Water in the battery box!

[BikeNFish]

One purpose of the battery box is to contain leakage so that it doesn't spill out and damage the surrounding material.

IMHO, you have to be a complete moron to get to the point where your battery case is cracked and the acid leaks out. Repeated neglect over a long period of time is the only way a battery will leak its acid.

If you are using any common sense - taking the battery out when the camper is stored or even doing minimal maintenance to it - you do not have to worry about acid leakage. If you haven't used your camper for a half dozen years and you have left the battery in the box, then you probably deserve the damage that results from a leaking battery.

In order for a battery case to leak, first you literally have to have a completely dead battery that is WAAAAYYYY beyond it's usefulness and old. Second, you have to repeatedly go through a dozen or so freeze thaw cycles to get the case to expand and contract so that the case is compromised by fatigue and cracks.

Depending on your climate, this could take years if not a decade to get the battery case to crack. Here in Minnesota, it would be a shorter time, in the southern States, much longer.

In short, drill your drainage holes in the battery box and don't worry about battery acid leaking. For you morons with leaking batteries - please make sure you take the battery out of the box before you drill your drainage holes and make sure you use protective clothing and eyewear.

 

[davido]

IMHO, you have to be a complete moron to get to the point where your battery case is cracked and the acid leaks out. Repeated neglect over a long period of time is the only way a battery will leak its acid.

If you are using any common sense - taking the battery out when the camper is stored or even doing minimal maintenance to it - you do not have to worry about acid leakage. If you haven't used your camper for a half dozen years and you have left the battery in the box, then you probably deserve the damage that results from a leaking battery.

In order for a battery case to leak, first you literally have to have a completely dead battery that is WAAAAYYYY beyond it's usefulness and old. Second, you have to repeatedly go through a dozen or so freeze thaw cycles to get the case to expand and contract so that the case is compromised by fatigue and cracks.

Depending on your climate, this could take years if not a decade to get the battery case to crack. Here in Minnesota, it would be a shorter time, in the southern States, much longer.

In short, drill your drainage holes in the battery box and don't worry about battery acid leaking. For you morons with leaking batteries - please make sure you take the battery out of the box before you drill your drainage holes and make sure you use protective clothing and eyewear.

This post elevated the hostility unnecessarily, by throwing around terms like 'moron', and from your years and thousands of posts, I would say you're better than that.

If battery boxes were supposed to have drain holes in them, they would come with drain holes. If we're "going there" on finger pointing, how exactly does a box fill up with water without being noticed? Mine have vent holes in the top, and that's an indication to me that I should periodically look to see if water is getting in, which I do. Neither use-case is moronic to solve for. They just have implications, either way.

It would be different if the majority of cheap ones lack drains, but the majority of expensive ones have them. But that's not the case. Battery boxes largely just don't come with drain holes. And it's not really about manufacturing expense; they all have vents on top. Here's a thread that proceeded to debate the merits, and did so without raising the term "moron" or any other derogatory term: https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f71/battery-box-drain-holes-or-not-19633.html . There are points on both sides, and they come down to those who prefer to drain them, and those who prefer the measure of safety by not having a drain hole.

Here's another thread; there are hole drillers, and "keep it contained" people. It seems some of the keep it contained people are sailors like myself: https://www.forestriverforums.com/forums/f218/battery-box-water-drainage-137102.html

It does seem that the majority of RVers would prefer to solve for water accumulation rather than solving for containment. That's everyone's right. And nobody is a moron for preferring one solution over the other. Rather than be rude about it, assume that there are multiple considerations, that people come with different histories, and that well informed people will still arrive at different conclusions based on their own criteria. I will assert, though, that a thread that goes twenty posts long, telling people to go drill holes in the bottom of their battery box, without at some point also discussing the other side, the implications of a leaking battery, would be irresponsible. Would you prefer people make uninformed decisions? That would be unfortunate.

 

[Grandpa Don]

I agree! I had no idea my original post on this matter would be so controversial. There is a way for the battery to leak acid without being cracked. Take a look at the concrete on my garage floor. There is a bleached white spot that is the exact size of my smaller 12-volt Quad battery. During some maintenance, I made the mistake of over-filling the battery with distilled water and then putting it on my car charger. Fortunately, I had it sitting on the floor. When I came back out to check it about an hour later I found that it had boiled over and spilled acid down onto the concrete. So over-filling and overcharging can cause a battery to leak acid. I'll post a photo of my garage floor if you like. I know it was my fault. I'll be more careful next time.

Now back to the water and holes issue. I figured out how the water got into my box. The tiny cover over the small vent holes on the battery cover was cocked off to one side a bit. Which exposed the holes to rainwater. I guess that somehow over time I had hit the little cover and knocked it out of place. My bad! The reason I thought that the water may have contained some acid was because of its color. It was a blackish brown. I didn't want to take a chance of exposing my fingers to it while cleaning it out. Just in case.

Holes or no holes. To each his own I say. My boxes did not come with holes and I don't plan on drilling some. I'll still be friends with anyone who does!