Store Car Battery On Concrete Floor

Batterystuff knowledge base article answering the popular question about battery storage.

Store car battery on concrete floor. So while the battery might not be discharging on the cement floor it might be cooling off and be less able to pump out its power temporarily. Even an acid spattered battery will not leak its charge into the earth. If a battery is clean you can safely put it on your concrete floor. For example a battery that lasts 4 years in a cold environment would only last 2 years and 8 months in a hot climate.

So here s the story. Outdoor storage if you must store outside on an earth surface the best you can do is park the car on a layer of plywood over a continuous. There may be leakage across the terminals of a top post battery but that would be slight. Early batteries were constructed from wooden crates holding glass encased cells.

The other way around isn t always true with an already damaged battery leaking battery acid on a concrete floor potentially causing some damage. According to manufacturer pacific power batteries a car battery in a hot climate will last on average only two thirds as long as it would in a cold climate. Modern batteries are fully insulated and do not experience this problem anymore. In the past yes batteries stored on concrete floor would loose charge because of the free electrons grounding themselves outside of the battery.

Interestingly some experts including car talk s click and clack believe that storing car batteries on concrete floors might actually be a better idea than keeping them on shelves or other. If it s acid spattered put it on somebody else s concrete floor or stick a board under it. The design of modern day batteries includes a hard plastic shell that eliminates the intake of moisture thus making the garage floor a great place to put your car battery. Cement and concrete floors provide a fairly good barrier between the car battery and extreme temperature changes that could otherwise cause damage to the battery cells.

Contrary to very popular belief even touted by many a mechanic today s car batteries with their hard plastic shells will not discharge or otherwise be damaged when placed on a concrete floor. Interestingly enough many experts such as car talk s click and clack think that storing car batteries on concrete floors might actually be a great idea because the cold concrete can help slow down the self discharge leakage rate. Turns out this myth had some truth in it but is no longer relevant with today s battery construction. Some of us refuse to store a car or boat battery on concrete because our mechanic or trusted friend said it will drain the battery.

That s why we store all of our unsold batteries on our living room sofas tom.