Battery Charging Indoors

[SR77]

Can battery maintanace charging be done indoors in like a basement?

I just bought a maintanance charger (CTEK) and connected it to my auto battery I was storing in my basement. Are these maintanance chargers safe to use indoors. Once they are in maintanance mode do they even charge with enough juice to make the battery give off any gas fumes? Currently i have it connected to the CTEK on my work bench in my basement which is around 10 or so feet from the furnance and hot water heater. Just making sure these are safe indoors where the temp is constant. There is no mention of not using it indoors in the manual. thanks

 

[wrcsixeight]

A maintenance charger will only cause the battery to produce a slight amount of hydrogen sulfide gas, if any. Generally they only gas when in the 14.2 + range, depending on temperature. A maintenance charger usually holds the batter at 13.2 to 13.6 volts. It is designed to hold the battery at full charge and not use any water.

Now if you were charging multiple batteries at 10 + amps each, then there could be more of a gas build up, but I do not think your intended maintenance charging is dangerous, but I would not put it right next to the hot water heater either.

 

[JHZR2]

There are many ways to calculate CFM requirements to vent a battery charging station for gas release. Assuming these are flooded batteries and not VRLA, which gas out of the battery at a far lower rate.

Search google, the calculation should be essentially:

CFM=x.y * Ah of cell * Number of cells

Your number of cells will be 6 if youre doing a standard 12V battery.

You can also calculate estimated gas evolution and the space air volume to determine if LFL would ever be reached.

 

[SR77]

Just to be alittle more clear, I have the battery in a battery box conneted to the CTEK in a back work area room in my basement where my work bench is. The work bench is about 10-15 ft from the funance & hot water heater which are also located in my back work area room in my basement. This work room is probably about 11x20 amd i have my car battery stored there because the rest of the basement is finished.

I am just not sure at what point a battery gives off flammable fumes and how much?

 

[Errtt]

If you use a maintainer/float charger and not gas it hard, I wouldn't worry about it.
If you do get some gassing, it's probably not how much, but in what concentration.
Sounds (to me) you have a safe distance.

What gets me is the LP gas grills where the tank may be inches below the burner - yikes.

 

[Quest]

Originally Posted By: wrcsixeight
A maintenance charger will only cause the battery to produce a slight amount of hydrogen sulfide gas, if any. Generally they only gas when in the 14.2 + range, depending on temperature. A maintenance charger usually holds the batter at 13.2 to 13.6 volts. It is designed to hold the battery at full charge and not use any water.

Now if you were charging multiple batteries at 10 + amps each, then there could be more of a gas build up, but I do not think your intended maintenance charging is dangerous, but I would not put it right next to the hot water heater either.


It's Hydrogen gas, not H2S.

It's highly explosive and one shall not put a charger on lead-acid rechargeables w/o sufficient amount of ventilation.

In other words: outdoor is always preferred.

Q.

 

[3311]

Here is a link for industrial battery hydrogen production.

http://www.bulldog-battery.com/PDF Files/Hydrogen Gas.pdf

Batteries don't seriously gas until 2.37(gassing voltage) volts per cell, 14.2 volts for a 6 cell (12volt)battery.
Any concentration over 2% in an enclosed area is explosive. Think natural gas explosion.

With that being said your probably fine as long as you some ventilation forced or passive.

Ive been in the battery business for 26 years, dad for almost 50 and both of us have never seen or heard of a battery room explosion.

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: SR77
Can battery maintanace charging be done indoors in like a basement?

I just bought a maintanance charger (CTEK) and connected it to my auto battery I was storing in my basement. Are these maintanance chargers safe to use indoors. Once they are in maintanance mode do they even charge with enough juice to make the battery give off any gas fumes? Currently i have it connected to the CTEK on my work bench in my basement which is around 10 or so feet from the furnance and hot water heater. Just making sure these are safe indoors where the temp is constant. There is no mention of not using it indoors in the manual. thanks


Many homes (mine included) have battery back up sump pumps, which involve a battery and a trickle charger. So, you shouldn't have any problems with it. I keep mine away from furnace/hot water heater and watch the ventilation. No problems.

 

[SR77]

I do leave the door open to my work room to the rest of the basement for ventalation, but without knowing if this is enough ventation I am starting to wonder if i should just move this battery and CTEK charger out to the garage. I connected this in my work shop in the basement because i thought it would be better then my garage since during the winter the garage can get below freezing at night, but with my kids sometimes playing down in the finished part of my basement i am starting to question that that is not a great location for my battery. They should make an alarm or something on these chargers that monitors the concentration of the gas around them, would make it alot easier to know if it is safe.

 

[brianl703]

The question is, how much water does the battery consume?

I have deep-cycle flooded batteries that are on continuous float charge, and I have to add no more than 1oz of water per cell per year.

So that's no more than 12oz of water (there are two 12V batteries) getting electrolyzed over the course of an entire year. You know what? I'm not worried about hydrogen gas buildup at that slow rate of generation!

 

[Thermo1223]

The natural draft from your hot water heater & the forced draft of your furnace will pull in enough fresh air to make this a non-issue. Especially if it is one battery on float.

However if you are concerned about being 100% safe go to the local home improvement store and look for this.

http://www.amazon.com/Kidde-KN-COEG-3-Nighthawk-Monoxide-Explosive/dp/B0002EVNJ6/ref=pd_cp_hi_3

It says CO/LPG/CNG but I'll had equal luck with it detecting all sorts of flammable vapors. You should at least have a CO meter down there anyway.