Hot UPS smells like rotten eggs

A

Atheist

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 27, 2005
Messages
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Just a PSA: If you have a UPS, give it some clearance to breathe or else it will get really warm and smell like rotten eggs. I noticed the smell faintly at first but increasingly strong over the last week. Apparently my Belkin 1200VA unit didn't appreciate being surrounded on 4 sides by a printer and shelves. And here I was thinking I might have a gas leak or shitty Chinese drywall in my apartment. It's too hot to touch right now, but everything still running fine. It might be time to replace this thing nonetheless - I got it in 2004 and replaced the batteries once in 2009.
 
rotten egg smell usually means sulfuric acid is in the air :O
 
Yeah that thing's done. I just tested it: it doesn't kick in when wall power goes out and it's trying to slowly poison me.
 
It will be leaking acid internally. The charger may be badly overcharging the battery causing it to vent. It is probably also be giving off hydrogen due to electrolysis.

Instead of posting about it, do something about it - now. Get rid of it. If you don't know what you're doing don't even open it and transport it to a disposal location (ie. household hazardous waste depot at the dump) in a plastic container.
 
you should have got a an APC unit...just kidding. All jokes aside, replace that thing immediately. Also, buy APC.
 
UPSs generally use sealed lead-acid batteries. The 'rotten egg' smell comes from hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and is very dangerous in closed spaces:
# 0.00047 ppm is the recognition threshold, the concentration at which 50% of humans can detect the characteristic odor of hydrogen sulfide,[12] normally described as resembling "a rotten egg".
# Less than 10 ppm has an exposure limit of 8 hours per day.
# 10–20 ppm is the borderline concentration for eye irritation.
# 50–100 ppm leads to eye damage.
# At 100–150 ppm the olfactory nerve is paralyzed after a few inhalations, and the sense of smell disappears, often together with awareness of danger.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide#Toxicity

It's clear that the batteries in this unit are shot and are leaking, with H2S being produced. H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) isn't harmless either. If you feel any eye irritation or other symptoms, you are already being affected.
 
Elledan said:
UPSs generally use sealed lead-acid batteries. The 'rotten egg' smell comes from hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and is very dangerous in closed spaces:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide#Toxicity

It's clear that the batteries in this unit are shot and are leaking, with H2S being produced. H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) isn't harmless either. If you feel any eye irritation or other symptoms, you are already being affected.
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ah thank you, I thought my guess was wrong, too lazy to look it up though :eek:
 
Yeah I'm running off of a surge protector for now. I disconnected the UPS once I realized it was malfunctioning and it took a couple hours to cool off to room temperature. I'm tempted to open it up and see if the batteries leaked, but it would be more of a hassle than I care to deal with right now. Fortunately, I've had my window open for the last few weeks so the buildup of gasses wasn't as bad as it could have been. No eye irritation, etc. so it looks like I'm lucky :D
 
86 5.0L said:
ah thank you, I thought my guess was wrong, too lazy to look it up though :eek:
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You were pretty close, though. H2SO4 under the right conditions does generate H2S :) And a leaking lead-acid battery is pretty nasty in general. I much prefer Li-ion and related to them ;)

Atheist said:
Yeah I'm running off of a surge protector for now. I disconnected the UPS once I realized it was malfunctioning and it took a couple hours to cool off to room temperature. I'm tempted to open it up and see if the batteries leaked, but it would be more of a hassle than I care to deal with right now. Fortunately, I've had my window open for the last few weeks so the buildup of gasses wasn't as bad as it could have been. No eye irritation, etc. so it looks like I'm lucky :D
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Good thing with the open windows :) As the human sense of smell is so sensitive to H2S it was probably just a very low concentration you noticed. I wouldn't open the UPS, though. Leaking lead-acid batteries are very nasty and even in diluted form sulfuric acid can cause bad burns, not to mention the fumes of it.

Monkey God said:
Explosion or other form of fire-ry, acidic death narrowly avoided.
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The concentration would have had to be a bit higher, I guess. In a closed room it could have happened, I imagine.

Isn't chemistry fun? :D
 
Elledan said:
You were pretty close, though. H2SO4 under the right conditions does generate H2S :) And a leaking lead-acid battery is pretty nasty in general. I much prefer Li-ion and related to them ;)
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Li-ion is great until one fails. I've seen flashlights turn into shrapnel bombs because of a measly 14500 cell.
 
Elledan said:
Y

The concentration would have had to be a bit higher, I guess. In a closed room it could have happened, I imagine.

Isn't chemistry fun? :D
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Yes, it is fun.

Your assumption is based on average concentration in the ROOM.
What was the local concentration in and or immediately around the UPS...the UPS that was overheating and flowing a large amount of electricity?
 
computerpro3 said:
Li-ion is great until one fails. I've seen flashlights turn into shrapnel bombs because of a measly 14500 cell.
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At least Li-ion won't poison you in your sleep :p And there are a number of chemistries which are safer than the type used in laptops and other portable devices, so all together it's really not that big of an issue.

Monkey God said:
Yes, it is fun.

Your assumption is based on average concentration in the ROOM.
What was the local concentration in and or immediately around the UPS...the UPS that was overheating and flowing a large amount of electricity?
Click to expand...
I assumed that the OP wasn't sniffing around the UPS for an hour straight. Of course that would be more harmful, which is also why I recommended against disassembling the UPS :)

Maybe the concentration was high enough for an explosion, maybe not. I guess we'll never know. Good thing that UPSs don't seem to generate many sparks, I guess ;)
 
Well, we could find out, but I'd need to find a parking lot with a nearby outlet and a box to put over the UPS... And that lot had better not have video cameras :D
 
"Will it go boom?"

Sounds like the title of a new show ;)
 
Do not attempt to open the battery. Depending on how it is constructed, it can go very badly.

I found this thread yesterday after suspecting that the sewer exhaust pipe was smelling my apartment up. I then tested the UPS (APC SMART-UPS 2200), which failed; I lost power.

I decided to open the battery container... bad idea. There is a metal backing, which is very springy, apparently. Once the plastic top moved past the metal backing, I got a face full of, I don't know.. Probably a weak acid. I immediately flushed my face and eye. My mistake was in not ensuring that my eye was thoroughly rinsed. As soon as I opened my eye, I felt a burn.

After 5 hours and many rinses later, I think I'm good. The inside of the battery pack clearly shows signs of chemical burns. The cables (which are 1 year old) are clearly burned up. The batteries have clearly popped.

When I take them to be recycled, I'll try to take some pics.. I've already bagged it. Which BTW.. Large trash bag and $10-20 worth of baking powder should do the trick, we'll see.
 
Quite the thread necro. In any case, sorry for your bad accident with popping open the battery, seems like a rough day.
 
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