battery box venting flow rate? [RE-wrenches]

[Bill Brooks]

Wrenches,

The real issue is how the local inspector will view the installation. I'm
not sure why John would say it does not have to vent to the outside, but I
definitely recommend that it vent to the outside. My basic recommendation is
that the ventilation requirements for an indoor residential battery box use
the same requirements for a gas water heater. This provides many times the
required ventilation, but it is something the inspector can readily relate
to.

Venting a battery box within a house is not a good idea. There are no
ventilation requirements for house ventilation and the natural ventilation
of house could vary from 2 air changes per hour to zero. If it happens to be
zero when the battery goes, you're in big trouble. Most commercial buildings
are required to have a 10% fresh air makeup, so venting to the room
(computer room) is not an issue when you are using AGM VRLA batteries.

So, use the ventilation requirements for a gas water heater and you're good
to go. Otherwise, spend a few thousand dollars and hire an engineer to
calculate the number of hydrogen atoms on the head of a pin.

Bill.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ray Walters [mailto:walters at taosnet.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 5:38 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: Re: battery box venting flow rate? [RE-wrenches]



Well according to John Wiles's On Line course, we're not supposed to 
vent batteries to the outside at all, just make sure the room they're in 
is adequately ventilated.
Personally, I always liked the idea of directing the corrosive and/ or 
explosive gases away from the electronics. Maybe I didn't quite get what 
he was saying.

Ray

 Allan Sindelar wrote:

>Kirk,
>No, because there are too many variables: battery type, age, capacity, 
>temperature and condition; charge rates from different sources; 
>controller/inverter settings; vent ducting; box sealing -- jeez, can I 
>think of a few more?
>
>We have simply relied on Zephyr's Power Vent recommendations.
>
>Now watch me be proven totally wrong here.
>
>Allan at Positive Energy
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Kirk Herander" <kirk at vtsolar.com>
>  
>
>>Is there any minimum airflow/cfm recommended to safely  power vent a 
>>battery box?
>>    
>>


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