To Properly Water Forklift Batteries, Use the Goldilocks Principle

It's hard to say which is worse for lift truck batteries: too much water in the electrolyte or not enough. To get the most out of your battery investments, it's best to avoid both extremes — just like Goldilocks with the porridge. These products, techniques, and guidelines will help you keep your battery water levels just right.

Too Much: Overwatering Forklift Batteries

Overwatered forklift batteries pose hazards to personnel, equipment, and the batteries themselves. When too much water is added to electrolyte, batteries can boil-over, spilling an acidic mixture over battery cases, stands, and the floor — and maybe even lift trucks themselves. Boil-over occurs when electrolyte heats up and expands. This can happen during charging or discharging. If the battery is overfilled, the electrolyte may spill — or sometimes even burst — out of the battery.

Boil-overs are hazardous, and they’re also costly. Industry analysts say that the typical boil-over will reduce a battery’s capacity by three to five percent. Over time, boil-overs can add up to a severely diminished battery fleet. Worse still, acid spills on the battery itself, other equipment, and personnel can cost your operation thousands of dollars.

In order to prevent boil-overs, make sure that batteries are never filled above the “high watering level” line. Typically, this line is ⅛-inch below the vent opening, and it’s usually marked or indicated inside the battery cell. (You might need to shine a flashlight in the battery to see the high watering level).

Too Little: Underwatering Your Battery Collection

When you overwater your battery, it’s easy to see the negative result: boil-over. When you underwater batteries, though, the negative result isn’t as readily apparent. It’s called dry cell, and it can totally ruin your battery. 

Dry-cell occurs when a battery consumes enough water for the plates to be exposed to the air. If the battery’s positive and negative plates get dry, the capacity will decrease permanently. Even re-introducing the proper amount of water during the next scheduled watering won’t return the cell to its previous performance. So, while underwatering doesn’t cause a dramatic boil-over, it’s still awful for batteries.

Preventing underwatering is a little more tricky. First, it’s a good idea to start with a once-per-week battery watering schedule. Once you have that in place, check every week to see whether the electrolyte level in your batteries remains above the separator protector. If the electrolyte level is below the separator protector, that cell needs more water. You might want to consider switching to a twice-per-week watering schedule.

Just Right: How To Optimize Battery Watering

When the electrolyte level is “just right,” it’s between the high watering level line and the separator protector. Getting the most out of your batteries means keeping the electrolyte level always between these two lines.

Trade publication Modern Material Handling reports that 70 percent of operations that handle forklift batteries water their batteries manually. Manually watering batteries requires precision. Expecting an operator to eyeball battery water levels with a flashlight and a soda bottle is just asking for human error. Your batteries and the forklifts that they power deserve better.

Fortunately, there are products on the market that help staff fill batteries with precision. One example is a battery Watering Gun from Solus Group. The WG-X’s adjustable level control helps ensure that the water level in the battery is just right, and its flow indicator tells you when the filling is over. Watering Guns also can easily be connected to many different battery watering carts and tanks, expanding the range of your watering operation.

To keep your battery fleet humming along smoothly, don’t add too much water, and don’t let cells dry out. Go for the Goldilocks effect to maintain your batteries perfectly.

References:

Higgins, Kevin T. "Plant maintenance's goldilocks principle: too much maintenance is a waste; too little is a prescription for disaster.”" Food Engineering 2001: 50. General OneFile. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

Schiavo, Brian. "It Keeps Going And Going…." Food Logistics 109 (2008): 34-35. Business Source Premier. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

“Watering Your Battery.” Forkliftexpress. Forklift Express, n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

Vanasse, Harold. “Other Voices: The major impact of watering on battery room operations and maintenance.” MMH. Peerless Media LLC, 10 Sept. 2015. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.