RE: Storage of Large Lead Acid Batteries
Hello Silvia,
You'll likely solve many of your concerns once the batteries have been
assessed for significance. Depending on your mandate, collection, and
collection policies a couple examples may be all you end up retaining if any.
The cardboard they are stored in now may or may not be kept depending on the
significance of itself but if kept I'd likely store it separately. Even if you
have a 'hands-on' collection the batteries are likely not useable anymore, more
likely to explode with over charging, and there'd be health and safety or
collections concerns I'd think around using older batteries. Assuming these are
lead acid batteries, they are 'wet' batteries and you have a container of an
unknown amount and concentration of sulphuric acid sitting there. Granted, as
the batteries are likely well discharged the level of sulphuric acid is
probably at a lower level. There's a whole, not particularly useful in this
case, chemistry equation for charging/discharging of lead acid batteries and
the corresponding level of sulphuric acid but I'd have to cheat and look it up!
This is all assuming that the batteries haven't dried out with age or are
another type.
Without seeing the details of these specific batteries and how large is
'large', in general batteries tend to leak, develop corrosion products on their
contacts/terminals, and emit sulphuric vapours so it's good to hear they're in
decent shape. You'll want complete containers with seamless bottoms or at the
minimum seamless trays to contain to contain any possible leakage or corrosion
products and of a material, such as polyethylene or glass, that won't react
with any products from the batteries. A conservation or curatorial decision may
be made to drain the batteries for safety and preservation reasons. Depending
on the battery this may be easy to do or not but will require proper and safe
disposal of the electrolyte. I'm not sure how much vapour is actually being
generated and escaping from these specific batteries but with regards to the
sulphuric vapours I mentioned above, a decision will need to made if you want
to contain this in a sealed container with a sink of some kind to prevent
reaction itself or otherwise surrounding items or ventilate it in an open
environment. You may also want to keep a box of baking soda nearby to
neutralise any leakage or corrosion products. The containers holding the
batteries should be labelled with any appropriate GHS or locally equivalent
notices.
I don't know of any battery related conservation resources off the top
of my head but following applicable heath and safety procedures for acids and
batteries may be your best place to start. Hopefully this helps and I'll be
happy to trade to you some of our cold for some of your warmth!
William Shepherd
Collections Officer
Swift Current Museum
44 Robert Street West
Swift Current, Saskatchewan
S9H 4M9
Phone: 306-778-4815
Fax: 306-778-4818
-----Original Message-----
From: silvia alexandra <[email protected]>
Subject: [Consdistlist] Storage of Large Lead Acid Batteries
...We have in our collection at the Queensland Museum...lead acid batteries
kept separate from the main body of the object. The batteries appear stable
with no signs of corrosion or leaking, though it is possible a future closer
inspection may reveal issues.
Currently they are being kept in cardboard boxes, with the plan being to keep
them if they are deemed necessary and significant and house them accordingly.
Does anyone have experience with safely packing large batteries for long-term
storage? Or has had to go through a health and safety-focused rationalisation
for keeping a number of batteries on site long term?
Silvia Da Rocha
Objects Conservator
Queensland Museum
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