Spontaneous Alkaline Battery Leakage

[tortillasoup]

For the past few months now, occasionally in my very quiet room I'll hear a loud "pop" like the sound of someone popping some bubble wrap. I usually have no idea what to ascribe the sound to so I just have to continue with things as usual. Now, in the same room, I have some unopened packages of AA batteries and I can see a few of the batteries in the pack have leaked some battery acid either from the bottom of tops of the cells.

So, knowing that the temperatures weren't out of range nor were these batteries exposed to anything in particular that would cause them to rupture, I have to wonder, why is this happening? Could a change in barometric pressure cause this? I'm really at a loss for why it's happening. If it matters, these are duracell batteries.

 

[John Connor]

It happens to all batteries or just this package? You may have gotten a bad batch.

 

[tortillasoup]

I have batteries in different boxes, all of different ages starting to spontaneously leak battery acid.

 

[sdifox]

poltergeist

 

[John Connor]

Sounds like a question for the highly technical sub forum. Could be atmospheric pressure or heat? I'm not sure.

 

[me4get]

I had a bunch of unused duracell 9v's (10twin packs) that exploded over time.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've had it happen, it's the weirdest thing ever how it can happen so randomly. I guess it's a defect that finally lets go. I believe alkaline batteries are slightly under pressure.

 

[sdifox]

most likely explanation is the cheapening of the packaging.

 

[Thump553]

If they are Duracell you are probably still within the warranty. The packages I have sitting around say "guaranteed for 10 years in storage" and they are a couple of years old (from back when Staples was giving them away).

Email the company with pics of the batteries and see what happens.

 

[Ichinisan]

I'm going to go insane with rage if I find another remote or other device with batteries that burst and ruined the contacts. No matter how cheap / expensive the batteries, no matter how cheap / expensive the device: it just. keeps. happening.

From recent memory:
- TiVo remote
- Wii Fit balance board
- Multiple Wii remotes
- A Casio thermal printer for CDs
- Apple Magic Mouse

Is this because batteries are now "Mercury free?" They've definitrly done *something* to the alkaline battery formula that causes leakage and ruins my devices.

 

[mikeford]

I have seen lots of battery leaks, never associated with the pop.

 

[MWink]

I'm going to go insane with rage if I find another remote or other device with batteries that burst and ruined the contacts. No matter how cheap / expensive the batteries, no matter how cheap / expensive the device: it just. keeps. happening.

From recent memory:
- TiVo remote
- Wii Fit balance board
- Multiple Wii remotes
- A Casio thermal printer for CDs
- Apple Magic Mouse

Is this because batteries are now "Mercury free?" They've definitrly done *something* to the alkaline battery formula that causes leakage and ruins my devices.

My suggestion would be to stop using alkaline's, as they tend to be the messiest when they leak. For low drain devices (remotes, clocks, etc.) I tend to use Heavy Duty (carbon zinc or zinc chloride) batteries as they don't seem to leak quite as much and, when they do, it doesn't tend to be as big a mess. For high drain devices (or if you just have money to burn) I recommend lithium batteries. While I haven't used a lot of them, I have yet to see a single one leak.

When alkaline's do leak and make a mess, I've found a Q-Tip dipped in vinegar does a good job cleaning up the mess. BTW, I don't think "mercury free" has anything to do with them leaking. Batteries have been leaking since well before that became a concern. I suspect that it's just imperfect seals or that they just break down over time. I've always wondered why some batteries leak very quickly, while others never leak.

 

[LikeLinus]

Haven't seen that before. We use a lot of Duracell ProCell at work and never had this happen. I use Eneloop at home though.

 

[WelshBloke]

 

[Blanky]

I've seen batteries leaking in old toys, but over my life seen it happen very infrequently with devices I was using and maybe once at the most with batteries in storage (of which I have many). Maybe I'm not paying attention, though.