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Old 01-09-2021, 08:59 AM   #1
LSUgoTIGER
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Default Charging near gas water heater

So I just bought a new house and will be moving in over the next couple of weeks. The gas water heater is located in the garage where I will have to park and charge the cart.

I'm sure it's probably fine, but just had the thought of batteries off-gassing during charge and a pilot light 10' away and figured it wouldn't hurt to double check here.

(In any event, I just had epoxy flake coating installed!)
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Old 01-09-2021, 12:47 PM   #2
JohnnieB
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Default Re: Charging near gas water heater

Concentrations of Hydrogen gas in room air from 4% to 94% are flammable and concentrations from 18% to 59% are explosive.

So the questions are:
1. Will charging the cart batteries produce enough Hydrogen gas to create a 4% concentration in the volume of air contained in the garage?
2. Does the garage have enough ventilation to prevent a 4% concentration from happening?
3. If #1 is true and #2 is false, is it possible to seal off the water heater from the garage air and draw air for the water heater's combustion from another source.

Check local regulations about battery charging in the garage, some places have code prohibiting it.

Good information source might be the Villages in FL. They have thousands of electric carts and a lot of them are probably charged in garages, so they may have figured out how to do it safely.

If there is an air exchange between garage air and house air and you have CO detectors, they may go off since CO detectors are also triggered by Hydrogen gas.

A CO detector place in the garage near cart might be able to warn you about the high Hydrogen gas levels. If you know the PPM the CO detector trips at for CO, double it and you have the approximate Hydrogen level, but 4% = 40,000PPM and an inexpensive detectors don't go that high.
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Old 01-09-2021, 01:20 PM   #3
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Default Re: Charging near gas water heater

I don't think I would go to sleep with the charger running and the garage door closed.
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Old 01-09-2021, 01:49 PM   #4
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Default Re: Charging near gas water heater

They make water heaters that are designed to go under the house that have a two section vent tube. One in and one for exhaust. Not cheap though. Also remember when the heater lights it will pull more air and have a suction effect. Does the garage have an attic with roof vents?
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Old 01-09-2021, 04:27 PM   #5
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Default Re: Charging near gas water heater

put an electric water heater in to be safe.
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Old 01-09-2021, 04:32 PM   #6
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Default Re: Charging near gas water heater

Quote:
Originally Posted by rib33024 View Post
put an electric water heater in to be safe.
That's exactly what I would do.
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Old 01-09-2021, 11:23 PM   #7
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Default Re: Charging near gas water heater

Quote:
Originally Posted by LSUgoTIGER View Post
So I just bought a new house and will be moving in over the next couple of weeks. The gas water heater is located in the garage where I will have to park and charge the cart.

I'm sure it's probably fine, but just had the thought of batteries off-gassing during charge and a pilot light 10' away and figured it wouldn't hurt to double check here.

(In any event, I just had epoxy flake coating installed!)
Do a quick google search, read your golf cart manual, or battery manual or charger manual and you will find that charging of lead acid batteries in an enclosed space is NOT recommended.

To complicate things, you also have an open flame 🔥 ignition source in your garage with the hot water tank ... not to mention other ignition sources such as a garage door opener (conveniently located near the roof of the garage ... hydrogen gas is lighter than air and will accumulate also at roof level) ... and other ignition sources include residential light switches which can arc when they are switched on or off.

Are you going to charge your cart in your garage with adequate ventilation (doors and windows open)? You would probably be safe to do so IF the ventilation is adequate.

Are you going to charge your cart in a closed garage without adequate ventilation? Not a good idea under any circumstances.

Perhaps you want to call your home insurance company and confirm you have sufficient coverage in place for your golf cart being stored and charged in your garage. You would hate to damage your epoxy flake coating if you burned your garage down charging your cart. 😳

I personally charge my cart in the driveway and pull it into the garage once charging is complete. To me, it is not worth the risk of burning my garage and house down given that the risk is difficult to quantify. I would suggest erring on the side of caution.
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Old 01-10-2021, 10:48 AM   #8
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Default Re: Charging near gas water heater

Bilge blower with an exhaust vent would work as well. Pull air through the ceiling and duct it out a gable vent.
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Old 01-12-2021, 02:23 PM   #9
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Default Re: Charging near gas water heater

house and heater are only 4 years old, so I really don't want to swap to electric. The water heater does have a vent going out the top which goes through attic space and vents through a stack on the roof. (you can see the heater on the back right side of the garage in the picture originally posted)

There is attic space above the garage, but no direct access. Just the garage door, and the standard door on the left into the laundry room.

Have a brand new Lester Summit II charger, but I guess I'll just charge with the garage door open at the very least. I can't imagine with that being open there ever being a high enough concentration of Hydrogen to cause any issue.
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Old 01-12-2021, 03:02 PM   #10
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Default Re: Charging near gas water heater

Stack from the heater is the exhaust vent so no help there. Too bad there isn’t attic access because you could have vented through it. Hydrogen does rise so would collect at the ceiling but if it built up enough to get to the heater that would not be pretty. That is why they put heaters on platforms now because natural gas sinks so hopefully you will smell it before you have a problem.
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