New Battery Storage

[f5fstop]

Originally Posted by Troubleshooter

Not entirely an urban legend. Just a misunderstood auto tip.

It ruins the concrete, not the battery. The acid vapors eat the concrete floor. I have seen it happen.

I store large deep cycle batteries for about six months out of the years on concrete and no leakage, no vapors, no nothing that is destroying the concrete floor. But my batteries are still in good shape not some old piece of leaking junk.

[don1945]

Just sitting, a lead acid battery will discharge about 5-7% per month, all on it's own. I keep a battery tender on the cars I don't drive much and have had good luck with them lasting a long time.

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

I store large deep cycle batteries for about six months out of the years on concrete and no leakage, no vapors, no nothing that is destroying the concrete floor. But my batteries are still in good shape not some old piece of leaking junk.

It won't happen today.

The auto tip comes from the 1930s. It said:

"Leaving a car battery on a concrete floor will ruin it."

This was way before we had sealed batteries (started in the 1970s).

Most batteries had vents in the cell caps before then. Acid vapors would come out of the vents and condense on the side of the battery, then run down the side onto the floor.

My father left a battery from a 1957 Chevy on the garage floor in 1963. He was keeping it for an experiment after buying a battery with higher cranking power. But when he picked it up 3 months later to use it, the floor was eaten away down to the aggregate in a rectangle under the battery.

Too many people read that auto tip and thought the battery would be ruined.