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Jesse,
We have made many battery boxes for flooded batteries of wood, although not "lumber". Years ago I made them, as I had been a carpenter in a previous life, but then I found a woodworker who could build to suit. We have long used "Baltic Birch" cabinet carcase plywood: it's 1/2" (actually 12 mm) thick, 9 plies, dimensionally stable, and comes in 61" square sheets, so works with much less waste than 4' x 8' sheets in most applications. We'd prime the inside and use EPDM or vinyl "pond liner" to line the bottom and 7" or so up the sides to contain any acid spillage. We'd use a piano hinge and high-grade door gasketing, with one or more Zephyr Power Vents (which integrate backdraft dampers into their design) and intake holes (with mouse screens) just above the liner. It worked very well, because of the build quality. We have never had an issue with one; I have the same in my own home. You can check photos of some of them in Home Power 141, Feb/Mar 2011. I would have the same concerns as you express with funky and leaky homemade boxes. Lumber is not a good material. Seldom have I seen a homeowner-built box done well. I guess my main point is that wood is a good material for battery boxes, but only if done well. Allan
Allan Sindelar
On 5/11/2013 10:16 PM, Jesse Dahl wrote:al...@positiveenergysolar.com NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician Founder and Chief Technology Officer Positive Energy, Inc. 3209 Richards Lane (note new address) Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507 505 424-1112 www.positiveenergysolar.com
Hello, I visited a site on Friday to do some trouble-shooting on a system and noticed the battery box was homemade by the installer of the system. Made from lumber. Seems to me like there may be some safety and liability issues with a homemade/lumber battery box. Maybe I'm getting gun shy after hearing sue stories. Is this a common practice? I did some looking and there really isn't a single box that would work for this system so it would've taken two boxes to do it, so that could be why they did it.Thanks as always, Jesse Sent from my iPhone _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org |
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