The Importance of Watering a Forklift Battery

Watering a forklift battery in Jefferson, WI is usually a weekly duty. Keeping your forklift batteries properly watered ensures they will charge properly, stay cool and won’t overflow and dilute the acid during operation.

Here’s a quick guide to watering your forklift batteries:

• Top off the water after charging: If you try to water a battery before you charge it, you risk causing an overflow. The fluid expands when charging. Overflowing batteries can dilute the battery acid and cause hazardous spills—and it will significantly shorten your battery’s lifespan. To avoid this problem, only water the battery after it has been fully charged.
• Never overfill your battery: The battery plates should be just covered by the water. The plates are usually about two and a half inches below the cell cap and should be fully visible. There are often fill lines to indicate the appropriate level of water, but if not, fill until the plates are covered by a quarter inch of water. This prevents them from overheating and drying out while in use.
• Know when to water: Knowing when to water your batteries is just as important as knowing how to do it properly. Your batteries should be watered once every five charges, which is usually about once per week. (You should charge your batteries fully every day, assuming their charge level has dipped below 30 percent.) Never use a forklift battery if the water isn’t covering the plates.
• Use the right kind of water: Finally, make sure you use clean, fresh water to water your batteries. The pH level should be between 5 and 7, and distilled whenever possible. Using tap water exposes your forklift batteries to chemicals and impurities, which can harm the battery plates and shorten your battery’s lifespan.

Types of watering systems

If you have a large forklift fleet, you’ll probably want to invest in a single-point watering system to water several batteries at once. There are three broad types of watering systems—pick the one that works best for your enterprise.

Watering guns use an attachment hooked up to a hose. You can manually fill each cell with the gun attachment. In contrast, a battery watering system hooks each battery cell up to a small hose and fills each cell, automatically shutting off when the cell is filled. Finally, you can use a gravity watering system—a large watering drum or tank is lifted into the air, and the operator takes a hose around to each cell to fill them as needed.

Understanding the relationship between forklift batteries and water in Jefferson, WI is the key to extending their usable lifespan. Make sure you understand how to water your batteries and when. As long as you follow these tips, you should get years of use out of each battery.

For more information about watering your forklift battery in Jefferson, WI, reach out to the team at Remis Power Systems Inc. today. With over 40 years of experience supplying industrial batteries and chargers, we’re equipped to answer your questions and meet your needs.

Categorised in: Battery Watering Systems, Forklift Batteries

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