Do Cement Floors Ruin Car Batteries

That word it had too many.

Do cement floors ruin car batteries.

The battery is ok and the mark on the floor is permanent. 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 allowing for a discharge leak. Today s batteries have plastic cases there is no risk of the battery degrading from being on a concrete floor. 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. In that case even that trace of acid will react with the highly alkaline concrete to leave a mark on the floor. However if the battery has been in use it may have a trace of acid on it. We ve always been told not to leave car batteries on garage floors too.

No it does not. You re right about that. One bit of whispered wisdom dictates that a car s battery must never be stored on a concrete or cement floor. If you put one on a concrete floor without carefully washing it the acid ate into the concrete quickly ruining the floor.

The reasons given for this prohibition vary depending on whom one hears the admonition. It didn t hurt the battery one bit but people who misunderstood the advice and wanted to appear knowledgeable came up. Leaking acid ate the concrete away. What doescause battery leaks.

Cement is not conductive. At northeast battery we tell our distributors that storing batteries on a concrete floor is a good idea as it helps keep the battery cool so it discharges less. You do not want to sell a customer a battery that is close to dead.