[davidswinton13]

Hello Team
Would anyone have a safety procedure for mig welding near batteries particularly forklift 36 and 48 volt ones.
At the moment we cover with a leather welding blanket while being disconnected from the truck.

[dirtmidget33]

Those Batteries give of hydrogen gas so chance of fire is there

[Otto Nobedder]

Hello Team
Would anyone have a safety procedure for mig welding near batteries particularly forklift 36 and 48 volt ones.
At the moment we cover with a leather welding blanket while being disconnected from the truck.

Disconnecting them reduces most of the hazard, as they only produce gasses while in use or charging. I would suggest a permeable cover like fiberglass cloth, rather than leather, which can trap residual gasses. Distance is also your friend.

Steve S

[sedanman]

Huge fan to flood the area with fresh air and displace the hydrogen. Shut the fan off before mig welding.

[ldbtx]

Back in the '70s, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was living off-grid in SoCal, I was working with a friend who lived about a quarter-mile away and was also off-grid. His generator was a big Onan diesel, started by a pair of 8D batteries. When he picked me up one morning so we could go play electrician (he was an electrical contractor), he mentioned that his generator exhaust system had a leak and asked if I'd help him weld it up that evening. Sure, no problem.

That evening when we got back he said that he'd run the generator that morning to pump up the well tank, and it hadn't been run since. We discussed that any hydrogen from the morning's start would have dissipated by now -- and anyway the batteries were about 4 feet away from where we were welding, and we fired up the engine drive welder.

We discovered a couple things immediately when the first arc was struck. First off, all the hydrogen had not dissipated, and second, four feet was just enough to give the pieces of the battery case a running start. A large corner piece of the exploding battery case cuffed me on the ankle through my cowboy boot and gave me a bone bruise that hurt for 6 months. We both lost a pair of jeans from getting doused with electrolyte, but fortunately no skin was burned and no eyes were lost. And, at least, only one battery blew up.

From then on, if I've had to weld near batteries, I like to remove them and take them far, far away. If that's not possible, I exhaust the area with a fan and cover the batteries with something spark and fire proof. Welding has enough ways to get hurt, no point in getting exploding batteries in the act too.

Larry