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Author Topic: Battery acid!  (Read 978 times)

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Gaffers

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Battery acid!
« on: 19 June 2011, 13:01:57 »

I have had an inicdent while working on my boat (dont ask!) and now I have battery acid in the bilges and also on fresh wood which has soaked in.  I put some spill-soil on it pretty much immediately and I am about to clear that away.  Can anyone help me with the following questions:

- Will it affect the bare wood, if so will I have to treat the affected areas or just let it dry?
- Can I just use water to slosh it out?

Some also mixed with uncured epoxy  :-[ so I guess I will have to replace all of that too  :'(

All help is highly appreciated  :y
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Martian

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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #1 on: 19 June 2011, 13:17:51 »

The first thing is to find an alkali to neutralise the acid, such as baking soda or bleach and wash it down thoroughly (and I do mean thouroughly).
The wood will obviously be burned to some degree as a result of the spillage, all I can suggest is to seal it afterwards with whatever it is you use to seal wood on boats.
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Gaffers

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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #2 on: 19 June 2011, 14:06:22 »

I have applied baking soda mixed with water into a paste to the affected wood but there may be crooks and crannies I cannot reach yet.  I have uncured epoxy in the bilge which will be ruined if I start hosing down the insides right now.

The biggest worry will be the area directly under the spilage where I was epoxying a repair patch to the hull.  Some of the acid will have mixed in there, I reckon I will have to take it all off and treat before replacing  :-[
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Kevin Wood

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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #3 on: 19 June 2011, 15:17:27 »

As said, nip down the naafi and buy up a bucket load of baking soda. Neutralise it with that, applied dry if you're worried about the epoxy and then hose it all down thoroughly when it'll take it.

Battery acid is not too concentrated so I doubt it will have done damage to the structure of the wood if it's been neutralised although any uncured epoxy it has wet probably wants re-doing to be safe.

Baking soda worked for my dad when he was a student. Mixing up his own battery acid from conc. stuff from the labs, he managed to spill concentrated acid on the floor. Made quick work of the carpet and then started on the concrete floor beneath it. A tub of baking soda was hurriedly applied before he'd drilled down to the room below. ;D
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Gaffers

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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #4 on: 19 June 2011, 16:15:55 »

Pmsl Kev, I bet your dad was carping himself  ;D ;D ;D

I applied the baking soda as was advised, and waited until the epoxy had started to hard-tack and then hosed it down throughly.  It was a good test of the bilge pump, quite impressive for a little electric thing :y

From what I can see only a small part of the epoxy has been damaged so I did not need to replace the repair patch (phew!) but some of the screw had to come out and the holes were drenched with baking soda/water.  Once I was certain there was not more reaction taking place I moped out the remaining water and the heater is back on to dry it out.

I cant do any more work on her until it is dry again which is a bugger as I had plans for a lot of work to be carried out today  :'(
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CaptainZok

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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #5 on: 19 June 2011, 16:22:07 »

Clumsy git. ;D ;D
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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #6 on: 19 June 2011, 18:38:35 »

Quote
Clumsy git. ;D ;D
aye what a cabbage ;D
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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #7 on: 19 June 2011, 20:24:31 »

Quote
Quote
Clumsy git. ;D ;D
aye what a cabbage ;D

Yes, what I did was very stupid.  But you will neer find out what it was  ;D ;D
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Kevin Wood

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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #8 on: 20 June 2011, 10:32:54 »

Quote
Yes, what I did was very stupid.  But you will neer find out what it was  ;D ;D

Oh, so there's more to it than simple clumsiness?  :D

Testing the voltage with your tongue?

So, off to buy some AGM / Gel batteries now? ;D
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JesterRT

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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #9 on: 20 June 2011, 12:58:53 »

Was it genuinely bare wood?  If you've stitch/glue or previously soaked in epoxy then there'll be some protection from the previously applied epoxy.  Is it a bright finish or paint?  (I can guess which it might end up being  :()
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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #10 on: 20 June 2011, 19:33:42 »

Quote
Quote
Yes, what I did was very stupid.  But you will neer find out what it was  ;D ;D

Oh, so there's more to it than simple clumsiness?  :D

Testing the voltage with your tongue?

So, off to buy some AGM / Gel batteries now? ;D

Thankfully the 2 AGMs I have are at home getting pampered by my battery conditionner.  They will be going in to the boat permanently at a later date when I am ready for wiring  :y
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Re: Battery acid!
« Reply #11 on: 20 June 2011, 19:38:26 »

Quote
Was it genuinely bare wood?  If you've stitch/glue or previously soaked in epoxy then there'll be some protection from the previously applied epoxy.  Is it a bright finish or paint?  (I can guess which it might end up being  :()


Yes it was bare wood mostly, the baking soda neutralised that but left a nice purple burn in the wood which is not a problem as it will be painted anyway once sealed with the magic resin (epoxy's achillies heel is UV)

Most of the epoxy had started the cure so was unaffected the small bit that was I scraped out and replaced.

I had another day off work today so I managed to get another side of the cabin roof on, one more and after a little fun with the electric planer the roof will be on and she'll be water tight again  :y
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