Batteries on Concrete - Myth?

[JBledsoe]

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Myth? Yes and no! The concrete does not harm batteries, BUT, concrete floors in winter are a lot colder and cold does harm batteries. Keeping your batteries fully charged is the best maintenance that you can do. I leave my batteries in the boat with the charger plugged in to keep the charge up. Also keep the water level up.

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[slimeyslab]

Back when I was in High School we did an experiment to test this. We found it was a myth and made no difference.

[CatFan]

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Myth? Yes and no! The concrete does not harm batteries, BUT, concrete floors in winter are a lot colder and cold does harm batteries. Keeping your batteries fully charged is the best maintenance that you can do. I leave my batteries in the boat with the charger plugged in to keep the charge up. Also keep the water level up.

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Concrete is usually very close to the temperature of the air, summer or winter. The idea that it is colder is based on the fact that its larger thermal mass makes it "feel" cold to humans, just like a chunk of steel or water. Even if it were colder, cold is a battery's friend. Cold temperatures reduce self discharge and water loss. The only time cold is a problem in most of the world for a battery is temperatures below freezing with a discharged battery.

[JBledsoe]

Concrete is usually very close to the temperature of the air, summer or winter. The idea that it is colder is based on the fact that its larger thermal mass makes it "feel" cold to humans, just like a chunk of steel or water. Even if it were colder, cold is a battery's friend. Cold temperatures reduce self discharge and water loss. The only time cold is a problem in most of the world for a battery is temperatures below freezing with a discharged battery.

I don't agree with you on a couple of points. I suppose "cold' is relative, but I consider cold to be in the sub teens and below and batteries don't like that. Also, garage floors are colder than ambient air inside a heated garage. Unless the garage floor concrete has a thermal barrier around the parameter the cold moves in under outside walls and can cool the concrete floor to temperatures below freezing, even if inside temperatures are 50 or 60 degrees. If the outside air and soil temperature is 10 degrees and the garage is 60 degrees, you say that the concrete floor will be 60 degrees? That it just feels cold? Sorry, we have to agree to disagree on this one.

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[CatFan]

I don't agree with you on a couple of points. I suppose "cold' is relative, but I consider cold to be in the sub teens and below and batteries don't like that. Also, garage floors are colder than ambient air inside a heated garage. Unless the garage floor concrete has a thermal barrier around the parameter the cold moves in under outside walls and can cool the concrete floor to temperatures below freezing, even if inside temperatures are 50 or 60 degrees. If the outside air and soil temperature is 10 degrees and the garage is 60 degrees, you say that the concrete floor will be 60 degrees? That it just feels cold? Sorry, we have to agree to disagree on this one.

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Feel free to disagree, but the laws of physics are on my side. The electrolyte in a charged battery doesn't freeze until around -90 degrees F. The colder a battery is, the less chemical activity occurs, so cold is good for storage. A concrete slab would be one of the best possible places to store a battery.

Soil temperature even a few inches below the surface is always warmer than the air during the winter and cooler than the air in the summer. My heating and cooling system relies on this. A concrete slab, isolated from the wind, will be the same temperature as the air in a garage, heated or unheated. If it was even a few degrees cooler, you couldn't keep the garage heated. The concrete will be cooled around the edges due to outside air, but the concrete cooling will remove heat from the air inside the building to equalize the energy within the building.

The concrete in a 24'X24'X8' garage with a 4" slab weighs 28,800lbs compared to 288 lbs for the air in the garage. That means the concrete contains 100 times the heat energy that the air does. It's obvious that if the concrete was hot, you couldn't keep the building cool, but not so obvious that if the concrete was cold, you couldn't keep the building warm.


You couldn't begin to be comfortable on a 60 degree concrete floor or in 60 degree water, but 60 degree air is pleasant. All due to the larger thermal mass of water and concrete.

[old fuzzy]

If In Doubt Just Cut A Couple Of 2x2 Or A Small Piece Of Plywood To Sit Them On,,problem Solved
Jmo

[JBledsoe]

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CatFan, you present a very logical argument and convincing as well. If what your saying is true, and I'm about to believe you, then there is no need to remove the batteries in winter, just keep them charged.

Battery company reps. have always said that cold damages the battery, however, they have misrepresented other things so they may be in error on this also.

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[CatFan]

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then there is no need to remove the batteries in winter, just keep them charged.

Battery company reps. have always said that cold damages the battery, however, they have misrepresented other things so they may be in error on this also.

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Indeed, cold CAN damage an uncharged battery. The freezing point of an uncharged battery is about the same as water, where charging it lowers it to a range most of us will never see.

If you want to USE the battery, cold is bad, since it slows down the chemical reaction, which greatly reduces battery capacity.

Cold or warm, keep the batteries charged and they will last longer is the bottom line.

[JBledsoe]

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Thanks. I learned something.

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[gabowman]

Well...I'm old-school. I still sit batteries on a board.:o