Must I vent a battery? (1 Viewer)

moggyg

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Hi

I have put in a Banner 110ah energy bull leisure battery and it is housed in the battery box under the bench seat in rear lounge. From another post someone mentioned venting their battery.... Do I need to do this? And how? The battery compartment is super tight.

Cheers
Marco
 
Nov 3, 2016
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If its got a vent on it then it will vent toxic gas's into the Hab area, How much is anyones guess. But it can't be great for your health if you breath that in for 8 hours while sleeping. I have a Banner 135AH battery that has a vent spout on it and its tight as s*** in my battery box so I could not get the vent tube onto it but thats accessed outside on my van and has no link into the van so I am happy not venting it with the tube.
IMG_3377.jpg


Thats the old Battery that came with the van. you can see the tube attached on the right... The new one is so tight it just won't work... But that tube stays sat in the battery box anyway? who knows where its supposed to vent too? I guess if it were slightly longer it could sit in the EHU cable hole to vent to atmosphere.
 
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Jim

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Roadpro say this

Do I need to put a venting tube on my battery?
A vent pipe is used to clear gases away from a battery so that they vent externally. “Energy Bull” batteries don’t need to do this as they are “recombination batteries” and gas internally. A normally operated battery has no need to be vented under normal circumstances. If however there is an electrical fault or an imbalance on the charging system some manufacturers prefer to have the battery ' vented ' as an extra safety feature and vent pipes are available from RoadPro to fit the “Energy Bull”range. The boiling / gassing point of a Banner Energy Bull battery is 14.5V.

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Lenny HB

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Yes if the battery is cabable of taking a vent tube for your own safety you need to fit it, should go to the outside world. If the battery or charger develops a fault the battery will give of hydrogen sulfide & hydrogen highly expolsive.
 
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moggyg

moggyg

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Hmm mm thanks for the info. The spec sheet from the supplier says "can be vented" so was not very clear. I will take the battery out and have a good look.

Ciao
 
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The accumulation of explosive Hydrogen within a confined area is naturally considered to have potential for serious consequences. (We can't smell it apparently)
The danger is easily dealt with by venting the battery via a small plastic tube in the atmosphere. In the case of an enclosed area under, for example a bench seat, it merely requires a small exit hole to be drilled in the floor to push the pipe through. Or, push the vent pipe into an existing ventilation duct as often found fitted by manufacturers.

Even sealed external battery boxes, or any enclosed area where a spark may be produced (which is anywhere that holds a battery) ought to be vented by the small pipe to the outside atmosphere.

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If its got a vent on it then it will vent toxic gas's into the Hab area, How much is anyones guess. But it can't be great for your health if you breath that in for 8 hours while sleeping. I have a Banner 135AH battery that has a vent spout on it and its tight as s*** in my battery box so I could not get the vent tube onto it but thats accessed outside on my van and has no link into the van so I am happy not venting it with the tube.View attachment 199989

Thats the old Battery that came with the van. you can see the tube attached on the right... The new one is so tight it just won't work... But that tube stays sat in the battery box anyway? who knows where its supposed to vent too? I guess if it were slightly longer it could sit in the EHU cable hole to vent to atmosphere.


I would have thought that it is not best practice to construct a EHU connection point and a battery box in close proximity within the same locker door, despite there being a plastic bulkhead and foam between them.

Also to feed a vent tube through the EHU compartment does not seem the safest.

Geoff
 
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moggyg

moggyg

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I have just ordered a vent tube so here's hoping I have space to get it attached.

Marco
 
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Thread also got me thinking as my battery is also unvented and has been like that for three and a half years and obviously no problem to date. What I am picking up from the thread and some quick reading on the web is that in all likely hood it will remain that way, however, on the rare occasion there is an electrical fault it could cause a problem and therefore why not just take the precaution of venting the batery, minor job and no harm done (except where the battery is tight as mentioned above). I could find examples of faulty batteries exploding, however, could find no examples of eg the motorhome blowing up due to a battery remaining unvented so at the moment not sure how big a deal it is, however, if its as simple as fitting a plastic tube to the outside of the van I may just get around to doing it.

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Jul 5, 2013
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In my previous Adria moho I took out an old Gel battery and put in 2 lead acid Banner batteries. Both had vent points (the gel did not) and so I vented them with tubes through the floor. On my present Hymer they fitted 2 AGM batteries and both were vented through the floor.
 
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moggyg

moggyg

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I hope my battery compartment has a hole to vent already as drilling one might be beyond me. Or actually I can drill a hole but hopefully not one that the battery falls through!

