I had a battery explosion in my Ford diesel.  I left my charger on it
ovenight and heard this "BANG" about 3am....I thought it must someone
spotlighting a deer or something...
  Next morning, my truck was all covered with acid on the fender and inside
the engine compartment.  Dents in the hood (that was open at the time)  Big
explosion, nothing to scoff at...Big mess, too.  My truck's paint looks like
crap now and the inside of the engine compartment is a mess...I guess it was
from over charging, though the charger was supposed to be a "smart charger"
It wasn't any smarter than the guy who bought it (Harbor Freight)
  Don Hanson

On Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Alistair Bell <albell@shaw.ca> wrote:

> I would bet that any venting to the outside is not for hydrogen gas,
> but rather to remove any sulfuric acid fumes from immediate area, to
> reduce corrosion of nearby parts.
>
> you are not going to get an explosion under the seat from the small
> amount of hydrogen gas produced by the battery. A battery can explode
> from within if hydrogen and oxygen are not allowed to escape, but
> that is different than the fear of vented hydrogen combining rapidly
> with the co-produced or atmospheric oxygen, in the space under the
> seat of a vanagon. Hydrogen and oxygen are the products of
> *overcharging* lead acid batteries.
>
> its a different order of magnitude if you have a vast bank of
> charging batteries, ie a diesel electric submarine.
>
> alistair
>
>
>
>
> On 1-Oct-10, at 10:43 AM, Loren Busch wrote:
>
>  RE: Stock battery venting
> I'll try to get a picture and post a link to it.
>