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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Here's a true story about another foolish but lucky
guy. My Arkansas Ozark Mountain neighbor had a big 115 VDC windcharger and
a battery bank of large 2-volt cells inside a shed at the base of his 85
feet tower. One day he opened the door with a smoke in his mouth. The H2 (not
the batteries) exploded, rocketing him out the door, and knocking him
on his ass. He was a big, strong guy and didn't get hurt, but he swore he
would never smoke around batteries again. (Preventive action - ventilate battery
room before entering.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=sgsrenewables@gmail.com href="mailto:sgsrenewables@gmail.com">Luke
Christy</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org
href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, December 16, 2010 7:52
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [RE-wrenches] Battery based
hydrogen incidents</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><BR>
<DIV>
<DIV>These descriptions of battery explosions certainly drive home the point
that one should always always wear protective gear when working on
batteries.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I have a story that may take the prize for the most foolish
behavior yet described (thankfully I wasn't involved until the cleanup
stage).</DIV>
<DIV>In 2008 a neighbor of mine was filling a bank of 12 L-16s installed in a
remote home here in So. Colorado. Apparently it didn't occur to him that it
probably wasn't a good idea to smoke while adding water to gassing batteries.
Two or three batteries into the job, sure enough, a spark fell off his lit
cigarette, probably landed in or near the open cap of the cell he was filling,
and the resulting explosion blew the top off of the L-16, also spraying
electrolyte everywhere in the battery room. My neighbor (who shall remain
nameless) was not wearing protective gear of any kind, and of course he had
acid in his eyes and all over his face. He was alone at this house, 40+ miles
from the nearest town, and close to ten miles from the closest neighbor. He
managed to wash his eyes and face in a creek, and was somehow able to drive
the ten miles to the neighbor's house, who then took him to a hospital.
Amazingly, he came out of it without permanent eye damage or scarring, but
that must be due to having had more than his share of luck that day.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I had the job of cleaning up the mess and replacing the blown-up battery.
One thing that stood out was the fact that the top of the battery
disintegrated into dozens of very sharp shards of plastic. These were
obviously thrown out with the explosion and could have easily caused serious
injury themselves. The entire wall of the battery room was covered with tiny
bits of plastic, plate particles, and electrolyte, almost making a
cartoon-like outline of my neighbor, as he had been standing in front of the
wall when the battery blew.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Always wear your eye protection. (and it seems that smoking plus hydrogen
equals bad things).</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></DIV><BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; FONT-SIZE: 12px"
class=gmail_quote>Luke Christy </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; FONT-SIZE: 12px"
class=gmail_quote><BR> NABCEP Certified PV Installer™: Certification
#031409-25 (Luke Christy)<BR> CoSEIA Certified PV Installer (Luke
Christy)<BR><BR>Solar Gain Services, LLC<BR>Monte Vista, CO.<BR><A
href="mailto:SGSRenewables@Gmail.com">SGSRenewables@Gmail.com</A></BLOCKQUOTE>
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class=gmail_quote><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></SPAN><BR
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