Battery on concrete.....

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inkjunkie

inkjunkie

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Any truth to the tale of storing a battery on concrete will drain it? Or is it folklore?
 
Pretty sure this true, my dad always had his batteries sitting on 2x4's or some other piece of wood but never on the garage floor.

I guess this really doesn't prove that it is a true statement, but that's what I've always heard and seen.
 
I was told by an auto tech instructor that the old batterys with asphalt tops would discharge on concrete, but the new ones don't. However it seems to me that if they would discharge on concrete they would even faster on a steel battery tray.
 
nuttyprof said:
I was told by an auto tech instructor that the old batterys with asphalt tops would discharge on concrete, but the new ones don't. However it seems to me that if they would discharge on concrete they would even faster on a steel battery tray.
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correct the old batteries and I mean real old.
 
back in 1980s....chemistry 101 teacher in college asked us to provide the chemical reaction of a battery and concrete......

battery go dead on concrete cause they just sit there for months..
 
I thought it's the cold that kills them, the wood is just an insulator. Bigger problem in the north where the concrete gets real cold in the winter.
 
Concrete contains calcium and lime....antacids. I think in the old days, as was said already real old, batteries were vented and had porous tops - and it is possible that the resulting chemical reaction neutralized the acid and killed the battery. I work with aircraft Nicad (nickel / cadmium) batteries and you cannot service or store them near lead acid batteries. The elecrtrolite in a nicad is basic, not acidic, and in close proximity the two will neutralize each other.

Modern sealed batteries....in my opinion, no problem at all
 
Wheels said:
This is 100% not true and is 100% B.S.
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I guess it matters how old you are.

Most probably never had an OLD BATTERY

Took auto mechanics classes in the 70's and was taught then not to store battery on concrete.

I don't care if it doesn't affect the newer batteries they are on wood if on concrete for to charge, while working on car and removed. But really if you pull a battery and put it on the floor you don't need it and it sits too long and gets drained, breaks the plates down and short out making it useless.

My 2 Cents
 
I've wondered about that too. I say it's just an old superstition. But I might buy that the coldness of the concrete could do some damage.
 
Any battery under 10 years old it will not be a problem to put it on cement. Any battery over 10 years old probably isn't usable.

But in the "old daze" when our A-bodies were new it was a bad idea to store it on cement.
 
mostly myth
It has more to do with the charge than the concrete. A fully charged battery can handle temps well bellow freezing. As the charge drops, the freeze point comes up. A completely dead battery will freeze just below 32F. This will destroy the cells, and its a goner.
Adding to the problem...I have an attached garage. Its not heated, but picks up some heat from the house, sun on the roof etc . So air temp stays above freezing most of the time. The concrete near the wall (where a battery is likely to sit) is going to drop below freezing much sooner than anywhere else.
Batteries in storage anywhere will lose charge, they lose charge quicker if dirty because the dirt hold moisture and gives a path to ground. So, the dirty battery on the concrete in the corner of the garage loses charge and freezes quicker due to faster heat transfer through concrete and it all gets blamed on the concrete...
 
Let's see... Plastic case battery on concrete vs. plastic case battery on wood. All other factors being equal, which will discharge quicker?

Both batteries will discharge at the same rate.
 
Frankie said:
Let's see... Plastic case battery on concrete vs. plastic case battery on wood. All other factors being equal, which will discharge quicker?

Both batteries will discharge at the same rate.
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Exactly.

There is an advantage to putting a battery on a wood block. It will lessen the chance that it will freeze solid to the floor.
 
It's folklore. When you set a battery down, anywhere, it tends to stay wherever you put it for quite a while. It never gets charged and eventualy dies.
 
Thanks for reminding me Doug, I need to get all my stored batteries on the charger today. :)

Back when I lived in Chicago, condensation on a concrete garage floor was a major issue so I always put them on blocks or a wood bench. There would literally be quarter size and smaller beads of water all over the garage floor and fuzzy corrosion would build up on the terminals. I guess that's what happens when you build a city over a swamp.

Having said that, any battery just sitting will discharge and eventually freeze in the winter regardless of where it sits.

BTW, the name Chicago is a corruption of an Indian word that means "Smelly Onion" because the whole area was a rank *** swamp full of rotting vegetation back in the 1800's.
 
I have my battery on a piece of Luan plywood...on top of my steel battery tray all Summer long. currently on 2x4s for the Winter.

Paul

nuttyprof said:
I was told by an auto tech instructor that the old batterys with asphalt tops would discharge on concrete, but the new ones don't. However it seems to me that if they would discharge on concrete they would even faster on a steel battery tray.
Click to expand...
 
ramcharger said:
BTW, the name Chicago is a corruption of an Indian word that means "Smelly Onion" because the whole area was a rank *** swamp full of rotting vegetation back in the 1800's.
Click to expand...

Oh, my goodness! How apropos! lol

Sorry Chicagoans.
 
ive read and heard that air is a conductor, ENOUGH to the point that it will cause a battery to discharge from sitting as well, also on a side note, as long as a battery is maintained above approx 12.2 volts its impossible for it to freeze. just an FYI.
 
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