Been there and done that. When I was 16 in 1966 I was working in an Exxon service station. Back then batteries came dry and we added the acid and then charged them. Rather than Positive terminal first without thinking I connected Negative terminal first. When tightening the positive my wrench hit the chassis. One heck of a bang as three cells blew their caps off. Ruined a brand new battery and thank God for the deep sink which was my eyewash station that fateful day. To this day I remember it was a 64 Chevy Impala. The battery was still cooking off hydrogen gas and all it took was a spark to have an explosion. The battery now had a nice convex top which fortunately held.

Ron

Had my own "back when I was young and stupid" moment. I was replacing an alternator on my truck and I wanted to listen to tunes while I did it, so I didn't disconnect the battery (and I had changed out alternators several times before with the battery connected with no problem). Everything went find until I had the alternator lose and it slipped out of my hand and fell back against the exhaust manifold -- coming to rest on the battery connector. Not the easiest thing to reach in and grab, so had several melted wires by the time I got it free.

Guess what the old and stupid me does NOT do now when replacing an alternator?

 

Been there and done that. When I was 16 in 1966 I was working in an Exxon service station. Back then batteries came dry and we added the acid and then charged them. Rather than Positive terminal first without thinking I connected Negative terminal first. When tightening the positive my wrench hit the chassis. One heck of a bang as three cells blew their caps off. Ruined a brand new battery and thank God for the deep sink which was my eyewash station that fateful day. To this day I remember it was a 64 Chevy Impala. The battery was still cooking off hydrogen gas and all it took was a spark to have an explosion. The battery now had a nice convex top which fortunately held.

Ron

Car battery explosions are a real thing but few people seem to know or take them seriously.

 

Car battery explosions are a real thing but few people seem to know or take them seriously.

Absolutely and to this day I remember that and it was almost 60 years ago. Thank God I didn't lose my sight. The sad part is I knew better. That wrench touched chassis and came the big bang, I do recall seeing flame.

Ron