Dropping Acid....battery problems

[Tally Ho]

I was doing some maintenance today (gale-force winds from the north and heavy seas kept me from venturing out on Lake Michigan:cry.

Was checking on the batteries and found both of them had come unstrapped, and one of them was on it's side. There was some liquid under the battery, so I carefully sopped it up after restrapping both batteries in place.

Checked the bilge and it also had a yellow-ish liquid. Seemed like way too much to come from the battery, but when I tried to use the bilge pump, the liquid seemed to foam. So I soaked as much as I could up with a sponge and then flushed the bilge with water a few times.

Is there anything else I should do?

The battery that had tipped over was pretty much lying on my speed transducer...I wonder if that explains why the speed indicator seemed to be about a knot slow on the last sail?

 

[FourPoints]

Not sure why that would affect the knot log, but you want to flush the bilge and any area that it touched with lots of water and baking soda to neutralize the acid...

Also, I think the batteries are probably shot...

 

[Tally Ho]

Not sure why that would affect the knot log...

Just wondered if a lot of lead would throw off the magnets or whatever is used in the paddlewheel.

I will get back out to the marina was baking soda...good idea...thanks.

Just read your blog entry about the fire....glad no one was hurt.

 

[Alan]

Lead would certainly not affect the magnets but they are affected by ferrous metals like iron and steel. No telling though what the battery acid may have affected.

 

[Don12364]

Was this just a brief occurrence or had it been on its side for days or weeks - and particularly whilst charging?
Look in each cell to get an impression of how much acid has been lost.
If only a small amount then adding more 1250sg acid might save the battery.
Then:-
Wash, rinse, rinse and wash till you get bored of doing it.

Now sprinkle bicarbonate of soda everywhere and rinse again.

 

[Bill Roosa]

The yellow fluid is probably the acid eating at parts of the boat, and water washing it to the bilges. Getting to all the intervening spaces with baking soda is probably not going to be possible so I'd recommend starting at the battery box and flushing (read hose on full) the area with water. You will no doubt have noticed by this time that the cloths you had on are developing holes and rotting away. The same is happening to your boat if you spilled acid. The only effective way I’ve ever seen is massive flushing with water on all exposed surfaces. Course this brings up the "what do I do with the water" problem. I can only recommend you neutralize it with baking soda and then haul it out to pour on that multiflora rose bush you have been trying to kill for years. A real PITA if there ever was one. Alternately, the solution to pollution is dilution.
Good luck

 

[Tally Ho]

The yellow fluid is probably the acid eating at parts of the boat, and water washing it to the bilges. Getting to all the intervening spaces with baking soda is probably not going to be possible so I'd recommend starting at the battery box and flushing (read hose on full) the area with water. You will no doubt have noticed by this time that the cloths you had on are developing holes and rotting away. The same is happening to your boat if you spilled acid. The only effective way I’ve ever seen is massive flushing with water on all exposed surfaces. Course this brings up the "what do I do with the water" problem. I can only recommend you neutralize it with baking soda and then haul it out to pour on that multiflora rose bush you have been trying to kill for years. A real PITA if there ever was one. Alternately, the solution to pollution is dilution.
Good luck

Thanks for all of the advice. I don't know how long the battery was on it's side. I checked it and it appears to be a "sealed" battery. There are no plugs to remove to check water/acid level. I sprinkled some baking soda in the battery compartment, and it definitely "foamed" a bit. I sprayed the compartment down real well and added more baking soda until it stopped foaming. The water drained through to the bilge, so I repeated the process there. I sucked the bilge dry with a shop vac and repeated the process a few times.

I will check the battery charge condition when I get back out this weekend, and will also redo the baking soda/flush routine and see if I get any more foaming.

Thanks again for all of the helpful advice.