David Gill, new owner of Tondelayo and new member here ran into an interesting situation that is relevant to us here. As a matter of fact I have 6 AGM batterys on Valkyr. I like them because you can’t spill acid out of them. I have had bad problems on a prior boat with that. However the description here and the photos David provided are very sobering. I have had 3 AGM batteries in the past that have swollen in a very limited way and went bad. We had them replaced. I have had this happen to a couple of west marines SeaVolt AGM group 27 and 31 batteries as well as one of the optima blue top spiral AGM batteries just in the last month. So this is a very reasonable heads up. Thank you David for writing this up, and submitting it with the pictures.
Hi Scott.
Here’s a bit of information that may be relevant to anyone using Sealed 12v batteries. I don’t use them on Tondelayo but anyone who does wouldn’t want this to happen while at sea.
At 0848 hrs on 12 July 2010, pumper 402 Nelson Bay attended a caravan park in Nelson Bay. On arrival they found a 12V sealed caravan battery (also called Valve Regulated Lead Acid or VRLA battery) with its sides and top markedly bulging.
Park staff had removed the battery from inside a caravan to a grassed area.
The BA team was to cool the battery with spray from a line of 38 mm hose from behind substantial cover. However, the battery slowly continued to expand. Temperature readings taken with a TIC registered 49 ºC.
As it appeared the battery could explode, a hot zone of 30 m and a 50 m exclusion zone were established. A […]
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