Water damaged 3000VA Rackmount - Are stains on battery case normal or did something really bad happen?

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-29

We have two SUA3000RM2U's from 2006 that were in the bottom of our server rack when super storm Sandy hit last October. Out office got about six inches of water. The bottom UPS got about half an inch of water, judging by corrosion. I do not know the sequence of events (loss of main power, flooding, UPS discharging, etc.). I do know that we sent the server to our IT folks in Ohio two weeks after the flood and it booted right up!

I pulled the battery yesterday in preparation for send the unit out for recycling (thank you Staples!). The enclosed photos show some staining on the top and corrosion well above the water level on the side. My question is are stains like this normal for a UPS of this age, or did something *BAD* happen during the flood? I was thinking that the corrosion on the top of the sheet metal might have been caused by heat...

Whatever the cause we are very grateful that there was no damage to the room or other equipment as far as we can tell!

Just curious in the swamps of New Jersey!

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-29

To me it looks like corrosion damage from salt water exposure - Especially visible at the bottom in the third picture IE reddish patches. Additionally there is signs of thermal runaway / meltdown of the battery cells at one end of the case, which may have been short circuited by the water - the black sooty appearance could be from smoke emanating from the holes in the side of the case as the battery cells' plastic cases melted. Poor UPS ! Its probably all corroded inside and electrically damaged by shorting, just like the battery module is.

See Answer In Context

BillP · ‎2021-06-29

This is definitely not normal and I believe something happened to these batteries i.e. water damage. You should never see stains like this on any module.

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-29

To me it looks like corrosion damage from salt water exposure - Especially visible at the bottom in the third picture IE reddish patches. Additionally there is signs of thermal runaway / meltdown of the battery cells at one end of the case, which may have been short circuited by the water - the black sooty appearance could be from smoke emanating from the holes in the side of the case as the battery cells' plastic cases melted. Poor UPS ! Its probably all corroded inside and electrically damaged by shorting, just like the battery module is.

Anonymous user · ‎2021-06-29

It was salty/brackish water from the New Jersey Meadowlands and/or the Hackensack River here in Bergen County, New Jersey, USA. Sandy caused a nasty tidal surge. Our building flooded, even though we were told that it "never floods". We were out for three months, and we were one of the first ones back in the first floor.

In any event, we knew right away that the UPS was ruined. I unplugged it before the outlet was re-energized and put packing tape all around the plug so no one would reconnect it accidentally. One of our IT guys in the main office called APC tech support and they confirmed that it was unsafe to use and was not repairable. A shame that a few inches of water ruined a US$1400 unit.

In the third photo at the TOP edge of the sheet metal (almost the center of the picture), there is also some corrosion, well above the water level. I was thinking that heat may have contributed to that.

I was wondering about that sooty appearance, and you confirmed my fears that there was something bad that happened. I am very grateful that even in this horrible situation, that there was no fire or severe acid leakage that would have made life even more complicated. For me, this contributes to my feeling that APC is a very decent brand.