Is a de-sulfated battery safe use?

[Fordiesel69]

So, I recently heard from someone we sold a car to who's car burned to the ground and the suspected cause was from the battery area. We actully sold them the car 4 yrs ago. It was hours after being driven, so exhaust was cool, and no fuel smell reported. The age and type of battery was unkown and the person is not mechanically inclined nor would have thought to pay attention to what battery was installed.

My question is I typically buy 15 to 20 dollar group 65 batteries that are "reconditioned" and i beleive all they are doing is using a desulfater device and cleaning the plastic up like new. I actually have excellent luck with these batteries, almost better than with new cheap walmart / autozone batteries. Shining a bright light down inside always shows good plates.

I am looking into investing into desulfater device becuase I have 9 cars and tons of vintage tractors, but I do not want it to be unsafe. What are the chances that after the desulfation process is completed, that the batteries can just burst into flames? How would one prevent any battery of any kind from just bursting into flames?

 

[ragtoplvr]

Lead acid batteries do not burst into flame, sulfated or not. They can burst and spill acid, no flame. Desulfation will make no difference.

Cars with generators, can have the generator incorrectly polarized, stick the cutout contact and then catch gen on fire.

Wire insulation does fail, rats eat it.

Starter contacts can stick and cause fires.

Gas can leak out of non-alcohol compliant components, and burn.

Even brake fluid can burn

Rod

 

[Donald]

I agree the battery did not cause the fire. Something else was involved.

While the battery chargers with a desulfate function may help a sulftaed battery, they are not the magic solution to revive dead batteries that will not accept a charge.

The best solution is to keep batteries used infrequently on a temp compensated battery maintainer. BatteryMinder makes excellent products and I have several.

 

[WobblyElvis]

I use a small battery charger [maybe 2-6 amps] to de-sulfate an old battery once in a while. They are never as good as new and I wouldn't trust one in a remote location. I put an automotive bulb in series with the charger leads to add resistance and lower the charge rate to about 0.5 amps. Leave it on for days and I can see the plates turning back to the Grey-Black/Grey/Black they are supposed to be. Any old buzz box charger will do this.

 

[JHZR2]

Lead acid batteries absolutely can burn. And it's as nasty as any other battery fire.

They can also explode if overcharged.

A reconditioned battery if not properly watered is probably the most likely cause of its failure (not implying the case here, just generally). Especially if the lead plates have lost mass and created a short in the bottom, lead acid batteries can source a lot of fault current and If the resistance of the short starts to drop, it will rapidly get very hot.

The oddity in the OP is that this happened hours after the car was turned off. It could be a case where an overcharged battery finally ruptured, sparked, and the hydrogen went boom. It could have been an internal short in a nearly dry battery that got hot enough to start the case on fire. I'd guess it was a short elsewhere in the wiring thst did it...

 

[Dave9]

Heh, 4 years later...

It was a wiring fault, or sabotage if she's made any enemies.

 

[Fordiesel69]

I also wondered about a wiring fault, BUT whenever I buy an unmarked undercover police car they remove the optional police harness entirley. I then remove any other stray wires so nothing can short out. I wonder how a factory wiring loom can short out.

But anyways I need to unserstand more about "desulfating a battery" becuase what I am reading does not make sense. If this is a good as it sounds then why cant we get 20 yrs out of a battery. It must damage the plates to some extent during the process.