I cut it to be efficient like the picture that was posted above?

Thanks.

Yes you can cut it to whatever length you like. When I replaced my flooded battery with two gel batteries I got rid of the box. Not needed with your AGM either.

My issue is not with gas nor even the acid. It is with long term effects of fooling around with batteries without using gloves, and playing with charging batteries (bubbling vigorously) without wearing a mask. Get a white cloth, rub it on a battery or near a battery. See the almost black smudge? That's lead sulfate not pure lead. No it doesn't put you in the hospital right away. But later on in life when a sudden autoimmune attack, heart rhythm problem, kidney or liver issue suddenly appears you can bet lead had a lot to do with it. I wasn't referring to batteries in outside compartments, rather flooded batteries being stuck under sinks or in closets and cupboards without benefit of proper ventilation.

Do yourself a favor and GOOGLE the term LEAD POISONING.

When inverters manage to acquire skin and lungs then I'll include them in the list of warnings.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Se?or GORDON THREE,

Seeing how this thread FOCUSES on lead acid battery ventilation, trivializing the danger of lead poisoning is not a very wise choice of positions to take.

LEAD POISONING isn't like cyanide where you end up in a coffin with blue lips smelling like a box of almonds. Lead poisoning is subtle, and can lead to problems that defy rational analysis - like exacerbating heart rhythm problems, causing kidney and liver damage, ruining the level of immune system protection and too many other things to count.

This thread is not about how to prepare meringue for a pie, or how to shop for a tie, it is about handling lead acid batteries. So pardon me if I remark your trivialization borders on the incredible.

Mex, I have my six batts spread across the front cargo bay of my fiver, not in vented boxes, which I think is ventilated more or less.

In the same big compartment I have inverters, converters, and solar controllers. So far, none of those has been eaten by battery fumes (5 years for one of the inverters) I do not want to disregard safety, but I am just not having any "issues" so it is hard to believe I am in imminent danger.

Thank you very much for all of your comments. I appreciate them. I discovered today that the battery box was installed backwards on my new camper. As a result the pos and neg wires won't reach far enough to go through the holes in the box designed for the wires to go through. They just put the lid on the box and ran the wires in under the side of the lid. The box obviously did not seal as a result and I was breathing in fumes last fall.

I put things back together correctly and installed an AGM battery today.

The vent tube is about 1.5 feet long and really only needs to be about 8 inches long. Can I cut it to be efficient like the picture that was posted above?

Thanks.

Se?or GORDON THREE,

Seeing how this thread FOCUSES on lead acid battery ventilation, trivializing the danger of lead poisoning is not a very wise choice of positions to take.

LEAD POISONING isn't like cyanide where you end up in a coffin with blue lips smelling like a box of almonds. Lead poisoning is subtle, and can lead to problems that defy rational analysis - like exacerbating heart rhythm problems, causing kidney and liver damage, ruining the level of immune system protection and too many other things to count.

This thread is not about how to prepare meringue for a pie, or how to shop for a tie, it is about handling lead acid batteries. So pardon me if I remark your trivialization borders on the incredible.

smkettner wrote:
Get us a pic of that box set up.

Box should be sealed like this:

If you turn that box over you would see that both halves are identical. The bottom has a hole that is drilled through the floor. Air in the bottom and out the top.

Please don't go overboard or get hung up on health risks and hype. For example; dihydrogen monoxide kills countless thousands world wide each year, many times greater number of fatalities from lead acid batteries, yet it is for sale at every corner store and street vendor, mixed into or naturally part of every food item we consume, and consumed in large quantities by young and old alike.

DHMO Facts

If there is a way to have two vents, one for incoming air, one for exiting, I wonder if it might be an idea to run a computer fan on a low RPM on the intake, assuming the incoming vent is well away from the batteries. That way, any H2 that gets outgassed gets exhausted no matter what.

Lots of good info. on venting sealed battery boxes on the internet such as:

hydrogen venting
hydrogen venting
BD Batteries

I found a great website not too long ago but can't find it right now.

The exterior vent should be min. 6" above the top of the battery box. Not sure if temp. inversion can be an issue in an RV but FWs use the MTS products sealed box and come that way from the factory. FW sealed boxes I don't know if the inlet location into the box is all that important but you don't want it going into an enclosed underbelly or inside your camper in case the gas flows in the opposite direction. Small droplets of acid can apparently escape the outlet vent and you don't want it near anything metallic.

Those common MTS Products sealed battery boxes are a PITA because the halves are held together with bolts/nuts which makes it hard to check the water level or remove for winterization. There are some other boxes that don't use bolts/screws. I used the MTS one once and never again.

If I install a battery inside again, I'd use an AGM type in a sealed box in case it ever off-gases.

Two significant hazards IMO

Hydrogen and its relatives, like H2S (Hydrogen sulfide). Hydrogen atoms rise fast and aggressively seek any escape path they find. H2S is denser but the gas is only an element of concern during catastrophic overcharging.

LEAD and its various components. Venting has a pb carryover factor. Usually the lead coalesces and precipitates fairly close to the vent. But the entire inside and outside of the containment vessel should be treated as a very real pb hazardous waste site.

READ THIS CAREFULLY por favor. There are two types of lead. Pure lead IS NOT NEARLY as poisonous as ORGANIC LEAD which is the type of lead found in lead acid batteries. The very worse form of organic lead commonly found was tetra-ethyl lead which one single droplet on exposed skin caused death.

So, in my opinion caution focuses on proper ventilation of flooded lead acid batteries and not on the dangers of handling organic lead. Rub a cloth inside a battery storage box. See the black smudge on the cloth? That's organic lead in sulfate form and when it gets on your skin it is absorbed.

Both ventilation AND skin protection is important. I use nitrile gloves and a painter's disposable mask.