Smelting Battery Lead...

[kingemandigger]

Hey guys, I just tried my hand at this and want to relay my experience...

Like most casters now I am in the market for cheap bulk lead, and the prospect of scrounging over 50lbs from two old boat batteries was too much to resist, even after reading the many threads out there about the dangers of smelting battery lead.

Getting the lead out of the batteries was easy enough, and the quantity was quite impressive. I figured that I would be well off just using the lead for casting slugs, being probably a calcium or selenium alloy, I did not want it contacting my bore.

Smelting - horrible, the stuf would not melt, even after over 30 minutes. The noxious fumes excreted from the pot were strong and unending, even through a good chemical fume mask. I figured letting it burn for a while outside in the breeze would let most of the fumes come out. It didn't. The stuff is dangerous and not a proper medium for casting.

Bottom line, heed the warnings, and don't be tempted. I tried a little in a controlled environment and concluded that it cannot be done safely in a home setting.

Don't judge me:)

[bangerjim]

You have just found out what MOST of us on here already know. DO NOT MELT BATTERY LEAD. The oxides and compounds formed in there are NOT the lead we want.

You life and the lives of those around you are worth a whole lot more than the measly 50# of lead you think you can get!

There are MANY threads on here and other gun sites warning NOT to use batteries.

GOOD lead is readily available at many/most scrap yards everywhere. Buy that and not old batteries!!!!!! Let the pros take care of recycling batteries.

Thank you for posting your personal experiment results as proof!!!!!

banger

[Goatwhiskers]

Count your blessings! As has been repeated many times, arsine and stibine gases are produced and are uniformly fatal in extremely small amounts when inhaled. This in addition to the *rap that battery lead is mixed with. You'd get only a small amount of usable lead if you could refine it. GW

[imashooter2]

You could have gotten 9 - 10 bucks each for the batteries at a scrap yard and bought lead with the money.

[btroj]

The worst of it is the fact that the nasty stuff is in the dross. With even a small amount of moisture in the air it forms a very deadly gas.

[w5pv]

Heck.I built a fire away from the house and with the wind blowing.Got the same results don't expect nothing and you won't be disappointed. This was a hot hard wood fire the couple pounds of lead(if that much)isn't worth the trouble.

[jonp]

My shop at a prior job used to give me old semi batteries. Lots of lead in those but I never split them up. I gave them to my friends for use in deer camps powering cb's

[geargnasher]

Most places that buy batteries will give $5-8 for them, which is about the scrap value of the lead inside if you could successfully refine it. I traded a couple dozen old batteries for several hundred pounds of sundry scrap lead alloy once to a local "hillbilly" scrap dealer and we were both tickled pink. Let the big boys worry about the recycling, just sell 'em.

Gear

[bumpo628]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that anybody who was range mining would get your bad lead. It is possible to make noxious fumes when it is remelted and mixed with regular lead.

[T-Man]

I tried this, too...trying to get the last little bit out of batteries off of Deuce and a Half's. Almost killed us all in the process. The US Army HazMat Team has their sense of humor gland removed at the completion of their initial selection and training process. Don't tempt fate. If the battery lead doesn't kill you, the responding hazmat team just might.

[Oreo]

Can you elaborate more about your experience T-man? How exactly did you almost die? Was it the poisonous gases or the angry hazmat team? How did the hazmat team become involved?

[cbrick]

Bottom line, heed the warnings, and don't be tempted. I tried a little in a controlled environment and concluded that it cannot be done safely in a home setting. Don't judge me:)

Two things to be thankful for here,

First - Glad you learned your lesson.
Second and most important - Glad you and others in the area not only survived but with no permanent lung damage!

Rick

[sparky45]

How about just the battery posts? Are they O.K.?

[cbrick]

Yes, the posts are fine and are normally a soft lead. There is a sticky in this forum (Why car battery batteries are dangerous) that explains why battery lead is dangerous and what it can do to you. Nope, none of us are bullet proof even if we think we are.

Rick

[slim1836]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?138362-Why-Car-Batteries-Are-Dangerous&highlight=car+battery+batteries+dangerous

[Defcon-One]

I am gonna judge you! What part of, "DO NOT MELT BATTERY LEAD" do you not understand.

I'm sure there are a few dead squirrels, birds and mice in your neigborhood that wish you had listened. The trash man is gonna get the sealed bag where you dumped the dross conaining all the makings of toxic gases, less water I hope. Somewhere down the line your toxic waste will possibly hurt someone you don't even know and you got absolutely no usable lead. Which, is exactly what we keep telling you guys.

Guys like you drive me crazy. Arsine and stibine smell like rotten fish, if you smell rotten fish you are already dead since it takes 100 times the lethal dose to be able to detect it with the human nose. I have no idea how the scientists know this, but I think it makes the point. Also, your mask was likely a waste of time.

The good news is that you are DUMB, but not DUMB enough to have killed yourself. I hope the others around you, who deal with your waste, are as lucky as you were.

One more for you to test, "DO NOT JUMP OFF A HIGH BRIDGE." Let us know how that one works out!

Wanna be Myth Busters usually become part of the myth!

[bangerjim]

+1. Nailed it!!!!!! :goodpost:

banger

[Hamish]

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein

[sparky45]

Come on now! We shouldn't be totally negative about the "battery lead" experience, after all it's just one of Mother Natures way of cleaning the Gene pool.:mrgreen:

[cal50]

Places that recycle the batteries are set up to do it right. Unless you want to duplicate the equipment and conditions they use ( which is likely expensive) its not in the hobbyist level of doing it safely or with good results. I think the larger battery recycling centers are located outside the USA and Mexico has more than a few. With no EPA , OSHA or real concerns for the workers or the environment anything likely goes.

Batteries are good trade bait for other lead at the scrap yard.







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJj5iIwF8p4

[cal50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adk4V24Es3g

[zuke]

I brought a dead battery to the recycler's and would have got $5 for it.
I swapped it for 5 1lb bar's of 50/50 solder. I don't use that alloy but will keep it for future trade.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I love watching How it's Made. Batteries go back to the store for credit when I buy a new one. If you are near an Interstate, stop at any exit from the Interstate and you will find wheel weights. It seems that after running down the road for awhile and then coming to a stop, some of the WW will fall off. I have gotten a lot that way over the years.