Is a off-gassing Lifepo4 dangerous for your health?

[Blueshift]

Can I use the battery even if its off-gassing, or should I send it to a recycle place?
How long does an Off-gassing battery take to completely off gass? Is there health risks involved?

 

[Punx0r]

I'm not sure what's going on, but li-ion should not emit any gas...

 

[dogman dan]

Don't huff the electrolyte. I'm not sure what's in it, but it's not any more safe than acetone or tolulene. Get that thing outside.

Same goes for the smoke, if you have a fire.

Leaking cells are going to fail pretty soon.

 

[nutnspecial]

Offgassing usually refers to normal lifetime (or death-time) behaviour of many products, all manmade afaik.
It was my impression these include plywood, particle board, paints, plastics, carpet, etc etc.
New car smell? Offgas. New house smell? Offgas. Plastics literally offgas their entire lifespan, similar to radioactive material emitting radiation as it decays. If you ever look into granite VS 'quartz'(tm) countertops, you will get to choose from good old irradiation or more 'hip' offgassing

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-offgassing.htm

But I find it doubtful that's what you were asking about, re:battery? Sure they all 'offgas' to some degree, but if a battery is 'venting' - that's another story. Likely a story soon to conclude, for the venting cells. If a cell is noticably venting it's usally a fair assumption it's shot, so imo plan on replacing it/them as they will only bring down the rest of the cell string(s) with them. And yes the elecrolyte is some nasty stuff, treat it like you would the acid from a lead battery, imo.

 

[Blueshift]

I have a battery that smells kinda sweet and like nail polish? I have to be close to smell it. Its locked up in a small shed.

So if its the electrolyte, will it eventually dissipate?
And how long till the smell goes away?

I want to know if its cancerous or something.

It smells, its not like its making an air leak sound like from a tire.
I don't know why i used the word off-gas.

I just want to know how toxic it is if it smells that way and if i should continue riding it?

 

[nutnspecial]

So you use it fairly regular and it is behaving normally otherwise?

An unusal smell indicates venting of electrolyte/gas, which indicates cell decay. Sure, to some degree darn near everything is linkable to health problems, even natural ground water with too many various minerals or sunlight etc. I wouldn't worry about a slight smell hurting you if no other battery issues are evident. Just don't lock yourself up in the shed with it :wink:

 

[Scottydog]

I sometime notice a slightly different smell off my GBS cells after charging when it's in the shed.

 

[dogman dan]

Oh, if they were leaking, you'd know. A very strong sweet tolulene like smell all the time.