Free battery acid--come by and I'll top you off

[troy]

My DR350 battery needed to be topped off so I bought some battery acid. The only available option was 6 quarts when all I needed was about 5 or 6 ounces! It was not expensive---I'd have gladly paid twice for a pint of acid to not have 6 quarts of acid laying around.

SO...anybody who wants their battery topped off, please come by and I'll top off your battery. I live in the KC Northland.

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for acid that splashes on your clothing and ruins it or acid in your eyes--I HATE it when that happens.

Scientist Mike, if nobody wants my acid, I should be able to neutralize the acid with Baking Soda---right? (Acid vs Alkaline?) So if I want to just dump this 6 quarts....can I put a bunch of baking soda in a bucket, then pour the acid in....then dump it down the drain with a lot of water? Is that safe?

[safiri]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfuric_acid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limestone

Arm & Hammer stock will go way up after you buy all of that baking soda. Limestone rock would be cheaper and is plentiful at highway cuts. Reaction will take a bit longer, but that will be safer for you, anyway.

I have the same 6 qt container out in my shed ... needed battery acid one summer and didn't want to spend the time going to work and making my own (diluted sulfuric acid ... not hard to do) solution.

IIRC, EPA says that what goes down the sanitary sewer needs to be between pH 6 and 8 (7 = nuetral). This will get you close:

Carefully ... don't splash, wear eye protection, etc ... place limestone chunks, gravel, etc in a 5 gallong bucket. Put the bucket outside in a protected area. If the bucket breaks or leaks you want the resulting solution to not be on your lawn or driveway. Slowly, carefully add the acid to the bucket. The reaction will produce carbon dioxide gas, so bubbling will occur. The reaction is also exothermic. It will get hot. Add a little acid at a time, allowing the reaction to slow / stop and the resulting solution cool before you add any more acid. Take a couple of days to be safe.

H2SO4 + CaCO3 -> CO2 (gas) + H2O + CaSO4 (solution)

Nothing here is dangerous as in carcinogenic or mutagenic, but you can get burned by the acid and by the heat the reaction produces.

Here end the chemistry lesson for the day.

Oh yeah, the above method is probably not approved by the EPA, MO-EPA, etc.

Perform at your own risk. (Just like motorcycling.)



Now, for the bad news ... unless you allowed acid to drain out of your battery (like out at Hemphill's Total MX Experience Park when you laid on the ground beside your bike ... ), you just needed to add some distilled / DeIonized water. Not mineral water.

The extra acid probably won't do any harm.

BTW, I have drained old batteries and replaced the electrolyte with fresh acid and managed to get some more starts out of them. Not recommended but it works somewhat ok.

[troy]

you just needed to add some distilled / DeIonized water

Well that's what I thought, too, but the battery says right on it DO NOT ADD WATER. ONLY ADD BATTERY ACID --or something like that.

I have the same 6 qt container out in my shed

Doh! I should have called you before I bought mine.

[safiri]

Hmmm, interesting on the acid vs. water. Usual explanation is that the water is boiled off / evaporates, leaving behind the hydrogen sulfate. Thus add water to top off a battery. (You add acid to a fresh, dry battery.)

Oh yeah, use a plastic bucket. Sulfuric acid will dissolve / react with a metal bucket.