Umm "Chlorine" gas ?? mebbe you mean Hydrogen ??
In years gone by replacing battery cells was routine at repair shops,
naturally precautions along the lines mentioned were taken. I would feel
that on a pier there would be good ventilation :-)

--
Regards ............... Rheilly Phoull

"David Oswald" wrote in message
...

"Den73740" wrote in message
...
Subject: battery maintenance, old school style
From: (BOEING377)

When they went bad
you'd take the battery
up on the pier, take the caps off and let all the hydrogen vent, empty
the
battery of electrolyte (stored in a pail), torch the top till it got
soft
enough to pull the case away, then take a hose and blast away all the
gunk
between the plates. Put it all back together, put the electrolyte back
in,
reseal the tar and use it for another couple of years. We were dumb to
do
this, but at least we wore goggles and full raingear to protect
ourselves. I

I can see it nowadays, hazmat spill response units, men it gumby suits,
spill
booms surrounding the pier, coast guard, epa and local authorities. The
citations would probably weigh what that ol 8D weighed.

Also sounds like he's lucky he didn't end up on www.darwinawards.com

Lighting fire the incendiary tar on the top of an *explosive* mixture of
chlorene gas? I heard of a guy who found himself wearing a toupee the
rest
of his life after using a candle to illuminate a bubbling cell so that he
could see inside to ascertain how much electrolite had leaked out. *boom*
toupee time. ...I think his eyebrows did eventually grow back. I doubt
he
ever found his dignity again though.