dpb wrote:
Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
dpb wrote:
ransley wrote:
On Jan 20, 9:54 am, dpb wrote:
B'razeer Boobar wrote:
Past couple of years I didn't remove the sealed battery from the lawn
tractor which is kept in a detached garage. Winter temp in the garage
never dropped to 32F due to mild winters. There were no problems the
following springs. If the temp does go below 32 for a sustained
period, does this necessarily cause irreparable damage to the battery?
That's an acid solution in there, not water alone...freezing temp is
_well_ below 0F.

--
If the battery is kept full charged is wont freeze if
it goes dead it
can freeze, ...
Charged or uncharged doesn't make much difference on the freeze
point--certainly not anyways near 32F, anyway...
The state of charge makes all the difference. A fully
charged lead acid battery is not going to freeze at
-60F, but a totally discharged battery has *water* in
it, and will freeze and crack the case at 32F.

I've never seen it happen w/ a small engine battery even outside over
winter in W KS where 0F and below are common -- they're invariably
discharged by spring as I don't really worry about them and I've never
had a problem w/ one, sealed or no...the specific gravity changes, sure,
but never to the point ime of becoming "water" at 32F (or even very
close)...

They are not nearly as discharged as you think then.

As I said, a "totally discharged battery" has *water* in
it, not acid, and it freezes at 32F. But you'd have to
make a real effort to accomplish that too, and instead
there is almost always some acid, and the freeze point
is below 32F.

I've seen *lots* of batteries that have frozen and
cracked the cases. But if you live where it actually
does get cold, the battery doesn't have to be all that
discharged either... :-)

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)