Battery Failure

[pads]

My first question yippee!

 

You know what it's like when you know something is wrong but can't quite put your finger on it?

 

I searched the boat and eventually found the middle service battery (of three) gently bubbling away with the other two getting toasty from the heat.

Then, after the "where the hell is the toolkit" question, I disconnected the beast and got it off the boat before "boom". Heavy things are 110AH batteries aren't they?

It must have been close as it remained hot all night cooking in it's own juices and was still going right down to the dump.

 

So, three new service batteries later, calm is restored.
It wasn't the charger incidently, just a failed cell.

 

The New Problem.

The battery must have been venting that lovely sulphuric acid gas as a couple of the bulkheads now have a white dust on them.

Current advice is to wash it off with soapy water and dry everything off.

 

Good advise or not guys and girls?

 

 

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

You need an alkalie solution to netralise the acid.

 

Sodium of Bicarbonate etc would do the job.

[by'eck]

Yes although I remember being told to use ammonia (household) to remove battery terminal corrosion.

 

Scroll down to the section here on battery cleaning.

Edited September 9, 2014 by by'eck

[Arthur Brown]

Acid splashes are ideally neutralised with sodium bicarbonate steal some from the galley or buy some from any general store. The other batteries may be reusable but not with new batteries.

[nicknorman]

Yes you definitely need to neutralise it rather than dilute it. As said, sodium bicarbonate (bicarbonate of soda -same thing) dissolved in water is the thing to use. It will fizz on contact with the acid. When it no longer fizzes with a new application, the acid is all neutralised. If you just try to dilute it with soapy water you will merely spread it and slow its corrosive effects, you won't eliminate them.

[pads]

My first question yippee!

 

You know what it's like when you know something is wrong but can't quite put your finger on it?

 

I searched the boat and eventually found the middle service battery (of three) gently bubbling away with the other two getting toasty from the heat.

Then, after the "where the hell is the toolkit" question, I disconnected the beast and got it off the boat before "boom". Heavy things are 110AH batteries aren't they?

It must have been close as it remained hot all night cooking in it's own juices and was still going right down to the dump.

 

So, three new service batteries later, calm is restored.
It wasn't the charger incidently, just a failed cell.

 

The New Problem.

The battery must have been venting that lovely sulphuric acid gas as a couple of the bulkheads now have a white dust on them.

Current advice is to wash it off with soapy water and dry everything off.

 

Good advise or not guys and girls?

 

 

 

 

 

[Proper Job]

This is your second question as it's a duplicate of your first

 

[Alan de Enfield]

Bicarbonate

[pads]

Ok, bicarbonate. I can work that one out it being an alkaline.

Except on further inspection, the whole of the engine bay (even behind the biggest electronics panel in the world) has a thin layer of white "dust" which I presume is the "corrosion" for want of a better word.

 

To do all that is one major strip down if not a complete gut job of the engine bay (sobbing quietly into the kleenex).
Way beyond me that one would be.

 

Is that really the only option?

[Proper Job]

The effect of the Acid vapour will only last a short period of time. It will not carry on corroding for ever.

 

Any 'damage' will have already been done and now the corrosive action will have been stopped. It would only continue if the source of the vapour was still present.

 

You have removed the problem already

[pads]

Yippee!

Kleenex back in in the cupboard and red eyes washed.

I was sort of thinking (no, hoping like hell) that might be the case.

 

After all I can do most things but a full engine bay strip and polish?

No, that would have been a lift and shipyard job.

Megger bucks.

 

I thank you.

[Alan de Enfield]

The vapours are heavier than air and will sit in the bottom of the boat - opening the engine 'box' will not disperse them, you need something to disperse them - a vaccum on 'blow' may do the job.

 

The corrosion effect will be there for some days (maybe weeks) getting less and less effective every day ( a bit like half-life radiation) but they will do serious damage to electrics and electronics.

 

Get a sprayer (Mr Muscle sort of thing), fill it with dilute Bicarb and spray EVERYTHING in the engine compartment, rinse off with a hose and do it again with bicarb, hose off then leave it to see if it re-occurs.

If you 'have it bad' it could be several weeks and repeated treatment before it stops.

 

The only mess will be a quantity of water in the bilge which you can then just dry up as normal.

