The Safe & Right Way Of Filling A Car Battery With Water
A car battery like any other component on your car requires maintenance and upkeep to deliver the best performance and last the full duration of its useful life. One of the easiest ways to ensure that you get the most out of your car battery is to routinely check battery water and refill it in case levels are lower than they should be.
What is Electrolyte? Is it safe?
Electrolyte is a mixture of sulphuric acid and pure water that essentially powers your car battery. Sulphuric acid is extremely corrosive and harmful to the skin and eyes. Thus, it is always important to wear protective clothing such as gloves, goggles and an apron when checking or refilling battery water.
Do all car batteries require maintenance?
A maintenance-free car battery does not require electrolyte levels to be checked or topped off. In fact, these batteries should never be opened or serviced as they are completely sealed.
Batteries that require regular maintenance and water servicing often have many instructional stickers and warning labels clearly printed on the battery itself.
Can I use tap water to top off my car battery?
Tap water should never be used to refill a car’s battery water as it contains many contaminants and impurities that can damage the plates in the battery cells reducing capacity and useful life.
Battery manufacturers and professional auto mechanics always recommend the use of distilled or deionized water to refill car batteries. Rainwater is safer to use in car batteries than tap water according to the experts.
What if I fill battery water above the recommended level?
Maintaining car battery water at the level recommended by the manufacturer is integral for optimal battery performance. Too much battery water can severely damage not just your battery but other car components as well.
Overfilling battery water causes overflows when the battery is charging or in use as a result of electrolyte expanding in the battery cells. This can cause corrosive sulphuric acid to pour out of the battery cells damaging the battery and surrounding components.
If such an event occurs one should immediately use liquid spill absorbent powder to limit the damage. Too much pure water also dilutes the level of sulphuric acid which reduces battery performance and overall lifespan.
Do I also top off sulphuric acid?
DO NOT add sulphuric acid when topping off battery water. The level of sulphuric acid doesn’t diminish in a battery only water levels fall due to evaporation. In circumstances when an overflow has caused a loss of sulphuric acid, the electrolyte mixture has to be rebalanced. This process is best left to the professionals.
Checking your car’s battery water level
There are two ways you can check to make sure that the battery water level in your car is where it needs to be.
- External Level Indicator: The outside of most refillable batteries have a printed ‘upper level’ and ‘lower level’ mark for a quick inspection to make sure that water levels are within these markers.
- Checking Individual Cells: Removing the caps from each cell and looking inside to make sure that battery water is above the plates inside each cell is another way of making sure that each cell has the desired level of battery water to deliver the best performance.
How often do you have to top off your car’s battery water?
Many factors dictate the frequency at which battery water needs refilling including; batter age, battery quality, air temperature, and usage. It is best practice to make routine checks once a month to make sure battery water is at the desired level. Setting a particular day every month to go over general car maintenance can help improve your car’s performance and useful life.
How to fill water in a car battery?
The best practice when filling battery water in your car is to follow these simple steps.
- Wear protective clothing
- Remove the 6 cell vent tops
- Clean away dirt on battery surface
- Check to see electrolyte level in each cell
- Make sure you have the right type of pure water
- Use an ‘eye-dropped’ (pipette), turkey baster, bottle or funnel. DO NOT pour directly.
- Be precise with your pouring and matching adequate water levels
- Clean up any spills
- Recap the cell vent tops
Where can I buy battery water and pouring equipment?
Deionized water is the most popular and effective type of pure water used for topping off car batteries. You can either purchase a deionized water system like the Single PS-300 to have pure water available whenever needed or you can buy a 25-liter deionized water container depending on your needs and budget.
To learn more about battery maintenance and pure water visit Tontio.com
