[sdbob]

I have a good friend who is the original owner of a low mileage 06 GTO. The original Delco battery just exploded while battery maintainer being used. Before he placed maintainer on the cars battery was low on charge. I'll say it was not the battery tender brand. Luckily it did not catch fire. Yes some acid damage.He is calling his insurance co. I've had batteries freeze but never explode. I've read on net the possible whys. Anyone shed light on this? Just trying to keep this from happening again to anyone.

[JSchmitz]

Lead/acid batteries emit hydrogen gas. They emit a lot more when charging. There was likely a spark somewhere that set off the hydrogen. My guess anyway.

[steve25]

This is why you always prop the hood open a good amount when the battery is being charged.

Many times with the hood near closed creating a accumulation of the gas all that’s needed is a slight spark at the charger connections at a battery terminal .
This type of thing can easily take place if you brush by the power cable of the charger and the whole unit and it’s cable to the battery moves a little.

[chiphead]

"original battery from 2006". There's your problem. A battery is not a pet, replace it when it gets old.

As the plates sulfate, it takes more current to maintain the battery in the float (trickle) charge mode. The electrolyte starts to separate into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen, being lighter than air, accumulates under the hood. Eventually it reaches the lower explosion limit and is able to combust. Static spark, charger cable spark, angry Tinkerbell, doesn't take much to go Hindenburg.

Once saw a battery explode in college. A girl got into her 2-door Honda and hit the key. There was a muffled BANG and the hood unlatched itself. I went over to help and found the battery had blown a cell cover off and sprayed acid all over. Her BF showed up and I advised them to flush the area with water and replace the battery.

[dataway]

17 year old battery??
I'm terrible about keeping old batteries around, but 17 years old is something even I wouldn't do.
Combine with a charger that perhaps wasn't as "smart" as it should have been?

Sounds like it had to be hydrogen ... a battery "tender" should never be able to generate enough current to overheat a car battery to the point of explosion.

[sdbob]

I've tried to get as much life out things like my battery as possible. He had the hood open. I read on net about demand on battery and plates warping and grounding out causing explosions. When I charge up batteries I have outside under a roof so if there is a problem no vehicles will be damaged. He said he didnt want to have computer resetting, so he left battery in. It's strange sometimes I cover all my bases then I miss one. Thanks guys

[tom s]

I got 12 out of my Autozone.Way more than intended.Tom

[Sirrotica]

Hydrognen is generated not only when they are charged, also when they are discharging. Any spark near a lead acid battery is a potential ignition source. You can run an engine on hydrogen, so it has the same potential as gasoline, propane, or any other motor fuel when ignited.

Over the last 50 plus years, have blown 2 batteries up that were being charged, due to a spark when cables were connected/disconnected. I have also seen 2-3 blow up under the hood of a car when being started. Usually due to either bad cable connections, or arcing internally inside of the battery.

Anytime I now charge batteries, or jump them I always make the negative connection last when I'm hooking them up, and I make it to a point on the engine, rather than on the battery terminals themselves. When disconnecting them I take the negative connection off first from the engine, then remove the positive.

A friend of mine that owned a body shop had a customers car with a dead battery he was jumping to move it into the shop, and inadvertantly caused a spark. The battery exploded while he was connecting the cables. A piece of the battery broke the lens on his glasses, and lodged in his eye. He never got his normal vision back in that eye.

Look at a battery as a small hydrogen bomb, because that is exactly what you're dealing with. Leaning over the battery is the worst place to be if one explodes, the top usually comes straight up, and will hit you in the face, along with lead and plastic shrapnel, plus the acid. I was lucky both times I exploded a battery, and not gotten injured, definitely not a joke.

The first time my father had warned me that the battery had just come off a charger, and be careful to not cause a spark near it...... I was 15 YO at the time, and thought the old man was crazy about batteries exploding. Turns out, he knew what he was taking about.......... The second time I wiggled a charger clamp to make sure it was making a good connection, while the charger was on............BOOM

Be aware of the potential, and be safe.

[sdbob]

I ain't gettin out of bed anymore! Geez I've done everything that you said dont. One I dont do is lean over battery when hooking up charger. My 2 tractor batteries are being maintained right now. I have a old towel over top in case of explosion. Then again the towel is keeping the gas against the terminals. I'm going to bed!

[kingbuzzo]

dropping a large unit into an fbody is no picnic neither...jinkies

[dataway]

Bear in mind there is hydrogen INSIDE the battery ... so on an old battery with internal plate connections and connections to the terminals that have degraded over time .. they can spark internally where you never see them, and ignite the hydrogen inside the battery.

In general I call it quits on a battery at about 10 years old, hate to do it sometimes, but at that point they are just a problem waiting to happen at the worst possible moment.

[sdbob]

Yep. Just took battery out my 2015 2500 GMC.Still worked garage tested it ,ok I just felt better to be safe,non start on cold morning or in this case explosion.

[burd]

They say not to make any connections on the top. I buy the long leads at the swaps, mount it permanently to the cables, o now you just make a quick connection lower in the bumper somewhere.

[daduck]

jump started a vehicle with a dead battery (summer of 2022) with a jump box. Dead battery exploded when the key was turned. Sounded like a 12 gauge and smoke/acid everywhere. I think some of the battery parts vaporized since we only found a few pieces of the battery. We grabbed a garden hose and rinsed off the engine and then the whole vehicle.

[P@blo]

Originally Posted by dataway

Bear in mind there is hydrogen INSIDE the battery ... so on an old battery with internal plate connections and connections to the terminals that have degraded over time .. they can spark internally where you never see them, and ignite the hydrogen inside the battery.

In general I call it quits on a battery at about 10 years old, hate to do it sometimes, but at that point they are just a problem waiting to happen at the worst possible moment.

The plates indide the battery are now closer together and more cheaply made. You might want to revise your expiry time from 5-7 years Data. I was not happy when I was informed about the change as the price did not drop but the quality sure did. Industry wide decision too so brand picking will not help us.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Longk ago, i visited Spotts (Rare Bird Firebird Parts) to deal with some parts, and Paul was in a field jumping a weak Batt in an OHC-6 Bird with a Batt. Just talking casually and BOOM. That was a surprise.

The BATT in the old Bird blew the top off. Guess was the corroded screw-clamped-copper-clamps made like a igniter.