A cautionary tale - battery hydrogen gas.

Qwerty said:

Camping has been off the agenda this year due to the effects of the economy but I still wanted to clean up our 22T.

The moment I pressed the switch to raise her, I heard a loud bang & when I opened the A frame compartment, acrid smelly smoke billowed out. The battery had exploded! All available sizes | Battery explosion | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I asserted that, as the battery was on charge & it was a hot day, hydrogen gas had built up in the compartment & was ignited by a small spark from the hydraulic motor.

I really don't know a solution to this as the compartment cannot be vented prior to raising as the top section keeps the compartment closed.

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sting32 said:

I am more apt to think that the battery itself blew up, due to lack of water/acid in the battery. I lost a Diehard battery this way, a few years back. I got lucky as heck, it was my 66 mustang, and when the battery blew there was not a shower of battery acid, like there should have been inside the engine compartment. So every since then, I maintenance even maintenance free batterys by checking and adding water to them every fall (at least)... I check the camper type battery more often since it get charged a lot as well.

as you know there would been plenty of "venting" going on" under the hood of them old cars... I'd been told that Battery's do this when they dry up, I guess just as they short themselves out when dry?

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