Date:         Thu, 13 Oct 94 20:29:47 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "J. Walker" <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      re: cold start (honest, honey, it just blew up itself!)

On Thu, 13 Oct 94 18:02:04 CDT David Carment said:
>J. Walker writes:
>> it is a tribute to the makers of the batteries in general that MORE of them
>> don't explode ... considering how batteries are treated by the 'mechanics'
>> and grease-monkies at auto-service businesses. and owner-drivers. :)
>>
>...
>If batterires are prone to explosion and gas leakage how did VW get away with
>putting them in the bug? DC

my mistake. i was letting the context of the subject matter speak, rather
than using real words. :)  what i MEANT to say was that it is a tribute ...
etc. ... don't explode DURING JUMP-STARTING.  a battery under the rear seat
of a beetle is no danger to anyone. except the fat-butt like me who sat down
and shorted the springs across the terminals!!! (cause the little plastic cap
was missing). talk about your heart stopping! woof. :)

a battery is only dangerous to humans and other living things when turned
upside down (so the acid runs out) or when sparks are made around/by it while
it's making a lot of gas.

and something else seems to pop up dimly in the back of my mind ... that
some old fart at a battery shop told me long long ago: to keep the water
level inside the battery way up (to the top mark) so the gas had no where
to collect. seems like a good idea, anyway. to keep the water levels up, that
is.

sorry for any misunderstanding. didn't mean to cause undue concern.

joel