I used Unibond bathroom and shower sealant from the local shed. Expensive at 8 quid a go but it's so bloody waterproof it's v.difficult to smooth it after application 'cos it sticks to
*everything*. Flexible too, the only thing that broke it in our case was for some reason the shower tray managed to drop a few mm (don't ask why, I dunno yet!) and the stuff stretched and broke the grout on the surrounding tiles resulting in much leakage.....
The moral to this tale is if yer tray doesn't drop this stuff is good! IMO obviously.
Hydrogen/oxygen explosive gas mixture exploding. If there's enough of the gas and it happens in the battery, it will shatter the battery casing as I described above. The battery casing will burst/explode.
Yes, it's possible, but pretty unlikely as there shouldn't be much space inside the battery for an explosive mixture. There is also nothing inside the battery to ignite the mixture.
It's something that *might* happen in extreme circumstances, from the reports here it's not clear whether the 'exploding batteries' have been caused by hydrogen exploding or not.
There shouldn't be much space. The explosions seem more likely in batteries with low levels of electrolyte and a lot more space than there should be. My battery was 'sealed-for-life' with no easy means of checking the acid levels. It still turned the (small) engine over, despite this. The small space in a topped-up battery could explode, it would just be a smaller bang. It might scatter acid around.
Hydrogen is generated by electrolysis when jump starting and only a small amount is neede to produce an explosive mixture (4% LEL, I think it said). There can be an explosive mixture lingering in the vicinity of the terminals when you disconnect the jump leads. A spark igniting this would cause the gas in the battery casing to detonate. An internal battery fault could also generate a spark.
unlikely, but still a regular occurence. If you are aware of the risk, you will take precautions to avoid an explosion.
No it wouldn't, as there is no such thing as a 'sealed for life' lead acid battery [1], they all have vents and many do in fact have filler lids that can be opened (if you know how) - the main point being is that the battery can vent and breath.
p1[ not quite true as the 'gel' type battery is sealed completely, but it's also significantly difference to a normal lead acid battery in how it works to be irrelevant to this discussion.
A quick Google for "lead-acid AND sealed-for-life" shows that batteries are being offered for sale under this description. The vents are the route by which the gas mixture in the battery is ignited.
The filler lids on this battery were concealed under an adhesive label which said, amongst other things, "SEALED FOR LIFE". The explosion unsealed it. I think the statement was true in that the battery's life had then somewhat expired.
It occurs to me that electrode boilers work on a similar principle. The ones I've used, in steam humidifiers, have flat stainless steel plate electrodes dipped in water. Usually there's 3 or 6 electrodes with 3 phase electricity. The water is made to boil by passing a current between the electrodes, the resistance of the water causing the heating effect. The current is proportional to the area of electrode immersed, so the steam output is controlled by regulating the water level.
Sticking 415V into water sounds odd, but these things do exist; Vapac, Spirax Sarco & others make them. You can't use DI water, because the water has to be conductive, so the steam vessel eventually clogs up soild with limescale.
I'd think a battery would similarly cause it's electrolyte to get hot by passing a current through it. If the current was large enough, the battery would act as an electrode boiler, generating a lot of steam. What then happens would depend on how fast the steam was generated, how fast it was discharged under pressure and whether the pressure rose high enough to burst the casing before the battery boiled dry.
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