[RE-wrenches] Battery Bank Off-gassing CO?

[North Texas Renewable Energy Inc]

Here in a region with a huge percentage of homes having natural gas furnace
heaters [with resistance backup,] carbon monoxide fumes are a very real
concern. If her house has a NG or oil burning furnace I'd look there for a
stuck or mal-adjusted pilot light. If her house is sealed tight, and I'll
wager that hers is, the only route for CO out of the basement could be thru
the vent for the battery bank. If the house has a positive pressure, that
might explain the concentration of CO in the battery room. Even though it's
lighter than air it's heaver than H.

Jim Duncan
North Texas Renewable Energy
486 W.N. Woody Road
Azle Texas 76020
Since 1993
NABCEP Certified Solar PV
Installer No.31310-57
ntrei at 1scom.net
817.917.0527
www.ntrei.com

  -----Original Message-----
  From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org]On Behalf Of Daniel Young
  Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 8:50 AM
  To: re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
  Subject: [RE-wrenches] Battery Bank Off-gassing CO?


  I was emailed recently by someone in my area saying that she thinks here
battery bank is going bad and poisoning her home.. My firm did not install
her off grid system. Her original installer will not respond.



  She has an 6yr old battery bank w/ 6 Trojan L16H's (48V). The system has
1.2kw of shell solar modules with an MX60 CC and FX Inverter. She noticed
feeling ill when in the basement where the system electronics were
installed, so she got out a combustion gas analyzer, (she is a home energy
auditor), and recorded over 500 ppm CO in the battery bank storage closet,
not the battery box, but the closet that stores the outback system. That is
over double the concentration that the US Consumer Product Safety Commission
considers deathly toxic. She reports this has been going on for the last 1-2
months. There is one battery box in this closet, with a 3" PVC vent pipe
going up to the roof. There is no power vent.



  Has anyone heard of a flooded lead acid battery bank emitting CO? I did
not think that a lead/sulfur based battery was capable of this. Is it
possible that her combustion gas analyzer is mis-interpreting some other gas
as CO?



  We already plan to install a power vent at minimum, and to closely inspect
her ventilation system and improve it as needed. Just curious if anyone else
has seen this happen before.



  Thanks,






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