Battery backup to run my furnace?

[philoÂÂ]

If the batteries are in a house, there is definitely a chance of explosion.

I was in the business for 38 years and only blew up /one/ battery.

I ASSURE you, that was one battery too many! It caused $2000 in damage and my ears did not stop ringing for over 24 hours.

Fortunately I was using all of my safety equipment and was not injured otherwise.

BTW: Though you should always wear safety goggles when handing a battery, if you do get acid in your eyes or skin do not panic.

The acid in a battery is not strong enough to "eat a hole through you"...and if you neutralize the acid within a few minutes, you will be fine.

For your skin: soap and water is fine. For your eyes, there is eye-wash specifically made for such...but if none is avail, rinse them out for ten minutes in running water.

For cotton clothes...forget it. Even if you neutralize the acid at once...it will be too late.

[Stormin Mormon]

Thanks for the field report. When Farmer Bob blew up the battery, I grabbed hold of him, and we went into the house to use the kitchen sink for eye wash. The next day, much of the front of my cotton coat fell out, looked really awful. I ended up throwing the coat into the trash dumpster, some time later. I'd wondered if I treated the coat with hot water and baking soda if I could have saved it. Maybe not.

[Stormin Mormon]

How'd the exploding battery happen? Make spark while charging?

[philoÂÂ]

Yes, rinse eyes at once and all OK

There is nothing you could have done for cotton, no matter how fast you acted.

Wool or a polyester blend is the proper clothing for battery work. (or a rubber apron)

[philoÂÂ]

I was working on a stationary battery.... a very large rack-mounted assembly. I did not have the right tools for the job and my boss was supposed to supply me with an insulated socket set.

When I initially refused to do the work, he told me I had no choice and that I should just tape-up my socket set. Of course it slipped and the bus bar cut through the tape and the battery shorted out and a cell exploded.

(Also...a 1000 amp fuse blew... and my socket set melted.)

My boss took the full blame, and the company insurance paid for the damage. However, the bottom line was that it was my fault for doing what I knew could be potentially unsafe.

I learned a lesson and believe me, from then on ...any time one of my bosses did something that was out of line I yelled at them good and in several instances filed a complaint. I saw most of my bosses , through the years, ask for (and get) other assignments.

[Stormin Mormon]

I phoned the pharmacy to ask what to be done. They suggested water flush, ambulance, and hospital emergency room. Farmer Bob wasn't going with all that expense.

Rubber or plastic apron might have helped. I don't remember if his clothes got acid eaten.

[philoÂÂ]

I don't recall that anyone ever needed to go to the emergency room for battery acid in their eyes or skin but in factories, the eye wash stations used cold water.

Only once did was I foolish enough to get acid in my eye by not using my safety glasses. I just got a tiny drop in and it really stung. I used eye wash and was ok in about five or ten minutes.

[Stormin Mormon]

Thanks for sharing. Out of all the years you were employed (may still be employed?) I'm guessing that one is memorable. I have a few such days, like Farmer Bob and his Gehl Skid Steer.

It sounds like a series of neglect, and one brief oops, that did it in.

It also sounds like a great chance for someone to make a Harbor Freight Non Conductive wrench set (made from polymer plastic) that is on sale 30% off, for only $14,629.95 with coupon (cannot be duplicated or transferred) and inside track membership. Retool the injection molders that used to make legal AR-15 rifle stocks, and we're all good.

Glad you were more safety minded, after that.

[trader4]

Exactly.

and a twist-lock single outlet/plug for a furnace can

This has been discussed here many times and as I seem to recall the best evidence has been that it does not meet the NEC requirements. You can't use a plug and cord to connect a piece of permanent eqquipment that is not listed to be connected that way. Still, as someone else posted, it's probably acceptable to inspectors in some places.

[trader4]

If it will only run a 300W load for 78 mins, why are you even considering it as a backup power source for a furnace? If it's reasonably cold, the furnace will be running 25 - 50% of the time. That would give you

2 1/2 to 5 hours of heat, assuming it uses 300W. In a power outage, IDK anyone that's looking for 5 hours of heat. You either don't need it if the outage is a matter of hours or you need it for days.

[philoÂÂ]

After 38 years on the job, I have now been retired for one year.

After that battery blew up you can be sure I never took any dangerous risks again.

BTW: The guy who was my boss eventually got fired and no one shed any tears for him.

[Frank]

No. Happened to me in the lab. I immediately doused it with water and sodium bicarbonate but lost the pants anyway. I went to medical and they immediately put me in their shower. When I got out to dry off, they had fresh pants and shoes for me as shoes had also been splattered. My skin was perfectly OK.

We were doing a lot of work with sulfuric acid and operators had acid resistant clothing but were complaining that they were losing their underwear and wanted acid resistant underwear. Skin would have been next so we put them in acid resistant, impermeable clothing.

[Irreverent Maximus]

What is wrong with parallel batteries? More batteries = longer runtime. If desired, get the mondo non-venting types and parallel them.

Used UPS for small server farms are cheap, too. These allow for adding more capacity at your own leisure. Plus, the unit will give you seemless transition while you wait for power, or to start up the new generator that you get. :-)

[Irreverent Maximus]

Often enough that people are warned to not mess around with them like an idiot. Even then...

My old geometry teacher had one blow up in his face while he was trying to jump a car. Third degree burns along cheeks, chin and neck. Blind for a couple of weeks, too.

[philoÂÂ]

Yep...most of the time that people get killed, it only happens that one time.

[philoÂÂ]

I gave these to someone as a joke:

[Todd]

In Parallel, the higher voltage unit will start charging the lower voltage unit and one battery will get hit much harder than the rest. Power hogging, I believe it is called. Best is in series.

[Todd]

I was thinking I'd get far longer. Make me do the math. This is really not a good solution.

[clare]

As well as a corrosion problem.

[clare]

The battery on the old 1949 Massey Harris tractor developed a poor inter-cell connection. Occaisionally it would not crank over. One day it cranked a few times but did not start. I released the starter and tried again - POW!!!! - away went the battery.

I was teaching a grade 10 automotive class, the subject was battery safety - how to safely disconnect, connect, and handle automotive batteries. A smart-assed army brat who had his Pontiac station wagon in to do some work on it obviously wasn't listening, as when the students were released to go work in the shop he tried starting the old iron indian and he wore the battery down. He decided to take it out and put in his other battery - and removed the positive battery cable first - and drew a spark. Blew the bottom right out of the battery.

I was working in my brother's shop,using a hand grinder to remove a rusted nut - while he had a motorcycle battery on charge about 15 feet away on the workbench. A stray spark from the grinder managed to find it's way to the bench = and the battery disintegrated.

That's just 3 memorable incidents that stick out in my mind (of quite a few over the last almost 50 years)