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I just wanted to share this and I hope helps someone.
We rented an RV style fish house on Mille Lacs and used our generator to power it. It had a battery (not a sealed lead acid or dry cell battery) in it.
We hooked up the generator and fired up the furnace. After about 8 hours of heating up the fish house we started to smell a sulfur smell (rotten eggs) at about midnight. We were not sure at first what it was. We thought maybe one of the grey water tanks was not dumped and thawed out. A few minutes on Google revealed the answer. The battery started to thaw out and the inverter was charging it causing it to gas out. We opened all the doors and windows and pulled the frozen battery out of the house. We made the decision to walk away from this situation while we still could. If we would have went to bed before midnight I am not sure I would be posting this or anything ever again.Looking back now, Since I was running the off the generator I should have cut the power to the battery and this would have never happened. Maybe!
The battery was in a vented battery box but not screwed closed.Google Source:
Over-charging a vented lead acid battery can produce hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The gas is colorless, very poisonous, flammable and has the odor of rotten eggs. Being heavier than air, the gas accumulates at the bottom of poorly ventilated spaces. Although noticeable at first (olfactory detection between 0.001- 0.13 ppm), the sense of smell deadens the sensation with time and potential victims may be unaware of its presence. When the odor is detected, one must turn off the charger, vent the facility and stay outside until the odor disappears. Refer to Section 2.4.2 for proper charging safety tips.I am not here to bash any resorts/people that is why I will not list names. I just wanted everyone to be safe and take care of yourself.
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