If you are an average homeowner or an everyday driver, chances are you already encountered broken batteries or corroded power cells at least once in your life. Damaged or corroded batteries can be anywhere in the house or garage.
You might encounter these batteries in situations like replacing a dead car battery, repairing battery powered devices or checking your solar panel power grid. Broken and corroded batteries are dangerous to both its surroundings and to our health. So if you encountered one make sure to be cautious.
Batteries contain acids and dangerous chemicals that can be hazardous to people and the environment. A broken car battery that has leaking battery acid or even a heavily corroded AA power cell can damage its surroundings and pose a lot of health hazards to people.
So it is very important to learn how to neutralize the battery acid to make sure that the threat it poses is eliminated. This guide is all about the proper way of cleaning batteries and the acid spills that may harm you and your environment.
It will also provide you with the details that will help you neutralize the acid from different types of batteries.
- 1 Safety is the Priority – Wear Protective Gears Before Cleaning
- 2 The Initial Cleaning Process and Proper Battery Disposal
- 2.1 Neutralizing the Battery Acid with the Proper Cleaning Agent
- 2.2 Finally, Disposing of the Broken Battery in the Proper Way
Safety is the Priority – Wear Protective Gears Before Cleaning
As mentioned above, battery acids are dangerous. Getting into contact with this harmful elements may lead to burns, skin irritation and more severe physical injuries.
This is why in cleaning batteries and acid spills, safety should be prioritized. In case you are going to be the one that will clean the battery, its surroundings, and the acid spills, protecting yourself by wearing the right gears is imperative before you start the cleaning process.
Regardless of the type and size of the battery, you are going to work on; you have to have enough protection to avoid any unwanted incidents as you go through the process. Keep in mind that even a corroded AA power cell has enough toxins that may cause still irritation and inflammation to your skin that may lead to a more severe health problem.
It’s better to make sure that you protect yourself by wearing leather gloves and a shirt with long sleeves.
In the case of medium to large batteries that can cause greater damage and pose more serious dangers. Equipping yourself with thicker leather gloves, goggles, and a mask will provide you enough protection for the task to be carried out.
The Initial Cleaning Process and Proper Battery Disposal
After making sure that you are wearing the right protective gears and you have enough protection against the toxic battery fluid. You can start the cleaning process by initiating the initial or preliminary steps.
Start by properly disposing of the broken or corroded battery to remove it from the space that you are going to clean. Take note that if the battery is heavily corroded, removing it from its spot can be challenging and will require a lot of effort because they are usually stuck permanently.
Try using a paint scraper or a screwdriver to detach it from its base, but make sure that you are wearing your goggles and mask to protect your face from the debris from the damaged power cell.
After successfully removing the broken battery from its place, you can place it in a plastic container to prevent the corrosion from spreading. Then set it aside where no one can touch it then focus on cleaning.
You can use some paper towels and a piece of cloth to clean up everything within your reach but leave the battery acid or the residue alone. This initial cleaning step is just to get an idea of the damage the broken battery had caused.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure that the broken battery well-contained to prevent the corrosion from spreading. You should not use a cloth that you will use for another purpose, this initial phase of cleaning is a task for the rags that will be disposed of as soon as you finished using it.
Neutralizing the Battery Acid with the Proper Cleaning Agent
The most important part of the entire cleaning process is neutralizing the battery acid that leaked through the broken housing of the battery as well as the spills and residue. These things pose severe hazards because even they are already dried up their acidic properties can still harm people and its surroundings.
To neutralize this property, the first thing you have to do is identify the type of the broken power cell. This will give you an idea of the chemical composition of the acid that you will neutralize.
Allowing you to prepare the ideal cleaning agent that will effectively get rid of the harmful acidic properties of the fluid. To give you a better picture of this you can refer below.
Neutralizing the Residue and Spills of An Alkaline Battery
Alkaline batteries like the typical power cells that you use on television remote control contain potassium hydroxide. A chemical that can burn and irritate the skin that can cause a burning sensation.
However, this chemical is on the other end of the pH scale that can be easily neutralized with an acid. In case you encounter a corroded alkaline battery that has a lot of spills and residue.
You can neutralize them with an acid solution like the white vinegar in your kitchen or the lemon juice that you store in the fridge.
Neutralizing the Fluid, Spills, and Residue of An Acidic Battery
When it comes to the large batteries like lead acid power cells used in automobiles. You will need a different cleaning agent because the electrolyte solution of this type of battery contains sulfuric acid or similar acidic chemicals.
In this case, you will need to prepare the conventional Baking Soda – Water solution. To prepare this cleaning agent, all you have to do is to measure a tablespoon of baking soda then pour to one cup of water (better if warm).
Give it a consistent stir until the baking soda is completely dissolved to have a more potent and effective solution. Pour this solution on the areas with the acidic residue and spills and try to cover all affected areas to neutralize and cover as much as possible.
Getting Rid of the Neutralized Residue and Spills
Back to the cleaning part! After successfully neutralizing all the battery acid residue, spills, and all the affected areas. You can now get rid of them by wiping them clean off the surface using a towel that will throw away after the process. Make sure that you will cover the entire affected area to eliminate the presence of acidic elements.
Finally, Disposing of the Broken Battery in the Proper Way
Now that your area is clean and free from the harmful acidic properties of the battery acid. You also learned how to neutralize battery acid of the types of power cell.
The only thing left to do is to properly dispose of the broken battery that caused you a lot of trouble and kept you busy.
In this final step, you have to make sure that you are following the battery disposal guidelines in your area. You can take the battery to a recycling center near your location to let them do the rest or bring it to a designated landfill.