I found this for another thread, and thought it was important enough to warrent it's own discussion. There are simply times to know when to stop trying to nurse through an old battery and replace it - although it does not seem as though he was "nursing" this one through...

http://rayvaughan.com/battery_safety.htm

 

My brother had it happen to him with our John Deere 318 when he was mowing the lawn. Loud bang, cracked the fiberglass hood, popped it open little bit too. Blew the top clean off the battery, he didn't get hurt, but the paint is discolored in spots now. We washed it down with baking soda right away, kept the acid damage to a minimum.

 

We accidently exploded one in ag shop class one day. We had an old 49 or so Cub tractor we were trying to get to run, who knows how old the battery was. Hooked up the charger to it, and left it on there for a little while, and we went into the classroom. A few minutes later, we heard what sounded like a shotgun going off, and we ran into the shop, and I'll be darned if the batter hadn't blown slam apart. Definitely learned our lesson, just as cheap to go buy a new battery.

 

Had a boarder here at the barn who had been jump starting the here car every time she drove it , who knows how long. Was jumping her car to head home and BOOM... Battery acid in the eyes and all. I was afraid to jump a car after that for a little while.

Needless to say, she learned about car maintenance the hard way.

 

I was jump starting my Western Star one day in the North West Territoies. I was nursing bad batteries (not a good idea). Couldn't get it to take a charge and start. Kept changing the batteries I was boosting (four 6 volts). So I was taking off the + and boom right into my face, eyes and all. Well I am running around the gravel parking lot at the truck stop hand over my eyes trying to find my way to the restroom to wash out my eyes. There was another driver that was with me in the coffee shop. He comes running out after a bit. He says oh I thought you said something to the girl that just went buy and she slapped you. Moral don't run bad batteries or you might get accused of something you didn't do.

 

Yep, I had one blow up on me jumping a truck at work. I was standing next to it when it blew, got acid all over my left leg and butt cheek. I dropped my pants around my ankles, hopped over to a puddle and started splashing even though it was about 40 outside. The guy whose truck I was trying to start was too busy laughing at me to help. Spent the rest of the day in pants 2 sizes too small, not a happy day for me.