Re: Wondering ?? welding on tractor

Posted by JMOR on May 17, 2009 at 11:42:17 from (72.181.158.237):

In Reply to: Wondering ?? welding on tractor posted by MSJ from MN on May 16, 2009 at 10:28:02:

Dutchman said: (quoted from post at 13:28:02 05/16/09) I was wondering if you are welding on a tractor [ or Wheelhorse ] if you should unhook the BATTERY ??? will the welding,.. screw up the CHARGING system ?? THANKS for any and ALL advice ... I do APPRICATE it .. Mark

I never hurts to be careful. However, the risks are generally over stated.

A battery at rest is not producing hydrogen gas. This comes about during charging, especially overcharging. One reason we do not blow ourselves up on a regular basis is the the explosive range of air/fuel mixtures is very narrow with most fuels. Hydrogen & acetylene are somewhat of an exception to the "narrow range" situation. Also, with the fill caps in place, whatever hydrogen there is inside, it is reasonably devoid of oxygen, so not within the explosive mixture range. Yes, batteries do occasionally explode, but we seldom know exactly what were all the details surrounding the incident. Most likely, someone was doing something that they should not have been doing...caps off, reverse polarity, making a connecting spark on a battery just taken off charge, etc.

As for welding on a vehicle, probably even more overstated than the explosion potential. When all electrical equipment is properly connected & grounded, it is difficult for welding to induce voltage/current into the electrical system. On the other hand if eqmt is not grounded well, connections faulty, etc. yes it could damage something. For example, say your battery is grounded to the battery box and the battery box mounting bracket breaks lose from the chassis & you proceed to connect welder ground to chassis and strike an arc on the battery box bracket. Now your 6v or 12v system sees the battery +/- the welder's ~30volts.......probably not good, more especially if the - vs the +. Now if you are welding on a new rear bumper.........very, very slim chance of damaging the electrical system......but someone, somewhere can probably do it.

Use common sense & you won't have a problem.

Upper & lower fuel/air ratios within explosive limits. (Note gasoline....now you know why it is so hard to get your tractor to run when carb malfunctions!)

The explosive limits (Lower & Upper) of some gases and vapors are given below. Concentrations are given in percent by volume of air.

Substance LEL UEL

Acetone 3% 13%

Acetylene 2.5% 82%

Benzene 1.2% 7.8%

Butane 1.8% 8.4%

Ethanol 3% 19%

Ethylbenzene 1.0% 7.1%

Ethylene 2.7% 36%

Diethyl ether 1.9% 36%

Diesel fuel 0.6% 7.5%

Gasoline 1.4% 7.6%

Hexane 1.1% 7.5%

Heptane 1.05% 6.7%

Hydrogen 4% 75%

Hydrogen sulfide 4.3% 46%

Kerosene 0.6% 4.9%

Methane 5.0% 15%

Octane 1% 7%

Pentane 1.5% 7.8%

Propane 2.1% 9.5%

Propylene 2.0% 11.1%

Styrene 1.1% 6.1%

Toluene 1.2% 7.1%

Xylene 1.0% 7.0%

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