Pipe due tomorrow so will update post when I get it done.

Ciao
 
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I would have thought that it is not best practice to construct a EHU connection point and a battery box in close proximity within the same locker door, despite there being a plastic bulkhead and foam between them.

Also to feed a vent tube through the EHU compartment does not seem the safest.

Geoff

Thats a fair and sensible point.

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If the new battery is so big that there is really no room for the vent pipe? then I would look into a way of venting the hatch flap, that is as along as water couldnt be driven back- I think I have seen some with sloping baffles. I certainly wouldnt vent it into the ehu compartment but as people have said the vent is only needed if the battery is gassing hard, perhaps under fault conditions. Although Hydrogen is lighter than air its the buildup of gas that you want to avoid so I would try again to squeeze in a vent pipe.
Mike
 
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moggyg

moggyg

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Right, vent pipe arrived and it looks like I can just fit it in the battery box AND there is a hole already to the outside for the pipe to go through....Great so far.

BUT

How do I attach the pipe to the battery? There looks like there is a wee hole in the side at the top but it looks plugged. I thought it was a wee screw so had a poke around with a screwdriver but it is just plastic.

????
upload_2017-12-7_13-43-31.png
 
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Right, vent pipe arrived and it looks like I can just fit it in the battery box AND there is a hole already to the outside for the pipe to go through....Great so far.

BUT

How do I attach the pipe to the battery? There looks like there is a wee hole in the side at the top but it looks plugged. I thought it was a wee screw so had a poke around with a screwdriver but it is just plastic.

????
View attachment 200325
Look at the otner end? There's a Banner fitting that pushss in for the pipe to cknnect to.

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DBK

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I'm being deliberately alarmist here but the most likely explanation for the recent loss of the Argentinian sub the San Juan is she suffered an explosion caused by gassing batteries. She had earlier reported sea water had got into the forward battery compartment through a faulty snorkel and caused a short circuit and I think a small fire which the crew dealt with. This was why she was ordered back to her home port for repairs. The sea state was 6 - 8 which is very rough so she would have stayed submerged and had to use the snorkel.
There is a gruesome description on the net of what might have happened based on lessons learned from US sub losses. The only conciliation is the crew probably weren't conscious when she finally imploded as she sank into the depths. :(
 
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Detling

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As the vent is for the hydrogen gas it needs to lead upwards not down, otherwise it is like fitting a drain pipe up towards the sky.
 
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DBK

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As the vent is for the hydrogen gas it needs to lead upwards not down, otherwise it is like fitting a drain pipe up towards the sky.
A good point but if the battery is gassing the pressure will push the gas down the pipe whatever its orientation.
But welcome to Fun and what an entrance. :) Gassing threads are for the old sweats. :)

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Right, vent pipe arrived and it looks like I can just fit it in the battery box AND there is a hole already to the outside for the pipe to go through....Great so far.

BUT

How do I attach the pipe to the battery? There looks like there is a wee hole in the side at the top but it looks plugged. I thought it was a wee screw so had a poke around with a screwdriver but it is just plastic.

????
View attachment 200325
There is normally a plug at either end that will lever out. The pipe fitting goes in its place.
 
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Nov 7, 2015
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The plastic vent pipe normally comes with a short connector (some are 90°) that is a tight push fit into one end of the battery, then the tube pushes over the connector, similar to fish tank air pipe tubing
 
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moggyg

moggyg

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Yes the pipe has a wee 90 degrees elbow connector. What I'm not sure about is if I still try and remove that wee bit of a plastic plug in the hole on the battery or just shove the pipe connector over the top of it.

Thanks for all the replies, my sub has not imploded yet. But if the misses catches on that it could, we are going nowhere!

Marco

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Nov 7, 2015
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Most but not all batteries have a vent at both ends with a bung in both and one plug has to be removed when fitting the battery, whichever end you choose to fit the vent tube remove that plug and leave the other end sealed.
The blanking plug is just a simple push fit and can usually be removed with just a fingernail
 
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moggyg

moggyg

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Thanks all.

There is only one hole at the one end shown in the photo. I phoned Alpha batteries, who I bought it from, and they said that the elbow fitment on the vent tube just fits over the wee plastic bit. I did try and remove it and even with a pair of needle nose pliers it was going nowhere. I have now fitted the elbow fitment over it and the tube and battery just fit into the battery compartment beneath the bench seat at rear lounge. The tube is also through the hole in the compartment venting to the outside of the van so fingers crossed it is all done correctly.

Ciao
Marco
 
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