In my Sprinter the battery is under the drivers side floor and it vents to the outside via a tube through the bottom. The other side gets a cap.

I hope that one never pops. Its a Mercedes dealer installed unit.

The battery in this thread has the vent built into the cover that goes across all cells, while the battery sold by Mercedes Benz, BMW, Continental etc. have the vents on their sides



This is a BMW battery - same design - the hole you see there is on both sides and is for the venting tube and is plugged when the battery is delivered fresh, You have to pop the cap off and leave as is if your car battery is in engine room or connect the venting hose if the battery is inside the car.

I make sure the vent cap (like the OP has) is not blocked on any battery - I have come across some where some plastic flashing was present and almost blocked, I poked/broke it to make sure its free flowing.

__________________
2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Zul - thx. Interesting. Have never noticed them.

On my ML 350 the battery is located under the passenger side front seat. It does have a vent tube to vent the gases through the floor of the car to the atmosphere.

An old tip about storing batteries. Try to store a battery elevated from a concrete floor (sit the battery on a piece of wood). An experienced mechanic taught me years ago that batteries that are stored sitting on concrete will discharge faster than those elevated from the concrete floor.

I don't mess around with the liquid electrolyte filled units anymore....I stick with AGM batteries for everything, much less likely for something like this to happen.

If I did buy a regular battery it would be from a brand like East Penn or Varta....very good quality.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

I have only seen it happen one time.
When I was in Trade School there was a Gasoline Engine on a test stand. The Battery Charger was on it and the Instructor had the charger on that 200 amp starting setting and the Battery was boiling and gurgling.
The room we were in was cramped and we had a Guy on crutches and a case from above the Knee down.

He was trying to move between the wall charging Battery and the Engine and his Cast knocked off one of the Clamps from the charger resulting in a likely 200 amp spark an (no caps on the Battery) that ignited the hydrogen.

It blew and amazingly the plastic Battery case expanded momentarily but held together.

It happened as fast as you could snap your fingers.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

A spark or heat could have developed at what appears to be the positive Battery Cable Clamp. See the yellow arrow in the attached picture.

The other Battery Terminal has a nice cable setup.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

agreed. While charging they give off explosive gas. A spark nearby will set it off. I had one explode when my brother had his face right near it. I was certain he would be burned with the acid but it all missed him. That battery actually worked and held a charge after that with a superficial repair.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

When I got out of the Army Sep 73 I worked various labor jobs. I got a temp job at the Globe Union Battery Company and that company had all makes of Batteries going down the assembly line including Diehards.

But, I was Labor. Myself and another guy hired in to pick up Batteries and put them on a long rack with rollers and roll the Batteries down the line stack and as we did that connect them in series for charging.

The bugger was the Golf Cart Batteries which are huge and heavy and had no caps on them. When you picked them up you had to let them hang and than sort of swing them up to the roller rack. But when it hit the Roller Rack Battery Acid geyserd out of the top to varying degrees.

The protective gear given was safety glasses, rubber gloves just past the wrist and an a Plastic Apron.

The Guy that hired on at the same time was Hispanic and a lot of the work force was Hispanic and the other workers gave him more protective gear. Rubber Boots and Plastic Sleeves.

However the protective gear did not help him. During the 3rd day neither of us were used to the constant heavy lifting and were not handling those Golf Cart Batteries well.
He swong one of those up on the roller rack rather hard and the acid geyserd out and got on his Fore head and ran down behind the Safety Glasses onto his Eye Lid and lower Cheek burning him. I don't think it actually got into his eyes.

Anyway he was gone. And while I am working I am thinking is this job worth getting blinded. The Temps were paid Union Wages. Minimum Wage then was around $2.00 (I can't remember which) and this job paid $7.25 per hour.

I went to work the next day and I was still thinking about what happened to the other Guy and by Lunch Time I decided to quite and went to the front office to quite. On the way there I step into small depression filled with Battery acid which later ate up that Boot.

Unfortunately I had gotten the job through one of those places where you pay a percentage of your check for them to find you a job.

when I got out of the Army Minimum wage in CA was $1.65 per hour.
https://www.dir.ca.gov/iwc/minimumwagehistory.htm

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

While in high school I got a job working in a chrome plating shop owned by the father of a close friend. I was doing both plating and polishing. The pay was good. On a typical day plating, I would wear a t shirt and Levi’s with boots. At the end of the day most of the t shirt and the Levi’s had been eaten away by the acid used in the plating process. While the pay was good I soon realized that a college education was vital.

Ya. We did not have Kids but I have thought of mentoring. I depending on the age of the child being mentored I thought it would be a good idea to take them to some Factories and see if the Owners or Managers would let them see just what working people have to do to make a living.

I worked in 2 places that Battery Factory and a Clutch rebuilding company where I was luck not to be on the production line.
At the Battery Factory the mechanical convert brought the Battery casing on down and as it passed down the line it got assembled ending with them making the terminals pouring molten lead while they stood there.

In the Clutch rebuilding place there was no convert just stacks and bins of parts that someone hustled and kept filled and someone moved stacks of to the next station.

The main features of both production lines was no on left to go to the Bath Room and no one stopped till the break of lunch buzzer sounded and everyone was back standing at their station before the sounded to start work.

Both places were just open where houses. Perhaps some Fans but no other comfort items. Both noisy places.

In action they were human machines.

Then take the Kids to some Offices and let them see those working conditions and tell they which jobs you need an education for.

However, I believe it is best if everyone started off at some grunt type job in order to appreciate the better employment later.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I too have seen batteries explode, always a scary thing until you know if you got sprayed with acid or not .

When working in battery factories one also needs to have the blood tested once a year to see how much lead gets into yours...

The idea of taking young school children to blue collar factories is a very good one indeed .

The L.A.F.D. offered me a job once in the early 1980's, the interviewer told me I clearly knew more about the job than he did and I was hired, let's look at your new job duties ~ when he got to the clutch & brake shop it was *one* room with decades of asbestos fibers every where, some piles on pipes etc. were almost 4" tall ~ he seemed surprised when I flat refused to follow him into the room and declined the good paying job on the spot .

He was impressed I knew how to operate all the machines but unclear as to just why I didn't want to go into that dusty dangerous room .

Truly, ignorance can be bliss .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

At the Battery Factory they took a Blood sample at the job site when I started work and again when I quite after not even working a week. They said without the leaving blood sample they would not release my Check.
No one I saw at the Battery Factory had any reparatory protection.

When My Father retired from the Naval Shipyard they tested his blood and he indeed had some lead in it. He never knew it but way over in one corner of the Building they poured Babbitt Bearings.
Since he is going on 95 years old what ever lead is in him does not appear to have injured his health.

I also thought about taking Kids down to the County Jail. However, at the older one you go down a road and you see the Inmates playing basket ball. Would not want kids to think if they go to jail they only have to paly games.


When visiting an Inmate impressed my about the County Jail and later Women's Prison in Fontara CA is the suffering the Families go through. Besides the often long trip to get there to find out you cannot get in for some unknown reason. There is a roof but they are otherwise exposed to the Weather and CA is often extremely hot if you need to sit out in the Sun.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Time was when every cop shop was old and had holding cells, on open house days you could take the kiddies down and after looking at everything else, put them in the drunk tank for a few minuets with the door closed .

I don't think it dissuaded then as well as showing crappy jobs would .

"impressive" isn't the word I'd use for any jail or prison .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better