[Kwacker]

I thought most soaps were alkaline.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080627031654AAZ02uP

Edited September 9, 2014 by Kwacker

[nicknorman]

Most domestic commercially-available soaps are not significantly alkaline because it would be bad for your skin. Even if they are very slightly alkaline, bicarbonate of soda is so much better for this purpose.

[Arthur Brown]

Bicarb is good and cheap and it self indicates completion! When the acid is gone the fizzing stops.

[ETS Jess]

Mine went boom not so long ago, Acid EVERYWHERE. I didn't have any bi-carb and the only thing I had enough of to cover the whole engine room was Cement which is alkali and worked a dream! Bear in mind it was an emergency and too late to get to the shops.

 

I assumed it was a dead cell in my battery too, however think about why the cell is dead - turns out I had a faulty charger, which had killed the cell. So I definitely suggest getting the charger checked.

 

Here's a link to my post if it is any help to you - http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=67670

 

Jess

Edited September 9, 2014 by ETS Jess

[Phil Ambrose]

Have just re-read Jess's post and it just reminds me I'm glad I have a decent battery monitor which I religiously check every day to see the SOC and at what voltage everything is at

Phil

[pads]

OK, I've gone from depressed to happy and back to worried.

 

So tomorrow I get to spray the engine bay with Bicarbonate of soda.
Just so's I get it right, what strength mixture?

 

As for purging the air, short of just leaving the covers off and praying for wind, that's about all I can do.

 

How does Bicarb react with electronics then?
I'm going to cover what I can with towels but life ain't perfect so I've got to assume some of the spray will sneak past the towels.

 

Does aluminum react with bicarb?

After all if I spray with an alkaline, won't there be a danger of that reacting with the metal?

 

So many questions.
Seeing as though there is a danger of long term damage to all them little grey boxes, is this time to talk to the insurance?

Edited September 9, 2014 by pads

[smileypete]

Best to have an ammeter to monitor the charge current, and for unattended charging a low current charge source.

 

Charge current should tail off to 1-2% of batt capacity, less for sealed batts, bit for more non-sealed batts some years old.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

[PhilR]

OK, I've gone from depressed to happy and back to worried.

 

So tomorrow I get to spray the engine bay with Bicarbonate of soda.

Just so's I get it right, what strength mixture?

 

As for purging the air, short of just leaving the covers off and praying for wind, that's about all I can do.

 

How does Bicarb react with electronics then?

I'm going to cover what I can with towels but life ain't perfect so I've got to assume some of the spray will sneak past the towels.

 

Does aluminum react with bicarb?

After all if I spray with an alkaline, won't there be a danger of that reacting with the metal?

 

So many questions.

Seeing as though there is a danger of long term damage to all them little grey boxes, is this time to talk to the insurance?

 

Bear in mind that alkaline solutions can cause considerable corrosion to steelwork. Also many anti rust products are acidic................... :-)

If using any alkaline products I would wash down asap.

[Phil Ambrose]

Bi-carb while capable of neuyralising the acid is in fact fairly innocuous stuff, years ago people would take it as an antacid for heartburn etc, its used in cooking and anyone who uses dried peas will be familiar with using it to soak the peas, we do and in a ali saucepan which does not develope holes. Wash down afterwards should be all you need.

Phil

[Paul G2]

As Phil pointed out, bi-carb is just baking soda as used in the kitchen. It shouldn't remain on any surface, you need to rinse it off, otherwise it will dry to a white powder. The bi-carb will rinse off easily before it dries. It has to be scrubbed off if you let it dry. It's not hard to scrub, but you do have to take a cloth to it and it's easier just to wash it off with fresh water while it is still wet.

 

I think it goes without saying that water and electronics don't mix. If you are washing down around electronics you should disconnect them from their power source before doing any washing just in case some water gets in them. Water is never good for electronics, but it doesn't usually do much damage if they are turned off and then dried real well before being turned back on.

 

You can wipe down the outside of electronics with a rag that is dampened with the bi-carb solution, and again with a fresh water rinse. If you need to use the hose around the electronics, wrap them with plastic to make sure they stay dry. After you are all done with the washdown, take the covers off the electronics to make sure they are dry inside before reconnecting the power supply.

[pads]

After an exciting day spraying the bulkheads and engine bay with bicarb (not one fizz either)
dousing everything with clean water and drying up with elephants bog roll,

 

I can report happily that there is no snow left in Somerset or ,to be accurate, me boat!